We often see the best work from students when we are able to have meaningful collaboration between instructors and librarians. Teaching information literacy is more than simply teaching research skills; it teaches students to cultivate effective search strategies when they are looking for information, and a critical attitude toward the information they do find. To create more effective researchers in the current information landscape, information literacy training can be integrated into everyday coursework by constructive partnerships with your subject librarian.
Redesigning Library Instruction: A Collaborative Process
Melissa Ringle, Indiana Libraries – 2014
Ringle suggests that the traditional one-shot method of library instruction that many of us are familiar with is somewhat ineffective for the unique blend of students we get in the library at this point in time. The younger digital natives are bored by the perspective of learning research skills while non-traditional students may be overwhelmed by the technologically mediated world of research today. To combat this, Ringle points to strong collaboration with faculty members as the key to redesigning information literacy instruction. In this article, she provides several tips and tricks for librarians and faculty to work together.
Kara J. Malenfant, College and Research Libraries – 2015
In an effort to educate faculty on the constantly shifting practices in scholarly communication issues, the University of Minnesota instituted a change in the position descriptions of their liaison librarians that asked them to perform scholarly communication outreach. This largely involved becoming well versed in their subject area’s current practices, how they are changing, and how they hope to support faculty’s and students’ academic publishing and communication practices. This article uses interviews to discuss the change management, challenges, and triumphs involved in such a wide-scale and somewhat radical change to the liaison librarians’ job descriptions.
It Takes a Village to Design a Course: Embedding a Librarian in Course Design
Alex Mudd, Terri Summey, and Matt Upson, Journal of Library and Information Services in Distance Learning – 2015
The ways that librarians can become embedded in courses is numerous and in this article, Mudd, Summey, and Upson suggest a few different ways that librarians are asserting themselves in embedded coursework. They suggest that faculty take advantage of librarians not just as information experts but also as valuable collaborators in course development, assignment design, and learning technologies (like course management software). By involving librarians in the course design from the beginning, instead of as a one-shot afterthought, students will be more prepared for and perform better on their research assignments.
Want to learn more about collaborating with librarians? Want to embed a librarian in your course? Feel free to get in touch with Alli Sullivan, the Instructional Services Librarian, or your subject librarian.
