Instruction Subcommittee Annual Report 2020

submitted by Angela Pratesi

Current Roster

  • Rachel Wishkoski (2021)

  • Veronica Wells (2021)

  • Grace Haynes (2022)

  • Angela Pratesi, chair (2023)  

  • Pete Williams (2023)

  • Lisa Wollenberg (2023)

  • Z. Sylvia Yang (2023)

  • Andrea Copland (2024)

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  • Develop a repository for music library instruction lesson plans. This repository could be part of an existing library instruction repository or a separate database. 
    • Goal Area: Advocacy. Objective 3. Publish open access content on the web.
    • Goal Area: Technology. Objective 2. Provide systems that support collaboration among members and that permit direct and timely publication of approved content to the web.
  • Members of the Music Instruction Repository Working Group have begun defining the scope and mission of the repository, identifying questions/tasks, identifying interests and expertise of task force members, and divvying up preparatory work. We appointed a member from outside the subcommittee, Allison McClanahan, to expand the breadth of our collective knowledge. The pandemic has significantly slowed the momentum we had in developing the repository.
  • With COVID-19 pushing instruction to online and asynchronous formats, Sylvia Yang proposed the development of the Online Instruction Working Group, which is made up of subcommittee members as well as MLA members who have presented on instruction topics at the Annual Meeting in recent years. This group is collecting and sharing resources and best practices for library instruction in an online learning environment.
  • Begin an instruction consultation service following the MLA Annual Meeting in Norfolk to build on the session “Instruction Inspiration: A Charrette for Music Instruction Librarians” presented by Instruction Subcommittee members.
    • Goal Area: Education. Objective 1. Increase enrollment in MLA-sponsored training and professional development programs.
  • Subcommittee members presented the interactive “Instruction Inspiration: a Charrette for Music Librarians” and “Toward Mutual Enlightenment: An information-Sharing Forum for Catalogers and Public Services Librarians” at the Annual Meeting in Norfolk.
  • Appoint an Instruction Consultation Service Working Group. This group was formed two-three weeks before COVID-19 shut down college and university campuses, thus diverting effort to our home institutions. Given the immediate and on-going stressors of the pandemic, we have intentionally slowed down the development and launch of this service.
  • Explore options for proposing one or more pre-conferences at one or more regional meetings in the coming years.
    • Goal Area: Education. Objective 1. Increase enrollment in MLA-sponsored training and professional development programs.
    • We opted to push this goal area to a future year in order to focus on other goals and respond to new needs/opportunities.

List of Future Goals

  • Continue developing an instruction consultation service.
    • Goal Area: Education. Objective 1. Increase enrollment in MLA-sponsored training and professional development programs.
  • Continue developing a repository for music library instruction lesson plans.
    • Goal Area: Advocacy. Objective 3. Publish open access content on the web.
    • Goal Area: Technology. Objective 2. Provide systems that support collaboration among members and that permit direct and timely publication of approved content to the web.
  • Develop next steps for the Framework Working Group to present and/or publish findings of a study conducted in 2018.
    • Goal Area: Advocacy. Objective 3. Publish open access content on the web.
    • Goal Area: Technology. Objective 2. Provide systems that support collaboration among members and that permit direct and timely publication of approved content to the web.
    • Goal Area: Education. Objective 1. Increase enrollment in MLA-sponsored training and professional development programs.
  • Continue the work of the Online Instruction Working Group by collecting, curating, and providing information and professional development related to teaching online.
    • Goal Area: Advocacy. Objective 3. Publish open access content on the web.
    • Goal Area: Technology. Objective 2. Provide systems that support collaboration among members and that permit direct and timely publication of approved content to the web.
    • Goal Area: Education. Objective 1. Increase enrollment in MLA-sponsored training and professional development programs.
  • Explore options for proposing and presenting instruction-related content at MLA Annual as well as regional meetings, with the possibility of expanding to a pre-conference(s) at these meetings, including the presentations “Everybody Teaches: Transferring Instructional Praxis Across Specialties and Services” and “Copyright Frames: Ways of Thinking, Ways of Teaching” (co-sponsored with Legislation Committee).
    • Goal Area: Education. Objective 1. Increase enrollment in MLA-sponsored training and professional development programs.