The A.C. Clark Library offers library and information literacy instruction for on-campus students, distance learners, staff, faculty and the community.
Consistent with the A.C. Clark Library’s mission, the goal of the Library and Information Literacy Instruction Program, broadly, is to teach patrons how to find and how to use information.
Some examples of potential library and information literacy instruction sessions are listed below. This list is not comprehensive and sometimes two or more topics can be covered in a session, or multiple sessions can take place to provide more depth to the research process. Please contact Research and Instruction Services Librarian Patrick Leeport if you would like to know more or discuss how the library instruction program can serve you and your students. (**Note: Patrick Leeport is on sabbatical AY 2023-2024. Please contact the library’s reference desk with your requests or questions.)
- Physical tours of A.C. Clark Library
- Introduction to the library catalog and locating materials held at the library
- Introduction to online resources and locating scholarly articles
- In-depth instruction on specific library databases, disciplines or individual topics
- Identifying scholarly articles
- Evaluating the credibility of information sources
- Narrowing/broadening topics
- Finding reputable news sources
- Locating pro/con arguments
- Finding and using polling and statistical information
- Advance use of specific library collections such as:
Government documents, children’s/young adult fiction and non-fiction, special collections and print reference.
*Instruction relating to the University Archives is not available at this time.
Logistics
Any requests for library instruction can be sent to the Research and Instruction Services Librarian, Patrick Leeport. (**Note: Patrick Leeport is on sabbatical AY 2023-2024. Please contact the library’s reference desk with your requests or questions.) Often, upper level, discipline specific library instruction requests will be routed to the librarian who liaises with the department the course is listed in. If faculty prefer, they are welcome to contact their departmental library liaison directly.
When contacting a librarian about scheduling a session, sharing information about any research assignments, required sources, the number of students and possible dates is helpful. Scheduling in advance is greatly appreciated, as it allows the librarian teaching the session to create a more meaningful and relevant workshop.
Library instruction can take place in a variety of different classrooms and computer labs in the library, or the librarian can come to your classes’ usual meeting place.