Library Instruction in Changing Times
May 29, 2026 | Cal State Monterey Bay
Instruction librarians are teaching and leading in a time of seismic shift. Lightning-fast technological innovation, divisive politics, and threats to equity and inclusion are all converging in a time of tightening budgets. These factors impact our students and our instructional roles. CCLI has invited instruction librarians to reimagine how we teach, learn, and lead at the intersection of these forces. Imagine library instruction that not only keeps pace with changing times but actively shapes a more inclusive, informed, and hopeful future. Presenters will share how they are reimagining library instruction and their innovative teaching methods with colleagues to transform uncertainty into opportunity for the students we serve.
Schedule
9:00–9:30 AM — Check-in and Refreshments
9:30–9:45 AM — Welcome Remarks | CCLI 2026 Chair Jeff Corrigan
9:45–10:45 AM — Keynote Address | Laurie Bridges
10:45–11:00 AM — Break
11:00 AM–12:15 PM — Workshops (concurrent)
Be like water: The way of emergent strategy in library instruction
Leah Morin, Information Literacy Librarian – Michigan State University
Hazel McClure, Head of Research, Instruction, and Outreach – Grand Valley State University
adrienne maree brown’s philosophy of emergent strategy is a feminist, afrofuturist exploration of human relationships and responses to change, inspired by Octavia Butler’s fiction and adaptation in the natural world. In practice, emergent strategy is an imagining of the possibilities of connection-making during interactions that are time-limited (such as one-day workshops, library instruction single sessions, or reference consultations) in ways that coalesce in patterns and shape positive change.
This workshop will model the core principles of emergent strategy while introducing them. Participants will reflect on past instructional experiences, then reframe these after learning about the transformative possibilities of the principles.
Those who wish to incorporate the core principles into their own library teaching will obtain concrete methods for doing so as well as gain awareness of and inspiration from examples of emergent strategy already existing in their practice.
The Lorekeeper’s Trial: Teaching AI Literacy through Active Learning in the Library Classroom
Taylor J. Greene, Assistant Dean for AI Literacy and Instructional Services – Chapman University Leatherby Libraries
Douglas R. Dechow, Associate Dean for Library Research & Data Services – Chapman University Leatherby Libraries
How can librarians engage students in critical, hands-on learning about artificial intelligence within the limitations of a one-shot session? At Chapman University, librarians have developed an AI literacy session that integrates ethics and hands-on exploration into workshops and course-embedded sessions. This presentation highlights how to weave AI literacy into information literacy instruction, with a focus on a First-Year Foundations program.
Presenters will discuss their efforts to reach students, staff, and faculty through AI literacy initiatives across campus. They will also demonstrate how the Lorekeeper’s Trial—a research quest inspired by RPGs—transforms AI and information literacy concepts into collaborative challenges. Through a walkthrough of the quest activity and reflective discussions, attendees will explore how active learning and game-based design can enhance engagement, comprehension, and critical thinking within a one-shot framework.
This session models how librarians can equip students to recognize AI’s potential while critically assessing its risks and implications.
Reclaiming Voices: Re-Shaping Teen Literacy through Young Adult Literature
Natasha Webb-Villegas – UCLA
This presentation advocates for the strategic use of postcolonial Young Adult (YA) literature as a powerful, often-overlooked tool to promote equity and impart critical information literacy on young adults. Through challenging how the notion of Young Adult literature is simplistic, this session will demonstrate how award-winning, diverse Young adult novels, such as “We Are Not Free” by Traci Chee, “Tristan Strong Punches a hole in the Sky” by Kwame Mbalia, and “When Stars Are Scattered” by Omar Mohamed, all serve as “case studies” for teaching students how to:
- Locate Silenced Perspectives: Identify whose stories are missing from dominant historical narratives and search strategies.
- Evaluate Counternarratives: Critically analyze how these texts challenge the authority and one-sidedness of traditional “canons” of information.
- Interrogate Systemic Inequities: Understand how power structures shape the creation and dissemination of information.
By integrating these texts into instruction, we can guide students to be more mindful of diverse authorship and the politics of knowledge. This approach not only makes information literacy concepts more relatable but also actively shapes a more inclusive and critically conscious future for our students. This talk will provide a practical framework for how instruction librarians can immediately begin to leverage these dynamic texts in their own teaching practice.
Sustainable AI in Library Instruction: Designing Sessions Grounded in the Minimal AI Approach
Katerina Allmendinger, Success and Engagement Librarian – University of Colorado Boulder
Elizabeth Novosel, Computer Science, Mathematics and Social Sciences Librarian – University of Colorado Boulder
The Minimal AI movement asks how we can reduce our use of generative AI to minimize consumption and maximize accessibility, reusability, and justice. This workshop offers Minimal AI as a framework for instruction that effectively develops students’ AI literacy and is more sustainable for librarian workload. In library instruction, Minimal AI encourages students to consider the sustainability and impact of systems we create and buy into, increases accessibility by avoiding paywalled tools, and reduces the learning curve by focusing on fundamental literacy rather than model or tool specific processes.
Participants will identify ways that Minimal AI can inform their lesson planning and pedagogy for both undergraduate and graduate instruction. Focused on the generative power of librarians in conversation, participants in this workshop will work together to understand how we can meet this critical moment and develop AI literacy in both ourselves and our students.
“What will you do with our stories?” Teaching and applying Indigenous research ethics in instruction and research
Maio Buenafe, Visionary and Founder – Unlearning Community School
Melissa Stoner, Native American Studies Librarian – University of California, Berkeley
The legacy of Western research methodologies and practices perpetuates a lack of equitable reciprocity with the Native communities that scholars “study” due to exploitative research ideologies and practices which perpetuate an extractivist approach to Indigenous bodies, knowledge, and resources. Through the “Unlearning Framework” we address and disrupt the cycle of unethical research practices, and advance strategies for educators and scholars learning from Indigenous peoples to practice Indigenous research ethics. In our interactive workshop, we utilize theory and praxis of understanding and following Indigenous protocols for research from international and US-based Native contexts. We provide a custom-made workbook Zine to guide participants through interactive activities such as brainstorming through case studies and concept mapping within reflection prompts they discuss in think-pair-shares. Our goal is to activate critical and practical pedagogical approaches to library instruction and research about Indigenous peoples to show how inclusion and equity can be practiced.
12:15–1:15 PM — Lunch (anywhere in the Library)
12:30-1:15 Poster Session (Posters up for viewing all day; Presenters available during lunch)
Visual Curation: Connecting Collection Development, Instruction, and Student Engagement with a Scroll
Joy Hopkins Camp, Research and Instruction Librarian, Business – California State University, Monterey Bay
From CRAAP to CRITICAL: Updating Information Literacy for the Age of AI
Erik Valenzuela, Ethnic Studies and Music Librarian – Cal Poly Pomona
More Than a Mascot: Creating Meaningful Library Learning Modules with Student Designers
Tina Lin, Instructional Designer and Technologist – UC Santa Barbara Library
Anna Harper, Teaching & Learning Librarian – University of California, Santa Barbara
“What grounds your instruction?”: Practicing mindfulness in uncertain times
Andrea Serna, Research & Education Librarian, Subject Specialist for Arrupe College – Loyola University Chicago
Easton Brundage, Research & Education Librarian, Subject Specialist for STEM Departments – Loyola University Chicago
“Rooted and rising:” Developing IL program learning outcomes for a values-based future
Rachel Wishkoski, Head of Instruction & Assessment – Santa Clara University
Jennifer Pesek, Undergraduate Learning Librarian – Santa Clara University
1:15–2:15 PM — Breakout Sessions Block 1 (concurrent)
When AI Reinscribes Empire: Libraries as Spaces of Counter-Pedagogy
Dykee Gorrell, Digital & Data Literacy Librarian – San Jose State University
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are often framed as neutral tools, yet their foundations are deeply entangled with colonial logics of extraction, classification, and control. Training datasets and Large Language Models reenact the colonial archive, fixing people into categories and reinscribing racial hierarchies. While libraries share this complicated history—anti-literacy laws, segregated spaces, and professional complicity—they have historically been used for insurgent literacies and abolitionist struggles for access.
