Editor’s note: This guest post has been authored by Rosan Mitola and Melissa Bowles-Terry. Rosan is Head of Educational Initiatives and Melissa is the Sciences Librarian, both at UNLV Libraries. This post discusses their recent experience of offering an Immersion program at UNLV Libraries as a continuation of the recent “Discussing the 4 Pillars of Immersion” series: “Information Literacy,” “The Educational Role of Librarians in Higher Education,” “Leadership,” “Critical Reflective Practice,” and “Community as Another Pillar?“.
The ACRL Information Literacy Immersion Program, usually referred to as Immersion, has been on hiatus since March 2020, when our facilitator team canceled the summer 2020 Immersion program because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were delighted to revive Immersion in November 2024 with a two-day local program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries, with 30 participants from all over Nevada. The new format offered library workers an opportunity to gather and reflect on their roles as educators, engage with concepts of information literacy, and interrogate critical teaching practices in higher education.
The Goals of the Program
ACRL Immersion Faculty collaborated with UNLV Libraries to develop goals and learning outcomes for participants:
- Examine the educational role of librarians in higher education in order to appraise their own position and context of practice, including their institutional setting and larger systems of power and privilege.
- Reflect on various conceptions of information literacy in order to develop and apply a personal and, when applicable, shared understanding of information literacy.
- Examine and question underlying assumptions about teaching and learning in order to develop critically informed instructional practices.
- Engage with theories of influence, change, and leadership in order to develop a critical perspective that addresses issues of power and privilege in higher education and fosters inclusive workplaces and communities.
Hosting the Pilot at UNLV
The ACRL Local Immersion goals aligned with priorities within the UNLV Educational Initiatives Department. Some of the department’s current five-year goals include collaborating with teaching-focused academic librarians from other institutions and building a culture of inclusive teaching practices and a community of learners among our own library instructors. The local pilot offered us a chance to both foster relationships and learn from our colleagues, while expanding knowledge and practices with content from ACRL.
The program was anchored by a live virtual plenary on critical reflective practice from Veronica Arellano Douglas and another plenary on information literacy that Melissa facilitated. These sessions set the tone for deep thinking and open discussion each day. UNLV folks led breakout sessions on the well-being of library workers, librarians as teachers, information literacy theory, and persuading and negotiating. Librarians of varying experiences (very experienced, early career, all in between) from all different parts of the library (service desks, liaison librarians, makerspaces, teaching & learning, etc.) shared their knowledge and expertise as participants.
Beyond the formal structure of the program, this workshop gave us something less tangible but equally important: the chance to be together, reflect intentionally, and remind ourselves of why we’re educators and how much we care about student learning.
As this was a pilot, participants completed a short assessment at the end of the program, and gave Immersion facilitators a lot to consider. While Immersion folks provided pre-prepared content and a roadmap, UNLV librarians discovered that it kind of runs itself, but it kind of doesn’t – Rosan had quite a bit to coordinate locally in advance. From collaborating with Melissa on the schedule and curated content, to inviting participants, selecting local facilitators, identifying a meeting room space and managing on-site logistics like technology, mics, and meals, there was a lot of pre-work. Luckily Rosan has a lot of experience in event management, and we had skilled and experienced local facilitators for the breakout sessions, so everything went smoothly.
Next Steps
At UNLV, Rosan plans to continue a Teaching, Learning, and Engagement Community of Practice, which meets monthly. We’re also planning to host virtual and in-person meet-ups to discuss instructional strategies, challenges, and solutions, such as our “Learning Activities Rodeo,” a practical meet up that coincides with a national rodeo that takes over our campus every December. The local ACRL program has inspired some conversation about carving out time for a one- or two-day annual teaching retreat as a way to recharge our teaching, set goals, and continue to grow as practitioners.
Building on the success of the UNLV program, ACRL is pleased to announce the return of our summer Immersion Program. Immersion ’25 will take place over 2.5 days at Loyola University in Chicago, July 23-25, 2025. Full details will be available in February 2025. Watch https://acrlog.org/ for the scoop. We can’t wait to see you in Chicago!