This paper focuses on how one university library embarked on a journey to provide information literacy instruction when a change in curriculum altered the library's role in a first-term research methods course. Enter the Scholarly Skills Community: a virtual learning landscape, consisting of more than 20 modules designed to fill gaps in…

Librarians were concerned that transfer students' information literacy skills lagged those of their peers because transfers did not receive the library instruction that other students got in first-year classes. The investigators conducted semi-structured interviews with transfer students to answer two research questions: (1) How do transfer…

As our society continues to evolve at an ever-increasing rate, our higher education institutions, and the services they provide, must keep pace with societal changes in order to ensure that those services stay current and relevant. This program evaluation examines one such service, the research consultation model in University Libraries at the…

Every senior at Haverford College writes a thesis or its equivalent, conducting independent research with guidance from faculty and librarians. Students critically engage in investigative work in archives, field studies, and labs. In this article, librarians explore the way anthropology and history thesis writers do research to define paths toward…

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…

"Special Libraries, Special Challenges" is a column dedicated to exploring the unique public services challenges that arise in libraries that specialize in a particular subject, such as law, medicine, business, and so forth. In each column, the author will discuss public service dilemmas and opportunities that arise in special libraries.…

Why is it important to prove that school libraries add value to the school program? The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 20 percent of U.S. public schools lack a full or part-time certified librarian (NCES 2013). In California the ratio of certified school librarians to students is 1:7,374 (California Department of Education…

Dual credit students (those enrolled for both high school and postsecondary curricular credit) benefit from library instruction classes and provide an important opportunity for academic libraries to reach out to local K-12 schools. These classes benefit high school students whose excitement and enthusiasm make them uniquely open to acquiring…

This paper outlines the case studies of two librarians who work closely with graduate students in fine arts programs. Realizing that graduate students can often experience a unique form of research anxiety, both librarians collaborated with faculty to embed themselves into the research methods courses of their programs. Both librarians found that…

Since the wide-scale adoption of the ACRL "Information Literacy Standards" (2000), there have been numerous students who have graduated from universities that have formal library instruction programs. Currently there has been very little assessment of their post-graduate research skills or what role information literacy plays on workplace…

This article describes a role for the academic library in the campus outcomes assessment process and reports on a study to determine the impact of the Ohio State University (OSU) Libraries' instructional program on several required general education courses. Although university curriculum documents prescribe research-related learning objectives…

As community college learning resource centers deal more with student instruction, librarians are gaining credence as true educators. In an effort to reinforce library usage and understand teaching faculty constraints, some librarians--many of them teaching "drop-outs"--have returned to the classroom. This paper describes the experiences of one…

Discusses the need for interaction between teaching and library faculty to design undergraduate assignments that demand effective library use and research skills. Examples of appropriate assignments are given. (4 references) (CLB)

Discusses the role of the academic library in the support of nontraditional students, and offers several suggestions for effectively reacquainting these students with the library and developing their research skills. (CLB)

The need for a structure for the discipline of bibliographic instruction is discussed in the context of library instruction as a means of developing critical thinking skills in students, based on experiences with student patterns of thought. (MSE)