This presentation argues that instruction librarians must reframe AI and data literacy not as technical “skills training,” but as counter-pedagogy. Grounded in Black Science and Technology Studies and Critical Data Studies, the session models strategies for teaching students to interrogate sociotechnical systems, identify who is harmed and who benefits from AI, and imagine liberatory alternatives. Participants will engage in critical reflection activities, including analyzing AI-generated outputs and biases, to explore how library instruction can cultivate data literacy as a practice of liberation.
Knit by Numbers: Craft-based approaches to data literacy instruction
Megan Van Noord, Health Sciences Librarian – University of California Davis
Sheena Campbell, STEM Librarian – University of California Davis
Introducing data literacy to diverse disciplines can be challenging, particularly for disciplinary communities historically excluded from data and technology fields. Integrating data physicalization with traditional fiber crafts, such as knitting, offers a more welcoming, accessible entry point to data fundamentals. As a form of critical making, data physicalization encourages reflection, creativity, and dialogue, especially among non-STEM learners. Research shows that engaging multiple senses through physical representations of data can deepen understanding and support more intuitive communication and exploration.
At the UC Davis Library, we experimented with this approach by offering data physicalization workshops through a new collaboration with the campus Craft Center. Building on these pilot workshops, this session will guide participants through hands-on activities that introduce data physicalization and creative, experiential learning. Participants will also be invited to reflect on potential campus partnerships and contexts for applying similar pedagogical approaches to data literacy instruction.
Trust Your Voice!: Using Information Literacy to Support Undergraduate Writers
Erica Lopez, Instruction Librarian – University of Houston
Imani Spence, Student Success Librarian – University of Houston
Generative AI has introduced unique new challenges to student writing development, student learning assessment, and academic integrity norms. Essays and papers, however, remain a typical output for assessing student learning.
While writing centers and libraries often occupy distinct areas on college campuses, library instruction must evolve to better emphasize ACRL Framework concepts related to writing in order to discourage students using GenAI in ways that disrupt their writing development.
We will facilitate a literature synthesis activity among attendees and share how and why we augmented our instruction to underscore the importance of authorship and responsible information creation.
Attendees will consider the motivations that drive students toward generative AI for their writing and gain ideas for empowering students to trust their own perspectives, appreciate the practices required for the development of their writing, and recognize the value of their own voices.
Networking, Connection, and Chill Out Zone open
2:15–2:30 PM — Break
2:30–3:30 PM — Breakout Sessions Block 2 (concurrent)
Meeting Faculty Where They Are: A Partnership Approach to AI Literacy Instruction
Terezita Reyes Overduin, Librarian Faculty — Chaffey College
Carol Hutte, Librarian Faculty – Chaffey College
In an era of rapid AI adoption, librarians face a unique challenge: supporting faculty with vastly different perspectives and levels of comfort with artificial intelligence. Librarians Carol Hutte and Terezita Overduin have developed a partnership-based approach to AI literacy instruction that prioritizes faculty agency and validates their diverse stances on its use in the classroom. Whether an instructor wants to integrate AI tools into assignments, critically examine AI’s limitations and harms, or navigate the complex middle ground, we tailor our instruction to support their pedagogical goals and values.
During this session we will share practical strategies for building faculty trust and buy-in. We’ll demonstrate how to design flexible AI literacy instruction that addresses both opportunities and concerns while empowering faculty to make informed decisions aligned with their teaching philosophies. Attendees will leave with adaptable frameworks for partnering with faculty to transform AI uncertainty into meaningful learning opportunities for students.
