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…

Librarians seek opportunities to improve outreach to faculty and promote shared interests in information literacy. A comprehensive review of syllabi for all undergraduate courses offered during one academic term examined course-level learning outcomes and graded assignments to see how well they aligned with the five Association of College and…

The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether there are relationships between first-year college students' use of academic libraries and four academic outcomes: academic engagement, engagement in scholarly activities, academic skills development, and grade point average. The results of regression analyses suggest students' use of books…

A century ago, a woman named Mary E. Hall convinced school leaders of the need for the professional school librarian--a librarian who cultivated a love of reading, academic achievement, and independent learning skills. After graduating from New York City's Pratt Institute Library School in 1895, Hall developed her vision for the high school…

EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) has been heavily used by UMUC students since its implementation in fall 2011, but experience has shown that it is not always the most appropriate source for satisfying students' information needs and that they often need assistance in understanding how the tool works and how to use it effectively. UMUC librarians have…

In this article, the authors discuss how the University of Rochester's two-year ethnographic study reveals what students do on campus and how the library fits in. Under Nancy Fried Foster's guidance, teams of librarians and staff conducted a two-year investigation. The goal: to improve the libraries' reference services, facilities, and web pages…

This manual describes the library instruction program taken as a part of English 200/201 at Utah State University. This manual is meant to be read after completing Project FORE, a computer-assisted instruction program at Merrill Library (Utah State University). Project FORE and this manual review the skills needed to retrieve information on…

The emphasis in the Wabash project is on "gates" because the whole span of research opens through about eight different families of resource materials -- catalog, bibliography, encyclopedia, handbook, index, dictionary, abstract, book review source. (36 references) (Author)

Summarizes the literature which examines the formal and informal methods by which library reference services instruct the library user in the pursuit of information. (FM)

This description of the process used and the problems encountered by an amateur super 8 film maker in producing a 13 minute film on a limited budget for use in formal library instruction at the University of California at Berkeley, provides practical advice to prospective film makers contemplating a similar project. The film uses animation to…

Intended for school librarians, the guide describes a 9-week course of study in library reference skills for junior high academically talented students. The course description is presented in a thematic day-by-day and week-by-week format designed for one-to-one and small group instruction. Lesson plans include information on time requirements,…

Librarians at Rutgers Law Library developed new programs of assistance to students which included: individualized instruction; inclusion of library information materials in registration packets; tours, workshops for introductory classes, printed guides; one-time classes on various subjects; and a newsletter. (LS)

University of South Florida librarians developed 1) a library lecture series in which presentations were faculty-initiated and tailored to each situation; and 2) a course to help students develop library skills. A computer analysis of library statistics showed increased student library use since the course has been given. (LS)

Teaching critical thinking is a relatively new dimension of bibliographic instruction (BI) in the academic environment. It marks a departure from the teaching of "user skills" in which the primary concern is enabling library patrons to determine the appropriateness of reference tools and to use those tools effectively. This report assembles a…

The Orientation and Training Task Force of the Temple University Library was charged by the Director of the Central Library System (CLS) in October 1987 to develop plans for a three-level program, including an orientation component for all CLS staff, a second component for staff who regularly work at any public service point, and a third component…