Faculty Collaboration with Librarians
Biology 14 Organisms and Population
Since 1996 reference librarians have been providing Biology 14 students library research skills workshops. Then, the sessions were presented as lectures, now it is entirely web-based. Bio14 Library Research is integrated into the Bio 14 lab curriculum and is a required, graded lab report. Tisch librarians work with the Bio 14 faculty and lab instructors teaching them how to effectively and successfully present the site to their students. Working in groups the students are required to identify a research topic, develop a research question, locate a variety of library resources on the topic and evaluate these resources. As individuals, the students are then asked to synthesize the information into a short paper. The use of this self-driven method of discovery and development allows students to learn important research skills and scientific resources at their own pace. It also exposes students to skills and sources that they have never used. One Bio14 student stated on the evaluation "I think this is an effective way to learn the basics of library research because it is a self-tutorial of what needs to be accomplished in order to understand how to do library research." Taking the time to integrate library research into your syllabus and curriculum provides your students with the skills and resources they need to become successful learners, researchers, and leaders!
Introduction to Psychology
For the past several semesters, the library has held mandatory workshops for Psyc 1 students. During this 50 minute session--organized with Psyc 1 instructors and held outside of class time--students are introduced to research methods for identifying and obtaining scholarly articles in psychology. The workshops are invaluable for students who might otherwise not use psychology resources systematically and have the secondary benefit of reducing dramatically the number of repetitive questions asked at the reference desk. A Psyc 1 student evaluated the workshop by saying
"I am better prepared because I had no prior knowledge of these resources. Now I feel more confident that I will find suitable information when I need to do my assignment."Dr. Phil Holcomb, Psyc 1 faculty member says
"The Psychology 1 instructor team feels very strongly that the library sessions have become an increasingly important part of our students' learning experience. We now know that the students who engage in these sessions learn more about the online services available through the library and then end up writing much better papers. We also now know that these students save an enormous amount of time and go on to use the skills in their more advanced courses. We would very much like for this service to become a permanent component of Psychology 1."Whether your class is small or large, a survey or upper-division course, consider building in time for a library workshop. Your students will thank you for it!
Explorations/Perspectives
Librarians teach workshops scheduled by Explorations and Perspectives leaders in order to provide support for the library paper component of the first year advising seminars. Library workshops focus on resources relevant to the diverse subject areas covered by these courses. Hands-on time is also provided for students to get a head start on their projects with a librarian available to answer individual research questions. Faculty advisors for Explorations and Perspectives may encourage their seminar leaders to schedule a library instruction session for their classes.
Faculty Teaching and Research Workshops
Tisch librarians recognize that faculty members have a variety of experience using today’s technologically advanced library. Accordingly, we have joined with CELT, the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, to offer an ongoing series of hands-on workshops to guide faculty to effectively integrate library resources and sophisticated search strategies into your courses and your own research.
During the 2006-07 academic year, workshops were offered on identifying and reducing plagiarism in the classroom, teaching with primary resources, and digital images. In addition, each fall, we offer a workshop for new faculty to bring them up to speed about library resources, services and collections. Over intersession, we offer classes on RefWorks, a bibliographic citation manager.
During the 2007-08 academic year, we are considering offering workshops on using “old” resources in new ways, tools for tenure (for junior faculty), and what faculty should know about information literacy.
If you have a suggestion for a particular workshop topic, or would like us to offer a workshop specifically targeted to your teaching department, just let us know. We can tailor our workshops or design new ones to achieve your goals.
Berger Technology Transfer Endowment Projects
One of the challenges inherent in creating the digital library is to retrain today's professionals to function in tomorrow's world, while at the same time preparing today's students and faculty to effectively use the technology. The successful integration of new technologies into the library and the classroom requires a partnership between talented, skilled faculty and librarians.
Each year, since 1997, teams of library staff and Arts and Sciences and Engineering faculty have entered into such partnerships to develop programs to explore the world of information technology in order to improve their skills, to transfer their discoveries to their colleagues, and to apply their discoveries to real issues within the University.
Earnings from the Berger Family Endowment provide support to be used by the teams. The funds are distributed through a competitive grant process described here. Previous awards are described here.