The Library and First-Year Seminars

Information literacy goals are best achieved under a set of certain optimal conditions.  We have determined through various forms of assessment that course-integrated instruction sessions are most effective and final projects are of a better quality when:

• Some of the allotted class time is devoted to active learning;
• Several meetings with a librarian are scheduled;
• The instruction remains focused on only one or two concepts per session;
• The instruction takes place in a room which allows every student access to a computer;
• The first-year seminar professor requires students to complete graded homework exercises to reinforce the concepts learned in class;
• The first-year seminar professor requires students to complete a research-inclusive project, weighted relatively heavily in relation to the class grade, that includes the skills learned in individual library sessions;
• The first-year seminar professor is highly engaged in the session (for example, by being present during the session, emphasizing the importance of the session, participating in classroom discussion, helping to design assignments, etc.); and,
• The first-year seminar professor includes the library liaison as a resource on the class syllabus, in Moodle, on assignment sheets, and other class materials.