Library Instruction West 2018

There are a number of well-trodden paths for integrating library instruction to support traditional research papers, which often lend themselves to lessons exploring the research process and topics like authority and bias. Non-traditional research projects however, especially in discipline-level business and engineering classes, don’t often afford the same opportunities to integrate information literacy topics. Without an engaging way to frame the goals of an instruction session, lessons can easily devolve into pure database demonstration. This is unfortunate, since students who are deeper into their field of study are arguably in a better position to explore topics like information creation, ethical use, and scholarship as conversation.

This session will discuss a project to redesign an instruction session for an upper-division marketing research course, including strategies used to both improve classroom activities and introduce topics in information literacy. Originally, the lecture-heavy format of the session was unengaging and left little time for students to practice search skills, let alone for higher-level information literacy concepts to be explored. Through a collaboration between the business librarian and online learning librarian, the session was flipped and redesigned to incorporate more active learning and peer-teaching approaches. This provided students with a sense of agency as they independently learned search tools and techniques, while streamlining classroom flow and allowing for a deeper exploration of topics in business information literacy. Methods for ongoing assessment and indicators of success, such as follow-up research consultations, will also be discussed.