Adios Imposter Syndrome: Serving Latine Students with Library Instruction
Evan Tucker, Instruction & Outreach Librarian – Mt. San Jacinto College
In a time when Hispanic Serving Institutions are under attack and the U.S. Supreme Court is allowing ICE to detain people based on their skin color, language, or accent, it is more important than ever to create liberatory and inclusive learning environments for Latine students. I argue for experimenting with ways to improve the how we serve Latine students and then incorporating what we’ve learned into our regular instruction practice. I will describe my experience with a workshop I developed called “Adios Imposter Syndrome: Demystifying Research with the Library”. I used this workshop to introduce students to information literacy skills and to demonstrate how these skills can be used to achieve their educational and career goals, and to assist their families and communities. Much of what I learned in offering this workshop I incorporated into my library instruction sessions, to better serve Latine students and other students of color.
Lightning Talks
Ctrl+Alt+SIFT: Rebooting Info Literacy for AI Times
Rayheem Eskridge, Research and Instruction Librarian – Cal Poly Pomona
“Brainrot” as Pedagogy: Harnessing Meme Culture Strategies for First Year Library Instruction
Kelsey Nordstrom-Sanchez, Research and Instruction Librarian – California State University Monterey Bay
Cards for Cartography: Gamification of Visual Analysis in the Map Library
Kristina Liv Larsen, Associate Curator – David Rumsey Map Center @ Stanford University Libraries
AI isn’t changing everything, yet.
Solomon Ameen, Research & Learning Librarian – University of California, Merced
Using a multi-modal approach to reach students with Critical Thinking Skills & AI Literacy
Michaela Ullmann, Head, Instruction & Assessment – University of Southern California Libraries
At the crossroads of Gen AI and Info Literacy
Elizabeth N. Tibbitts – California State University, Chico – Meriam Library
From Mayan Murals to Machine Learning: Reimagining One-Shot Instruction with AI, UDL, and Indigenous Perspectives
Lynda Letona, Academic Librarian – Napa Valley College
Networking, Connection, and Chill Out Zone open
3:30–3:45 PM — Break
3:45-4:45 PM — Breakout Sessions
The Care and Feeding of Data and Devices in Trying Times
Ellie Dimopoulos, Academic Librarian – University of the Pacific
This active presentation session will focus on creating strategies for good data hygiene that are easily accessible and memorable to both the general patron and techie alike. As the generalized uncertainty continues to build around digital safety, the one thing that is certain is that one’s personal digital footprint can create opportunities for community as well as peril. This presentation will highlight a few examples of how data brokers monetize and perpetuate opportunities for harm across multiple populations. It will also demonstrate how a few data points and habits that aren’t detrimental when viewed individually and out of context could be potentially damaging when bundled together. This session will focus on actionable mitigations that will benefit patrons during activities such as exercising the right to vote and protest, managing health data and using digital tools like Ai or social media. The overall goal will be to create and foster a more active mindset around information and digital literacy by grounding it in tangible examples that reflect today’s trying times.
Research for Real Life
Zia Davidian, Online Learning Librarian – San Francisco State University
This session introduces Research for Real Life, a workshop series at SFSU that aims to connect information literacy concepts to situations and resources that students encounter outside of academic life. Prompted by the Meta policy change last year to stop employing professional fact-checkers and content moderators, the first workshop of the series was Fact Checking presented in collaboration with the campus hub for student research. The workshop is structured around the ACT UP framework for evaluation, presenting each frame alongside a fact-checking tool and an example from the news or social media. Collaborating on these workshops is mutually beneficial – lessening the responsibility to become an expert in a potentially unfamiliar area, while introducing students to campus or community resources. An overview of the series and a condensed version of the interactive fact-checking workshop will be presented, and then participants will generate their own creative workshop ideas and share out.
Networking, Connection, and Chill Out Zone open
4:45–4:55 PM — Break
4:55–5:05 PM — Conference Closing by Vice-Chair Irene Korber
5:15–5:45 PM — Library Tour
5:15–6:15 PM — Happy Hour (no-host) @ Dust Bowl Brewing Co.
Parking Address: Depot Lot at 290 Figueroa St., Monterey, CA 93940
Parking Cost:
| $2.00/hour, $14.00 daily max; daily space $2.25/hour, $19.00 daily max; RV parking permitted | Credit Card/Coin: Pay by Plate at Pay Station or by ParkMobile App | Everyday 9am – 8pm |