Davidson College Library        Library Instruction Program Support for Teaching and Research at Davidson College

Information for Faculty Are your students' research skills up to Davidson standards? Would you like your students to learn how to locate and evaluate appropriate information resources for their projects? Are you concerned about students' indiscriminate use of the Internet? Do your students need to use specialized tools or materials in order to complete an assignment? The Library can help! Today's students enjoy unprecedented levels of access to information, but, quite understandably, many are overwhelmed by the number and variety of information resources available to them. The Davidson College Library's Instruction Program is designed to help students acquire the skills, competencies, and confidence they need in order to become information literate, life-long learners. To this end, we provide formal and informal opportunities for students to develop their critical thinking skills, acquire expertise in using research tools, and gain proficiency in identifying, locating, and evaluating information. Library Sessions Schedule a library session, and a librarian will meet with your class and help your students learn about the resources and strategies that are most appropriate for their assignments, research topics, or expertise. Each session is unique because it is individually designed to meet the needs of you and your students. Possible topics include: Research methods (general, subject-specific, or discipline-specific) Locating, selecting, and evaluating Web resources Database training Identifying and using primary resources, archival materials, and other special materials Most sessions are fifty minutes or longer and take place in the Library's Electronic Classroom, which contains state-of-the-art equipment for hands-on learning. Librarians can also come to your classroom, if you wish. In addition, sessions can be scheduled outside of regular class times. To schedule a session, or to learn more about what the Library can do for your class, please contact Susanna Boylston, Head of Library Instruction and Collection Development (704.894.2494). Research Consultations Research consultations provide students with the opportunity to meet individually (or in small groups) with a librarian to discuss possible information resources and search strategies for class assignments, papers, presentations, honors theses, and the like. Meetings usually last thirty minutes to an hour. We offer consultations for faculty too! To schedule a research consultation, please complete the Research Consultation Request Form or contact Susanna Boylston, Head of Library Instruction and Collection Development (704.894.2494). Other Support Services In addition to providing scheduled library sessions and consultations, librarians can support your teaching in a variety of ways: Subject Guides and Bibliographies At your request, librarians can prepare custom-designed guides and bibliographies for a specific assignment or for a series of assignments. These guides can be produced in Web, pdf, or paper formats. In addition, the librarians can update these guides each semester, so that you can be sure that you have the most current information about available resources and services. Contact Susanna Boylston (704.894.2494) for more information about this service. Support for Blackboard Librarians can help you develop your course pages in Blackboard. We can provide guides for uploading, links to Library resources, and more. If you wish, we can also participate on discussion boards and answer students' questions about research. Please contact Susanna Boylston (704.894.2494) for more information. Support for Assignment Development Are you creating or updating assignments that require students to use library resources? We can help. Librarians have a unique perspective; we help students acquire the skills and resources needed to complete your assignments, so we often know when and where students are having problems. Not only can we provide you with updated bibliographies and resource guides, but we can also suggest ideas, help you "road test" an assignment before you distribute it, and provide you with feedback later. For more information, please contact Susanna Boylston (704.894.2494). Other Ideas Do let us know how we can support your teaching! We are at your service.

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