Outside Resources
Instructional Design & Materials
Create lesson plans and learning objects
Literally formatted like cookbooks—complete with prep time, ingredients (materials), and step-by-step instructions. No fluff, just grab-and-go lesson plans you can adapt for your class tomorrow. From teaching primary sources to tackling misinformation, there's a recipe for almost everything.
Including The Open Science Cookbook (2025), The Data Literacy Cookbook (2022), The Scholarly Communications Cookbook (2021), The Teaching with Primary Sources Cookbook (2021), The Critical Thinking about Sources Cookbook (2020), The Library Outreach Cookbook (2020), The Sustainable Library's Cookbook (2019), The Library Assessment Cookbook (2017), The First-Year Experience Cookbook (2017), The Discovery Tool Cookbook (2016), and The Embedded Librarian's Cookbook (2014). Basically, if you teach it, there's probably a cookbook for it.
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox
The community library for Framework-aligned teaching materials. Search by Frame, discipline, or format to find lesson plans, assignments, slides, and assessments that other librarians have actually used. It's crowdsourced, adaptable, and a great place to start when you need inspiration.
Communications in Information Literacy (CIL)
An open-access, peer-reviewed journal that's academic and practical. The Innovative Practices column is the real gem: detailed case studies of creative teaching with the why-it-works explanation included.
Featured Online Learning Objects (FOLO) Committee
Formerly PRIMO, now a curated showcase instead of a giant database. Each semester, they spotlight a few exceptional tutorials or modules and interview the creators about their process. It's like a masterclass in digital instruction design—perfect for benchmarking your own work or stealing ideas from the best.
Practical, peer-to-peer, and refreshingly jargon-free. This publication is all about what actually works in the classroom: lesson plans, active learning strategies, tech reviews. If you need something you can use next week, start here.
Professional Groups & Networking
Connect with colleagues
ACRL Distance Learning Section Instruction Committee
Your people if you teach online, hybrid, or to students you'll never meet in person. They run webinars on accessibility, LMS integration, and screen-based engagement. The annual Virtual Poster Session is a treasure trove of creative solutions for distance learning challenges.
The mothership. This is the biggest group of teaching librarians in ACRL and the home of the Information Literacy Framework itself. Join for committee work, mentorship programs, and access to ILI-L—the discussion list where thousands of instruction librarians swap ideas, troubleshoot problems, and share wins in real time.
ACRL Information Literacy Immersion Program
The most sought-after professional development for instruction librarians. This intensive bootcamp challenges everything you think you know about teaching and rebuilds it from the ground up. Alumni consistently say it transformed their how they teach. Apply early—acceptance is limited and competitive.
Lifelong Information Literacy (LILi)
Bridges the gap between K-12, academic, public, and special libraries. Their free annual conference and Show & Tell webinars are great for understanding what students learned (or didn't) before they got to you. Super useful if you care about the high school-to-college transition.
Continuing Education
Expand your skills
ACRL Free Professional Development Opportunities
All of ACRL's free training in one place: webcasts, discussion forums, author talks, and a massive YouTube archive. Bookmark this and keep your skills sharp without spending a dime.
The central hub for professional development across all ALA divisions. Use the "Free Training" filter and the "Information Literacy & Library Instruction" subject heading.
Free streaming panels on big-picture trends: copyright, privacy, ed tech, you name it. Vendor-supported so it costs you nothing. Watch live or catch the archive later.
Instruction in Libraries and Information Centers: An Introduction
By Laura Saunders and Melissa A. Wong. Open-access textbook that makes learning theory make sense. Covers everything from backwards design to inclusive teaching. Perfect for library school students or anyone who feels like they're winging it in the classroom.
Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Webinars
Practical webinars with slides and recordings. Focused on the how-to rather than the theory.
Free webcasts on timely topics plus paid online courses and summits. Great for staying current without leaving your desk.
