The pivot to online teaching caused by the COVID-19 pandemic enabled science and engineering librarians at Vanderbilt University to expand their teaching roles within graduate-level courses in biomedical engineering, chemistry, and physics. In addition to addressing traditional information literacy skills related to information retrieval and…

To better understand, articulate, and improve the academic library's impact on online populations, this two-phase mixed-method study examines library communication with online students and faculty. In phase I, online focus group participants responded to vignettes illustrating library communication scenarios. Results from phase I informed the…

Service-learning, a growing pedagogy in higher education, provides opportunities for students to contribute to communities and to reflect upon experiences ranging from direct service to advocacy. Librarians have an important but underutilized role in supporting service-learning as they contribute to institutional missions and the public purposes…

This case study provides insights into how one academic library scaled and structured its information literacy program for a rapidly growing online learning division. Particular attention is paid to strategies for reaching learners who bypass portions of the liberal studies requirements and techniques for designing information literacy modules…

This study examines the current attitudes of librarians toward the practice of librarians teaching classes beyond the domain of library skills and information literacy. An electronic survey was sent to ILI-L (Information Literacy Instruction List), the Association of College and Research Libraries library instruction e-mail list. The author…

Like most of its peer institutions, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries faced the challenge of meeting the needs of a growing number of students taking online courses. The author, hired as the new Virtual Learning Librarian in January 2016, was charged with creating a new Virtual Learning Program. This tutorials-based program was first…

In 1986, Constance Mellon found that 75 to 85 percent of undergraduate students experienced library anxiety as well as shame about their anxiety. Fifteen years earlier, Helen Block Lewis began her groundbreaking research in shame theory. This paper explores the affective components of library anxiety using the pioneering research of Constance…

This article describes how a first-year learning community combining library, archival, and digital literacies facilitated students' grasp of threshold concepts of academic research and writing. It argues that critical-rhetorical processes and pedagogies can help counteract neoliberal educational trends that interpellate students as consumers…

A strong position in the institution is vital for any academic library and affects its recognition, resourcing, and prospects. Higher education institutions are experiencing radical change, driven by greater accountability, stronger competition, and increased internationalization. They prioritize student success, competitive research, and global…

In the Spring 2017 semester, an instructional designer, a writing center coordinator, and a director of distance library services initiated a pilot project for a seven-campus, eight-satellite center, public university system to cross-train virtual writing tutors in baseline research skills. This case study describes the collaborative pilot…

This study shows the value of library instruction in the building of first-year students' information literacy skills and it illustrates librarians as partners in leading student learning outcome assessment. Using research papers from a required first-year course, raters from units across the institution evaluated student information literacy (IL)…

Our research examined the degree to which behaviors and learning associated with creativity and innovation were supported in five academic library spaces and three other spaces at a mid-sized university. Based on survey data from 226 students, we apply a number of statistical techniques to measure student perceptions of the types of learning and…

Employers are increasingly requiring a range of "soft" skills from chemistry graduates, including the ability to search for and critically evaluate information. This paper discusses the issues around encouraging chemistry students to engage with information skills and suggests curricular changes which may help to "drip-feed"…

Interdisciplinary approaches to research in the sciences have become increasingly important in solving a wide range of pressing problems at both global and local levels. It is imperative then that science majors in higher education understand the need for exploring information from a wide array of disciplines. With this in mind, interdisciplinary…

Library orientations continue to excite, or plague, instruction librarians everywhere. Reaching first year students early can preempt academic heartache and research woes, yet the question of "what students really need" continues to evolve. This article presents a case study of a large-scale implementation of library orientations. The…