Head Librarian Livia Piotto Publishes Chapters in Two Books of the American Library Association
Livia Piotto, who has been JCU’s Head Librarian since 2022, has written two chapters for publications of the American Library Association.
“Planning for Instruction Training: Implementing an On-the-Job Training for Library Instructors” was published in Volume 2 of the Training Library Instructors, edited by Matthew Weirick Johnson. The chapter describes the implementation and revision of an instruction training plan developed to assist early-career librarians and librarians with no previous instruction experience with developing the basic skills for teaching information literacy in an academic environment. The case study enters an already existing scholarly conversation, wanting to provide a real-life example of an instruction training program meant to support an on-the-job approach to train new instruction librarians. The instruction training plan developed at John Cabot University was informally developed throughout the years to teach librarians with no previous instruction experience the basics of library instruction with a strong active learning component, due to the fact that most of the training had to happen on the job. Learning the theory and applying it in practice became a need and the major strength of this program, and the need to hire, and therefore train, new instruction librarians, became the opportunity to update and formalize the training plan. The instruction training plan builds its foundations on the ACRL documents and guidelines related to instructional practices, including the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and Roles and Strengths of Teaching Librarians. The training plan focuses on the essential aspects of backward design, developing assessable learning outcomes, creating instructional activities that foster authentic learning, and applying appropriate assessment techniques.
“My Journey Toward a Person-Centered Transformation” was published in Person-Centered Management in Academic Libraries. This chapter is a reflection of the first year of being a manager, during which Livia tried to apply a practical managerial approach that could be considered more person-centered. The reflective essay presents the choices and the decisions that she made to create a comfortable and empathic work environment for all the library employees after a traumatic event that, in different ways, had an impact on all staff members, and on their relationships as co-workers. The idea of using a person-centered management style comes from realizing that the most challenging aspect of library work is trying to create a balanced environment in which all library staff can feel they are considered as people and not just as workforce.
Livia Piotto has been working at JCU’s Frohring Library for over 17 years. She holds an Italian laurea degree in foreign languages and literature and an M.L.S. from Sapienza University of Rome. Livia is an active member of AMICAL, the American International Consortium of Academic Libraries.
