Library Research: A Follow Up for Faculty

Yesterday, I wrote about an article that inspired me to think a little bit differently about how I will work with students during the new school year.  In that post, I noted that the original article included quite a few bits of information and I didn't get a chance to touch in my review.  However, after thinking about it a little bit more, there is one other issue discussed in the article that I think is really important.  And faculty, it deals with you!

The article points out that "teaching and library faculty are likely to have been...skilled researchers as undergraduates...[and] might have a hard time putting themselves in the shoes of a student who walks into the library knowing practically nothing."  Now, while I confessed yesterday that my undergraduate research skills were probably lacking, I know that we often see a disconnect between assignments and students' capabilities, here at the library.  When we work on the reference desk, we hear the questions and confusions that students have over assignments that have to do with scholarly resources and other library-related topics.  And for every question that we hear, we can probably safely assume that there are 10 other people with that question who aren't brave enough to approach the reference desk and ask it.

Because this is something that we librarians have been thinking about for quite awhile, we've come up with some good suggestions for helping you (faculty) build effective assignments that address library research and help develop critical thinking and inquiry skills.  Our webmaster posted a brief piece entitled "Designing library research assignments" last week during our Faculty Week series of posts and suggestions.  I definitely, definitely recommend that you peruse the whole piece; however, I can also briefly highlight the most important ideas communicated here.  When designing a research/library assignment:

• Communicate and collaborate with your College Librarian (me, in your case!)
• Consult the subject guides we've created for you and your students
• Set up a library tour with your College Librarian, or refer students to our regularly scheduled library tours
• Point students to our research portal and have them use our Research Paper Scheduler

As always, I'm happy to provide any support that you may need!  Simply contact me, and we can work together to design and execute efficient, successful research assignments!