Integrating Information Literacy and Evidence-Based Medicine Content within a New School of Medicine Curriculum: Process and Outcome

This column describes a process for integrating information literacy (IL) and evidence-based medicine (EBM) content within a new school of medicine curriculum. The project was a collaborative effort among health sciences librarians, curriculum deans, directors, and faculty. The health sciences librarians became members of the curriculum committees, developed a successful proposal for IL and EBM content within the curriculum, and were invited to become course instructors for Analytics in Medicine. As course instructors, the librarians worked with the other faculty instructors to design and deliver active learning class sessions based on a flipped classroom approach using a proprietary Information Mastery curriculum. Results of this collaboration may add to the knowledge base of attitudes and skills needed to practice as full faculty partners in curricular design and instruction.     

Reference for the Remote User Through Embedded Librarianship

Embedded librarians serve an important role in assisting remote users. Despite the varying degrees of embeddedness, all maintain the goal of ensuring the same high-quality reference and instruction services that users have come to expect from the traditional library setting. Embedded librarians select and use technology that most effectively meets the needs of this unique user group. This technology can include the library Web site, course management systems, research guides, lecture and screen capture software, remote reference (including telephone, chat, and email), web conferencing, online survey tools, citation management, and social media.     

Get the cite right: Design and evaluation of a high-quality online citation tutorial

As part of a library initiative to foster information literacy, promote academic integrity, and prevent inadvertent plagiarism, a high-quality online tutorial was designed to teach students to cite sources properly. The development of this tutorial, APA Exposed: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About APA Format but Were Afraid to Ask, was a collaborative endeavor among research and instruction librarians, learning technology specialists, and an instructor. This study employs a mixed-methods research approach that combines the use of multiple data sources – an online survey, website visitor-tracking software, e-mail correspondence, and a Google search – to evaluate the quality and efficacy of the tutorial. Analyses of online survey data indicate 98% of survey respondents found the tutorial useful or very useful. All of the respondents reported the tutorial improved their understanding of APA style. In addition, 93% of respondents said they planned to use this tutorial as a reference resource in the future and 99% said they would recommend the tutorial to others. The online tutorial received an average of 1055 visits per month. The findings of this study indicate that there is a need for high-quality online citation instruction and that the tutorial meets this need. Providing effective citation instruction online not only benefits tutorial participants but also research and instruction librarians as they can now allocate limited library resources to areas of instruction other then proper citation techniques.     

Assessment,Analytics, and Analysis: Demonstrating the Impact of LMS Embedded Librarians on Student Learning

Librarians are committed to supporting teaching, learning, and research. They are equally committed to supporting student success and retention. Demonstrating the impact that learning management system (LMS) embedded librarians make on student learning has been difficult to correlate, however. Studies that assess this connection, using qualitative and quantitative data have been undertaken in recent years. In a university regional campus library study conducted in 2016–2017, LMS embedded librarians explored the relationship between student learning and information literacy instruction, relying primarily on a customized LMS embedded librarian page of library resources and learning objects. They used a rubric to assess student research papers and bibliographies, LMS course analytics, instructors’ grades, and student feedback. This article reviews the literature and their methodology, challenges, and findings. They wish to guide colleagues, committed to assessing how librarians contribute to student learning, in selecting assessment approaches and validate their instructional role.     

Framework + digital badges = online instruction for today

This case study evaluates the process of developing modules for inclusion in a learning management system that are informed by the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education (2015). A replicable, transparent process was used to match more task-oriented topics suggested by librarians and teaching faculty to the Framework. As more and more students receive instruction online it is important for academic libraries to provide robust services to those users within the LMS as well as outside of it. By providing instruction within the LMS that is tied to the Framework, and by using digital badges to make the exploration of information literacy more obvious to students, instructors, and librarians, libraries can develop instruction that meets users at their point of need and provides content while lowering the need for direct librarian involvement in all online courses.     

