Here are selected publications with brief abstracts… Also links to downloads
Elmborg, James “Libraries as the Spaces Between Us: Recognizing and Valuing the Third Space.” Reference and User Services Quarterly. 50:4 (2011). pp. 338-350.* Winner Reference Service Press Award, 2013.
This article presents a concept called “third space” to explore how library services might be imagined more creatively. Libraries are mostly thought of as “second space places. These spaces are clearly organized according to a master plan for ease of use for those who understand the plan. This article suggests that we could imagine libraries differently if we thought about concepts from human geography and urban design in managing libraries.
Elmborg, James “Libraries in the Contact Zone: On the Creation of Educational Space.” Reference and User Services Quarterly. 6:1 (2006). pp. 56-64. *Winner Reference Service Press Award, 2008.
“Contact Zones” are educational spaces where cultural expectations come into contact, often in relationships of unequal power. Students negotiate their academic identities in these zones. This article looks at libraries as contact zones and how this lens changes what we think libraries do.
Elmborg, James “Critical Information Literacy: Implications for Instructional Practice.” Journal of Academic Librarianship. 32:2 (2006). pp. 192-199. *Library Instruction Round Table Top Twenty Publications of 2006.
This article takes the concept of “critical information literacy” and expands it using ideas from critical pedagogy. Thinking about literacy this way changes literacy education away from the “banking model” that treats knowledge as a substance we put into people’s heads and moves it toward a model of shared responsibility for human growth and empowerment.
Translated into Spanish as: Elmborg, James. “Alfabetización Informacional Crítica: Implicaciones para la Práctica Educativa.” Boletin de la Asociacion Andaluza de Bibliotacarios. Num. 92-93, Julio-Diciembre, 2008. pp. 97-115.
Elmborg, James “Information Literacy and Writing Across the Curriculum: Sharing the Vision.” Reference Services Review. 31:1 (2003) pp. 68-80. *Library Instruction Round Table Top Twenty Publications of 2003).
Library instruction programs have traditionally partnered with writing programs, especially freshman composition programs, to teach research skills in context. This article suggests that we might expand the relationship with writing programs to “writing across the curriculum.” Doing so would provide meaningful context for getting past basic skills taught in freshman composition.
Elmborg, James “Teaching at the Desk: Toward a Reference Pedagogy.” Portal 2.3 (July 2002) pp. 455-464. *Winner Publication of the Year Award. Instruction Section. Association of College and Research Libraries. 2003.
What does it mean to be a librarian and a teacher? What if we saw the two roles as one and the same professional practice? How would it change reference if we saw it as a kind of academic conference, as opposed to a question-answering station? This article attempts to approach reference from this perspective, asking what kind of pedagogical traditions we might draw on if we want to teach at the desk.
James Elmborg 