Nicole Pagowsky is Liaison Program Lead at the University of Arizona Libraries. Nicole’s specializations and research interests include library instruction programs, library labor and value, critical policy studies, and qualitative methods. Since 2015, she has been adjunct faculty with the College of InfoSci and teaches LIS 581: How to teach information literacy.
Nicole also holds a second Master's in Instructional Design, and is a PhD Candidate with the College of Information Science. See this site’s PhdWork page for information about Nicole’s dissertation research and Spring 2026 defense and publication.
Nicole is the 2021 recipient of the ACRL-IS Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award, recognizing her impactful contributions to the field in library instruction and critical librarianship.
Most recent news
Co-presented “Information Literacy Instruction in a Post-Liaison World (recorded July 22, 2025)” for The Ohio State University Libraries’ Teaching Information Literacy Workshop Series.
Big Ten Academic Alliance keynote presentation available via repository: Orchestrating the critical: Library instruction programs and our labor (April 18, 2024)
College & Research Libraries special issue (September 2022) - guest editor; and author, Critique as Care: Disrupting Narratives of the One-Shot Instruction Model (Introduction to the special issue)
C&RL Guest Editorial, The Contested One-Shot: Deconstructing Power Structures to Imagine New Futures (May 1, 2021) ~ Article selected as an ALA-LIRT Top 20 Instruction Article for 2021 link