Join us for this virtual conversation moderated by Brian Jackson (Associate Professor, MRU Library) and featuring information literacy scholar Barbara Fister who will discuss her recent work, “Lizard People in the Library,” the inaugural essay for the Project Information Literacy (PIL) Provocation Series. Participants are encouraged to read this article prior to the event to understand themes that will come up in the conversation. There will be time for an open Q&A at the end so be sure to bring questions that come up as you read the article.

Fister, a writer who recently published The Librarian War Against QAnon in The Atlantic, will probe the challenges with assigning inquiry and explore how educators can develop and support student engagement with the idea of information systems while moving past the conventional academic focus on “legitimate” information sources and the assumption of rational information seeking and consumption. 

More about Barbara Fister and PIL Provocation Series

Barbara Fister, Professor Emerita, Gustavus Adolphus College (MN), designed workshops and taught courses on information literacy at the college level for over 30 years. She is Contributing Editor for the PIL Provocation Series and was PIL’s Scholar in Residence during 2019- 2020. Fister recently published The Librarian War Against QAnon in the Atlantic in February 2021. 

Project Information Literacy, a research institute in the U.S. that studies students’ information practices, is offering virtual chats with PIL Provocation Series authors about their recent essays. Each essay in the PIL Series offers new insights, drawing from scholarship and the flow of current events to provoke thought and conversation among practitioners and across boundaries. 

The purpose of these virtual chats is to facilitate discussion and share ideas about improving teaching and learning while exploring new avenues for inquiry, experimentation, and further research.

This event is co-sponsored by MRU Library and Project Information Literacy, a nonprofit research institute.