Information Literacy (IL) is a critical thinking skill that must be developed over time. A single, one-hour library session will not, in and of itself, instill the higher order skills needed for competency in IL. Information Literacy is the responsibility of all academic areas of the College, including the Core Curriculum (Foundations), majors, the All-College Honors Program, and supporting units such as the Griff Center for Academic Engagement. The library’s instructional programs are intended support each of these areas with programming that will help to introduce and reinforce the six frames of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.
As noted above, the Canisius University library instruction program is based on the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. We offer a range of topics related to the Framework and academic integrity, and we have established the following guidelines in order to ensure effective library instruction for Canisius University students.
- Connect the library with your class: Share your belief in the value of information literacy. Students who see the information literacy connection among your course, the field of study, and library instruction will get more out of the session. We invite your assistance in the planning and execution of the session in order to meet curricular goals.
- Participation: Instructors are encouraged actively participate in the library instruction session. We invite you to contribute to the class discussion.
- Instructor Attendance: When your students see you actively engaged with the instructional process, they will begin to understand why you value the skills of information literacy. In addition, there are times when students may have questions that can best be answered by you.
- Assignment Submission: All sessions should be connected directly to an academic assignment. Instructors are required to submit to the Library Instruction team the assignment upon which the session or sessions will be based. Sessions may be cancelled if there is no assignment submitted.
- Online Tutorials for Students: The Instruction team is using the “Flipped Classroom” model to structure instructional sessions. This means that in many cases, students will be asked to complete one or more online tutorials on the Information Literacy topic/s being covered in the session, in advance of the scheduled session. It is vital that ALL students complete all elements of the tutorials, including the quizzes. We strongly encourage instructors to make this a graded portion of their course so that students will take the tutorials seriously. The Instruction team can assist instructors with embedding the tutorials into their courses. We are able to see completion rates and quiz scores for each student, so should it become clear that the majority of students have NOT taken the tutorials, the session may be either postponed until they do, or they will do the tutorials in the session and schedule a follow up session, taking precious time out of the course schedule. This policy can be negotiated, depending on the nature of the instructional session being planned.
- Scheduling: All library instruction requests should be made at least 2 weeks prior to the session date. These requests are to be made online: http://library.canisius.edu/instruction-booking-form
Library Instruction is most effective at point of need so please schedule your session to coincide with the timeline of the assignment. If your class schedule changes or you believe you have scheduled your session too early, we are happy to reschedule with advance notice; please notify the instruction coordinator as soon as possible if you need to reschedule a session.
- Librarian Observation: As part of our ongoing assessment activities, the library session may be evaluated by another librarian for peer review purposes. Please note that this is an evaluation of the librarian teaching the session, not of the class instructor or the course.
