We all love our library workshops, but library instruction can be so much more than that! These recently published articles in the library literature discusses some new or different activities that we can integrate into library classes and workshops to make them useful and engaging for students.
Kelly Giles, The Journal of Academic Librarianship – 2015
For courses and assignments that may not have a heavy research component, it is sometimes difficult to come up with activities that are still relevant to students. Giles replaces the oft maligned “Library Scavenger Hunt” with a narrative based mystery game that required students to use library resources and solve clues to find a stolen book. Student feedback on the game consisted of mostly favourable reactions and students reported being more familiar and comfortable with library resources and enjoying the activity as a whole.
Learning Information Literacy through Drawing
David James Brier & Vickery Kaye Lebbin, Reference Services Review – 2015
Challenging the high-tech instruction initiatives that often accompany information literacy instruction, Brier & Lebbin go to the drawing board (literally) to encourage students to examine and think critically about their own information seeking skills and practices. Using a collaborative speed drawing exercise in a series of first year English classes, students were able to visualize concepts of information seeking, searching, and information retrieval both as ice breaker activities and to review concepts from the workshops. This low-tech and cost-effective activity may break up the monotony of traditional information sessions.
Problem-Based Learning and Information Literacy
Kate Wenger, Pennsylvania Libraries: Research and Practice – 2014
In this pilot project for a History course, Wenger and the instructor worked together to create a long term assignment that asked students to work together to solve a specific problem – design a campaign to combat a specific type of sex, race, or gender discrimination. Attaching information literacy training to specific problem-solving activities helps remove the hypothetical demonstration element of library training and emphasizes the importance of library resources at the exact point of student need.
Want to talk more about new and interesting activities for your library instruction sessions? Feel free to get in touch with the Instruction Librarian Alli Sullivan or talk to your subject librarian.
