Partners in Teaching and Learning

Melissa Mallon is the Director of the Peabody Education Library at Vanderbilt University, and Director of Teaching and Learning for the Vanderbilt Libraries, which includes planning and directing system-wide involvement in campus teaching and learning initiatives including strategies for the development of information literacy instruction, library involvement in assessment of student learning, and training and mentoring of library staff. Melissa received her MLIS from Louisiana State University. Before joining Vanderbilt in 2015, Melissa was a faculty member and instruction coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown and Wichita State University. Melissa has published, presented, and taught professional development courses in the areas of digital and information literacies, online learning, the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, and creative use of emerging technologies in assessing student learning. Melissa’s previous books include The Pivotal Role of Academic Librarians in Digital Learning (Libraries Unlimited, 2017), and co-edited a book titled The Grounded Instruction Librarian: Participating in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ACRL, 2019).

'The goal of this book is to provide a roadmap for the successful development and maintenance of a library’s teaching and learning program.' The author recognizes the need to take institutional context into account, so is careful to identify a range of alternatives rather than prescribe a particular approach. As noted in the Conclusion: 'While an instruction program can take many different shapes and sizes (from formal to informal and from small to large), it is a crucial and necessary component for positioning the library as a comprehensive and integral leader of teaching and learning on campus.' The Appendix 'An Instruction Coordinator’s Bookshelf ' provides helpful guidance for further study of library instruction, teaching and learning beyond libraries, and keeping up with higher education. The book should be useful to instruction coordinators seeking to enhance their effectiveness in various facets of their role (e.g., creating a culture of teaching and learning in the library, advocating for an instruction program, assessing an instruction program) as well as helping to better equip those who aspire to fill such roles in the future.