Library Services for Faculty

Customized Instructional Sessions

Librarians work with faculty to develop effective sessions for instructing students in the specific skills needed for a course assignments. Sessions are interactive and provide hands-on practice time for students. Sessions should be scheduled during regular class periods with instructors present and participating.

Assignment Design Assistance

Librarians can also assist in developing assignments that effectively incorporate information literacy skill development. Faculty bring to the table a high level of subject expertise and experience with student work -- librarians can provide expertise on information resources and our experience working with students.

Assessment

Librarians can develop exercises to be completed by students in a course to assess particular information literacy or research skills, and, when appropriate , the librarian can also grade or evaluate those exercises.

Customized Instructional Materials

Librarians can develop print or web handouts customized to your assignments and the resources you want your students to be aware of and use. Some examples include:

• List of available resources by topic
• Instructions for effectively searching a database
• Web pages with links to resources
• Instructions for individual research tasks (e.g., how to find book reviews, how to properly cite sources)

Librarians can also develop interactive tutorials or video tutorials that teach students research tasks they need to know in order to complete class assignments.

Students can meet with subject librarians 1:1 or in small groups for specialized research help. Appointments with librarians are proven to increase research confidence in students. Encourage your students to schedule an appointment with their subject librarian and consider incentivizing appointments by building them into assignments or offering extra credit. Let your librarian know if you plan on having your students make appointments and need a list of those who attend.