Learning from Academic Libraries’ Pivot to Online Instruction during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic required many U.S. institutions of higher education to pivot to fully remote learning within a short span of time. Like many academic librarians during this period, the authors found themselves needing to employ rapid development methods to create information literacy instruction that could serve what was quite suddenly a fully online environment, an experience that proved instructive for ongoing online information literacy programs. This article reviews the literature detailing other librarians’ experiences moving their information literacy instruction online during the pandemic, and compares these to the authors’ process of developing online instruction at a large university in the northeastern United States. Multiple perspectives on the authors’ process are described by different participants in this collaborative effort. Lessons learned and recommendations for future practice are described.