Library Instruction Faculty Tips

To ensure a successful library instruction session for you and your students:

Have your students meet at the library rather than your usual classroom. This is especially important if you have a 50-minute class. The time it takes for you to walk to the library classroom will take away from valuable instruction time. Leave a note on your regular classroom door to remind forgetful students of the class location.

Give the librarian a copy of your students’ research assignment. The librarian can investigate potential resources in advance and determine which sources will work best with your assignment.

Provide the librarian with some of your students’ chosen research topics, if known. If they haven’t chosen topics, provide the librarian with some of the topic examples you have given your students or topics that former students have used.

Make sure your students are prepared for their library visit. If they will be doing research, have them pick possible topics in advance so that they can use the time spent at the library doing actual research for their projects. Suggest that they also pick a backup topic in case they find that information on their topic is not widely available.

Join in the session! You might just learn something new. And you might ask some great questions that your students are too afraid to ask. Even a simple comment about “that’s a great resource” will validate the information the librarian is teaching and pique your students’ interest.

Feel free to interrupt and redirect the librarian if the session is straying away from your students’ needs. You know best what kinds of sources you expect your students to use in their research. If the librarian starts showing web sites and you do not want your students searching the web, let the librarian know so that he/she can move on to something else your students might find useful.

NOTE: Don’t have a research paper but still want to bring your students to the library? Chat with one of your favorite librarians about useful learning activities that can involve library research. Library research doesn’t always have to involve a term paper.

Maintained by: R. Botkin-Instruction Librarian
rose.l.botkin@lonestar.edu