Becoming a Reflective Librarian and Teacher: Strategies for Mindful Academic Practice

by Michelle Reale

This thoughtful book illuminates reflective practice as a pedagogical tool that holds benefits both for ourselves as professionals and for our students.

Genres: Library Science, Teaching, Librarianship

124 pages, Hardcover

Published December 16, 2016

Reviews

[Dean Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not exactly what I was expecting. I think I had assumptions that this would be just another manual on how to be a more effective Librarian. When I saw that there was an emphasis on creating a daily journal I was surprised. However, after taking on the practice outlined in the book I found that this became an important part of my workday/week. The book is centered around the benefits and importance of reflection examining your day to day practices and formulate plans to move to create reflective strategies for use in the workplace.
The book gives the Librarian a process of creating a reflective framework in your daily workweek/day. I tried the method that was included in the book and it proved to become very important to me and extremely helpful.

[Catie Carlson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only made it about half way through the book. I think that it has some good points, and does guide one that wants to know more about reflective practice. However, I personally find it a little boring to read. I find it so difficult to imagine that there are people who do not already internalize and reflect on their lives and activities. To me, it seems like a part of life and reading a "how to" seems more "well, duh." Because of that, the author's stories of reflection leave me wanting to learn more about what she learned from the reflection rather than the process of reflecting. I am sure that there are those that will benefit from this book. Even with my "meh" attitude, I got some good ideas out of my half read.

[Romany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. So thoughtful and useful. The first thing that struck me was that the author is really hard on herself for what she perceives as her failures in the classroom… Me too! And many more similarities seemed to follow. But the way the writer described her workplace made me so jealous. A journal club, and a community to share reflections with? That would be amazing. There are some committees at my work that make me think that might be possible, but in general, change seems a struggle. And I still feel as though one of the reasons for this is that Australian academic librarians don’t recognise themselves as teachers (hence, my PhD topic). So until then, this book provides a good solution: journal it all out.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflective practice is often associated with education and nursing; this book builds a useful bridge, connecting reflective strategies and theories to the field of information literacy. The author includes candid and personal accounts of many common challenges faced by those who teach information literacy in an academic library environment. Although she includes strategies to use with students in the classroom, her main focus is on how library professionals can use reflective strategies to enrich their own experiences, personally and professionally. (

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brief but thoughtful book on the practice of reflection. While it is geared towards librarians specifically, I think any educator would find some useful ideas here. Most of the book is focused on developing personal reflective practices and has definitely given me ideas for how I can approach this better in my own professional life. There is also a chapter on using reflection in the classroom and I can see ways I have already shifted toward some of these practices and where I could use them more thoughtfully and purposefully.

[Logophile (Heather) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you think you should think about the things you think?
Excellent.
This book can help.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will have to put this into practice. That will help me accurately determine what the rating should be.

[Donna Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review will be published in RUSQ