Preparing Teachers and Librarians to Collaborate to Teach 21st Century Skills: Views of LIS and Education Faculty

This article discusses the results of an exploratory research project in which library and information studies (LIS) faculty and education faculty were asked about their views on teaching pre-service school librarians and teachers 21st Century Skills (as defined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills) and librarian-teacher collaboration. Researchers used a case-study approach to investigate and compare the views and experiences of LIS faculty and education faculty at a research institution. Participants indicated their sense of which skills were taught in each discipline. In addition, they described their own experiences in collaborating with teachers and/or librarians, as well as their views on where collaboration was taught in their respective curricula, where it could be taught, and how it might be taught most effectively. Findings indicate that while education faculty members tend to have a broader view of LIS than do LIS faculty and see education and LIS as having largely overlapping concerns, collaboration is more likely to be a topic of discussion in LIS classes than in education classes. Faculty in both disciplines acknowledged that, while collaboration is desirable, it is often difficult to achieve in practice.