The First-Year Library Instruction One-Shot: A Place for Caring

Abstract

An academic librarian providing one-shot instruction sessions to first-year students is uniquely positioned to enact a feminist ethic of care in the classroom. First-year university students are particularly in need of caring. The library instruction session is often their introduction to and first impression of the library and an opportunity to inspire a relationship with the librarian and library. The instruction session, then, should be seen as an open door to a future relationship between librarian and student. The librarian is not the professor and, therefore, has the freedom to focus a primary learning objective on caring.