Innovation and Collaboration Brings Forth a New Approach to Bibliographic Instruction—Teach the Teachers

ABSTRACT

In 1994, the librarians at the University of Toledo's Carlson Library developed a bibliographic instruction program that is both efficient and successful. “Teach the Teachers” has been implemented in the English Department's Composition classes where it depends on the collaborative efforts between librarians and classroom instructors in assuring solid student library skills. The program philosophy shifts a librarian's teaching efforts from teaching the student to teaching the instructor. Librarians empower classroom instructors with the knowledge to teach basic information retrieval skills. This paper will discuss the development of the program, as well as the techniques used by both librarians and classroom instructors.     

A Reflective Teaching Journal: An Instructional Improvement Tool for Academic Librarians

This article explores the practice of keeping a reflective teaching journal to improve classroom instruction. Reflective practice and journaling have a rich tradition in the teacher education field. Accordingly, the teacher education literature provides the starting point for this case study of keeping a reflective teaching journal for library sessions given to first-semester freshmen enrolled in a learning community. The journaling process proved useful by helping to improve instruction while also providing a mechanism to link theory with practice.     

A university library management model for students’ learning support

Abstract

This research was aimed at developing a university library management model that would support students’ learning. The research was conducted in three phases: 1) an investigation into the requirements of a university library service of instructors; 2) an investigation into the attitudes of librarians, libraries’ administrators, and university’s administrators toward the roles of library and policy concepts relating to university library management that promote students’ learning; and 3) the development of a university library management model for students’ learning support. A mixed research method was applied comprising qualitative and quantitative approaches. Data was collected using in-depth interviews and questionnaires. The findings have led to a proposal of a university library management model that supports student learning, which is comprised of five components: 1) management policy and system; 2) learning resources; 3) learning support services; 4) learning environments; and 5) the competency and roles of information professionals. It can be stated that studies into Thai university library implementation, strategic plans, and self-assessment reports under the quality assurance system showed that even though libraries have updated resources and services following changing situations in policies, technologies, and users’ needs, there is no clear indicator that Thai university libraries have any strategy for acquiring roles to support students’ learning with practical outcomes. Through reliable research work, this study into a model for university library management would result in a means of developing university libraries that truly supports university student learning based on information from instructors, library administrators, and librarians.     

WorldCat Local and Information Literacy Instruction: An Exploration of Emerging Teaching Practice

Since the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) unveiled its WorldCat Local library catalog discovery layer in 2008, library instructors have debated how to incorporate this tool into their teaching. WorldCat Local's faceted searching brings both educational benefits and unexpected challenges to the classroom. Instructors frequently hold formal and informal discussions on such topics as which search features are most effective during teaching and which patron groups benefit most from this tool. The authors of this article surveyed instruction librarians at U.S. academic libraries that are using WorldCat Local in order to gather and organize this feedback. This article presents the findings of this survey.     

Telling their stories: A study of librarians' use of narrative in instruction

Narratives are the heuristics the brain uses to make sense of the world. When they are embraced in teaching, they make the process more efficient, engaging and enjoyable for both students and instructors. While the insights of psychologists, neuroscientists and education researchers into the cognitive and affective mechanisms of meaning-making are not new, capitalizing on these insights in order to engage and instruct is part of a recent trend of evidence-based educational practices. This study is unique in that it uses a phenomenological methodology and semi-structured interviews with 19 academic librarians who teach in Canadian higher education institutions to determine what narrative tools or approaches they use, and to what extent these practices may enrich both their outcomes and their teaching praxis. The authors document the variety of ways in which librarians use narrative techniques instinctively, categorizing these teaching narratives into concepts with more granular themes. A purposeful use and reuse of these narrative techniques, the authors hope, will help inform librarian teaching and reflective practice.     

Faculty and Instructor Perceptions of Open Educational Resources in Engineering

As open education initiatives aiming to lower the cost of course materials appeared at two universities, librarians became involved in identifying open educational resources (OERs) for university courses. However, when considering a number of subject areas—particularly in colleges focused on upper-division instruction—librarians encountered problems related to the availability of resources and materials selection processes. For this project, librarians selected one prominent subject area at their respective institutions—engineering—and worked to identify best practices for introducing OERs into courses. They surveyed engineering faculty and instructors to better understand their perceptions and needs related to OERs and, based on this work, they suggest best practices for liaison librarians in specialized fields who wish to incorporate OERs into their outreach work with a focus on upper-division courses.     

