Librarians collaborate closely with faculty and staff to embed information literacy and academic integrity into the curriculum. Instructors may request that librarians:
- Visit class for an instructional session or multiple sessions
- Conduct individual or small group sessions for specialized student training
- Develop assignments that teach and reinforce information literacy skills
- Assess students' information literacy skills
When requesting a class session, instructors are asked to:
- Provide at least two weeks' notice for the librarian to adequately prepare
- Develop goals for the instructional sessions - not just "show them the basics"
- Make time to talk to the librarian about your course and instructional session goals
- Provide details such number of students, length of session, etc.
- Use the Library's online instructional materials to get students up to speed on the basics to maximize the librarian's time with the students
Methods of delivery will vary between courses as appropriate for the subject area.
Library instruction is structured around professional standards. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) recommends a rigorous set of guidelines for teaching information literacy, called the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. The framework illustrates the complexity of information literacy and demonstrates that information literacy skills should be integrated at appropriate times during the research process. Briefly, the frames are:
- Authority Is Constructed and Contextual - Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used.
- Information Creation as a Process - Information in any format is produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method.
- Information Has Value - Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world.
- Research as Inquiry - Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry.
- Scholarship as Conversation - Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.
- Searching as Strategic Exploration - Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops.