Library Instruction

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Butler University librarians partner as library liaisons to the University’s colleges and departments.  Your departmental liaison can work with you in teaching information literacy (IL) concepts in face-to-face teaching and via the online environment.  Liaisons can collaborate with you to design assignments with course-specific information literacy learning outcomes, teach library instruction sessions, and develop classroom activities, tutorials, and Libguides (subject guides) that support IL learning outcomes.

In addition to instructional support, liaison librarians select, acquire, and maintain discipline-specific resources for your college/department’s disciplines.  Contact your liaison to discuss needed databases, books, and media for your courses.

Ready to contact your liaison librarian? Visit the Butler Libraries Subject Liaisons page.

Information Literacy

Butler Librarians teach IL concepts and skills as outlined in the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, a set of learning thresholds developed by the Association of College and Research Libraries. The six threshold concepts that constitute the frames are:

• Authority is Constructed and Contextual
• Information Creation as a Process
• Information has Value
• Research as Inquiry
• Scholarship as Conversation
• Searching as Strategic Exploration

Librarians are also experienced in teaching the original Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, which the Framework has now replaced.

Your liaison librarian is eager to incorporate the Framework concepts when developing research assignments and library instruction for your course. For more information about how Butler librarians are incorporating the Frames into instruction, visit the Faculty Guide to Library Instruction: IL Framework.

Information Literacy and Butler’s Core Curriculum and Majors

Butler Librarians teach information literacy at various stages throughout a student’s undergraduate/graduate experience. Our engagement points are:

• First-Year Seminar—Students receive an introduction to information literacy concepts and skills through classroom library instruction session(s), learning activities, and assignments. Research is a defined learning outcome for the First-Year Seminar; check out the following links to learn more about the FYS research learning outcome: Core Curriculum, First-Year Seminar Learning Objectives and Critical information literacy skills to cover in FYS
• Discipline-specific instruction—Librarian liaisons work with their assigned majors/programs to target discipline-specific IL instruction at appropriate points within a curriculum (introductory, mid-level, capstone courses). Many of our librarians have worked with their departments to map where, within the curriculum, discipline-specific IL should be incorporated. Contact your liaison librarian to discuss discipline-specific information literacy opportunities.

Best Practices in Planning a Session

Information literacy instruction is most effective when it is fully integrated into the goals of your class. We can assist with:

• Designing an effective research assignment that introduces your students to the most useful library resources
• Determining the most appropriate type of library instruction needed: class session, LibGuide, handout, tutorial
• Scheduling library instruction to coincide with the time when students are working on their research assignments and are most motivated to learn

We usually provide instruction in Irwin’s Library Instruction Lab, which seats 36 and contains 18 laptops, but we can also come to your classroom. We need your presence and involvement in the planning and teaching of a library session to ensure that your students will be actively engaged. To provide additional research support for your students, we can schedule follow-up library lab days in IL119, encourage students to pursue individual research consultations with us, and welcome being included in your Canvas course environment.

Effective library instruction takes time to prepare. To ensure that your students will get the instruction when they need it, please contact your liaison librarian as far in advance as possible.

For more information about Butler Libraries’ library instruction initiatives, contact the Associate Dean for Instruction and User Services, Sally Neal, and visit Butler Libraries’ Libguide: Faculty Guide to Library Instruction.