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Surviving the information hellscape:

How a Community of Practice fosters faculty engagement, resilience, and connection

Bekky Vrabel, Research Support & Liaison Librarian

Hannah Jones, Information Literacy Librarian

Kathryn A. Martin Library | University of Minnesota Duluth

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Funding Opportunity: Innovation Grant

  • Idea for an Information Literacy Community of Practice (IL CP) aligned with a call for proposals for the UMD Chancellor’s Innovation Grant
  • Patnership between Research & Learning Team and Philosophy Department
  • Awarded $8,000
    • $4,500 for up to 15 faculty stipends for incentivized participation ($300 each for attending 3 gatherings and the end-of-year showcase
    • $3,000 for speaker fees
    • $500 for facilities costs and refreshments
  • The IL CP seeks to encourage faculty to incorporate information literacy concepts across the curriculum and empower partnerships between instructors and librarians.
  • The Community of Practice is open to all who teach.

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Information Literacy Community of Practice

Sept

Oct

Nov

Jan

2nd Gathering: AI & Algorithmic Literacy & Ethics

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Guest Speakers: How Serious is the Epistemic Threat of Digital Fakes?” with Don Fallis and Kay Mathiesen from Northeastern University

3rd Gathering: Social Media Literacy

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Additional Workshop: Changing Access to Government Informtion in 2025

Guest Speaker: How AI Affects Privacy, Predication, and Rule of Law with Alan Rubel from the University of Wisconsin - Madison

1st Gathering: Information Literacy 101

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Information Literacy Community of Practice

Feb

Mar

Apr

4th Gathering: Making it Work: Information Literacy in Your Course(s)

5th Gathering: Information Literacy and Visual Literacy in the Arts Classroom

6th Gathering: The Paints We Can't Drink: Debunking Misinformation in a Polarized World

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Showcase: Insights from our gatherings with a focus on how instructors engage with information literacy concepts in teaching and research

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IL CP Goals

Cross-discipline collaboration

Low barriers to participation

Navigating the hellscape together!

Beyond library sessions

Compare concerns/issues across fields, emerge from disciplinary siloes.

Optional readings/resources, Google Site to host materials and logistical info, attend-as-able.

Clear interest in info lit - responding to current environment of genAI proliferation, mis/dis/malinformation, etc.

Empower instructors to take ownership and embed info lit concepts beyond of the library classroom.

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IL CP: By the Numbers

54

20+

45

65

7

20+

IL CP Google Group Members.

Attendees at each IL CP gathering.

Attendees at online Fall Speaker event.

Attendees at hybrid Spring Speaker event.

Faculty & staff participation at end-of-year showcase (lightning talks, zines, poster).

Attendees at the end-of-year showcase.

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Highlights

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Contact Us

Bekky Vrabel, Research Support & Liaison Librarian

vrabe010@d.umn.edu

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Hannah Jones, Information Literacy Librarian

jone5041@d.umn.edu