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Faculty Library Guide

What new faculty need to know about the libraries

Instruction Request

Librarians can help your students learn the best ways to find and evaluate information by providing library instruction tailored to your course. Librarians can create custom-designed sessions to help your students learn about specific resources and research strategies. Request an instruction session or library tour using our Library Instruction Request Form. 

Library Instruction Options

  • Introduction to Library & Research Services (45 min.)
    • Tour of Library including service points (reference desk, circulation desk) and book stacks
    • Explore special collections that are relevant to course
    • Explore library website and online resources that are relevant to course
  • Learning about Sources (30 min.)
    • Students investigate a variety of source types and learn their differences and advantages
    • Sources may be books, journals, newspapers, primary sources, social media, or others depending on course needs
  • Citations (30 min., 45 min. if include citation software intro)
    • Students learn why we cite (give credit where it is due, citations as research resource)
    • Identify the parts of the citation
    • Practice creating citations
    • Track down sources from a citation
    • Introduction to Zotero citation management software
  • Keyword Brainstorming (30 min.)
    • Introduction to brainstorming and keyword formation
    • Mind map worksheet activity
  • Resource Searching and Assessing results (30 min.)
    • Demonstration of databases relevant to course including: Search tips, Navigating database search results, Keeping track of research
    • Students learn how to assess search results and adjust search methods accordingly
  • Deconstruct a Scholarly Article (30 min.)
    • Students learn to identify scholarly articles and understand what research is peer reviewed
    • Students learn how to find scholarly articles using library resources
    • Students do an activity that deconstructs the parts of a scholarly article
  • Active Learning & Research (30 min. or more)
    • Students conduct independent research in the Learning Lab with a librarian on-hand to provide research help and assistance
  • Guided Exploration of Collections (30 min. or more)
    • Students are guided in an exploration of specific library materials such as artists' books, zines, rare books, and institutional archives