Collaborating in Research: Embedded Librarianship in the Learning Management System

Academic librarians engage students in the learning management system to provide information literacy instruction and answer individual reference questions related to scholarly research. When collaborating with faculty, embedded librarians deliver the library’s authoritative electronic resources to students working on research projects. Trends in academic publishing and technological innovations make possible online search for a generation reliant on mobile devices. Although students are able to access much digital content available through academic libraries and open access initiatives, they still appreciate guidance from embedded librarians who visit their learning management system courses to explain the complexities of scholarly research and suggest solutions.     

EndNote and Reference Manager Citation formats compared to "instructions to authors" in top medical journals

The study compared citation format in EndNote version 7 and Reference Manager version 11 with the citation format for references found in the instructions to authors from the most significant medical literature. The resulting information should be very useful to those who depend on citation management software to format and organize their references for publication in medicine, and librarians and others who teach the use of citation management software.     

Situating Expertise in Practice: Domain-Based Data Management Training for Liaison Librarians

The research data management team at the University of California, Berkeley implemented a domain-based Librarian Training Program in order to upskill liaison librarians in research data management principles and create a community of practice among librarians providing research data support. The training program partnered with representatives from each subject division of the Library to integrate content from relevant disciplines. The training model emphasized scaffolding and concrete deliverables, teaching specific tools and concepts, and creating learning objects useful for instruction and outreach. Employing a situated, learning-based, pedagogical model, the program was more successful than previous attempts at library-wide research data management training at Berkeley. This analysis details the program management, curricular design, instruction, and outcomes that made the Library Training Program successful.     

A Method for Evaluating Library Liaison Activities in Small Academic Libraries

ABSTRACT

This article presents a practical method for formative, self-reflective assessment of the liaison activities of individual librarians and to evaluate liaison activities in general. Many libraries evaluate their liaison programs, but few evaluate the effectiveness of individual librarians’ efforts within the program. Librarians of Rollins College redefined and re-branded their liaison program as “Your Librarian.” As part of this effort, the author surveyed the faculty and assessed the program and the effectiveness of individual librarians. The author outlines the liaison responsibilities, the survey instrument, and how the results are analyzed and used in a process of continuous reflective improvement for the program and librarians.     

Answer me these questions three: Using online training to improve students’ oral source citations

This experimental study examines an online module designed to increase student competence in oral citation behavior using a mastery training strategy. Students in the experimental condition provided complete citations at a higher rate and provided more citation information for traditional and web-based sources compared with a control group without required training. Although subjective norms set by instructors also influence citation behavior, the general trend depicted was that students completing the required module training performed more complete citations. Implications for student learning, mastery instruction, and course assessment were considered to be generally beneficial and at minimal cost.     

高校图书馆虚拟参考咨询服务对学生信息查询行为的指导策略

高校图书馆虚拟参考咨询服务是支持学生学习的一个重要途径,文章基于教育学原理总结出一些参考咨询员可以用来提升学生信息查询行为的指导策略,在提供咨询服务的同时,激发学生的学习积极性和实践能力,从而提升其信息查询能力。     

Supporting Evidence-Based Medicine: A Survey of U.S. Medical Librarians

This study sought to identify medical librarians’ roles in supporting evidence-based medicine (EBM) practice; determine whether medical librarians’ work settings, work experiences, or job titles made a difference in their EBM responsibilities; and find out medical librarians’ perceptions of their roles in EBM practice. An online survey was distributed to U.S. medical librarians. The results showed that medical librarians had positive perceptions of their EBM-related responsibilities, which were diverse and specific. Their work experience, work settings, and job title categories related to some of their EBM responsibilities, as well as the nature of some of the responsibilities.     

Focused Library Instruction for Occupational Therapy,Physical Therapy,and Respiratory Care Students and Faculty: Library Instruction in Allied Health

The integration of librarians into allied health programs presents many exciting opportunities for collaboration. This column will describe how a library instruction program is integrated into the occupational therapy, respiratory care, and physical therapy curricula at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The allied health faculty have welcomed and recognized the librarians’ expertise in teaching evidence-based practice and library research skills.