Teaching Research as an Interdependent Practice: Bringing Alternate Models into the Scholarly Conversation

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Teaching Research as an Interdependent Practice: Bringing Alternate Models into the Scholarly Conversation
Language: English
Authors: Natalia Kapacinskas, Veronica Arellano Douglas
Source: Communications in Information Literacy. 2025 19(2):200-219.
Availability: Communications in Information Literacy. e-mail: editors@comminfolit.org; Web site: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 21
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Research Training, Information Literacy, Cooperation, Individualism, Academic Libraries, Models, Library Instruction
Abstract: The customs and practices of research in academia are often mischaracterized as individualistic pursuits, ignoring the reality that research requires a great deal of collaboration. As teaching librarians, our research instruction often reinforces individualism as a scholarly virtue, even as we simultaneously engage with themes of connection between researchers and their ideas. We propose an approach to teaching research and information literacy grounded in the concept, intention, and practice of interdependence rather than individualism. In doing so, we will call in models of interdependence from critical disability studies, relational-cultural theory, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and the Cite Black Women movement. These models both describe and exemplify interconnected and inclusive approaches to research, which we can apply to our practice of teaching in academic libraries.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1493673
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:The customs and practices of research in academia are often mischaracterized as individualistic pursuits, ignoring the reality that research requires a great deal of collaboration. As teaching librarians, our research instruction often reinforces individualism as a scholarly virtue, even as we simultaneously engage with themes of connection between researchers and their ideas. We propose an approach to teaching research and information literacy grounded in the concept, intention, and practice of interdependence rather than individualism. In doing so, we will call in models of interdependence from critical disability studies, relational-cultural theory, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and the Cite Black Women movement. These models both describe and exemplify interconnected and inclusive approaches to research, which we can apply to our practice of teaching in academic libraries.