Faculty Toolkit

The Research & Instruction Services librarians are available to support your course's research and information literacy learning outcomes in a variety of ways. Request an information literacy instruction session with a librarian for your course by filling out this form. 

For any questions or to schedule a meeting to discuss instruction, research, scholarly communication, or other ways we may better support you, your students, or your department, email us at ask@hood.libanswers.com. 

Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning. These skills are fundamental not only to the way we approach scholarly research, but also to the way we engage with news, media, and other types of information in our day-to-day lives. 

The Research & Instruction Services team offers instruction services that focus on information literacy concepts and techniques in scholarly research. Our instruction is informed by the six frames identified in the Association of College and Research Libraries' Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education: 

• Authority is constructed and contextual;
• Information creation is a process;
• Information has value;
• Research is inquiry;
• Scholarship is a conversation; &
• Searching is strategic exploration.

Based on these six threshold concepts, instruction librarians can help students learn to:

• Understand the information landscape of a topic or discipline;
• Identify knowledge gaps and formulate research questions;
• Use multiple search strategies and tools to locate and access information sources;
• Evaluate information sources for their suitability to the need at hand;
• Produce particular types of assignments (e.g., annotated bibliography, literature review);
• Acknowledge the intellectual work of others through correct citation practices.

View the library's scaffolded information literacy learning outcomes here: bit.ly/ilslos2022.

Plan Ahead
Since we customize each library instruction session to your course and assignment, we ask that you submit an instruction request at least two weeks prior to the session. The advance notice makes scheduling sessions and reserving a classroom possible during the busiest times of the semester.

Collaborate With Us
The more we know about your course and your learning outcomes, the better we can serve your students' needs, so please plan to share your syllabus and research assignment with us. Knowing the goals of your course also helps us as we meet individually with students following a library instruction session. We are happy to discuss the various ways we might support you and your students both before and after library instruction. 

Prepare Your Students
Students benefit most from library instruction when it's connected to a research assignment or learning outcome in their course. Whether in one class period or multiple sessions, we can work with your students throughout all stages of the research process.  

Participate in the Session
Please request an instruction date when you are able to be present. Your active involvement in a session conveys to your students the importance of what we're doing and explicitly connects our instruction to the goals of your course.  

In addition to leading information literacy instruction sessions, the Research & Instruction Services team offers a variety of other types of instruction and support for you and your students:

• Faculty consultations: Email us to schedule an appointment with a librarian to discuss integrating information literacy and research support into your course or Blackboard site.
• Research guides: Connect students to our existing collection of research guides on each major subject, as well as on topics such as citing sources, writing a literature review, and using Zotero. Librarians can also create course-, subject-, or discipline-specific research guides to connect students with resources on any topic.  
• Workshops and events: Librarians run a series of drop-in workshops that focus on topics in information literacy and scholarship.
• Student consultations: Encourage your students to make appointments with Research & Instruction Services librarians to discuss their research. 
• Open educational resources: Talk with a librarian about how you might make learning materials more affordable and accessible for your students, both through course reserves and incorporating OER into your course.

Research and Instruction Librarians provide information literacy instruction for each section of the First Year Seminar (FYS). Library instruction for these sessions is tailored to the standard learning outcomes and assignments specific to the FYS program. If you are an FYS instructor, check out this guide to find more information and to schedule your instruction sessions.