EMBEDDED LIBRARIANS & FACULTY
COLLABORATE TO DISH OUT INFORMATION
LITERACY SKILLS
Serve it up!
Objectives
MISSION CURRENT SITUATION PILOT
EMBEDDED LIBRARIAN
EXPERIENCE
PILOT SUCCESS & OUTCOMES
NEXT STEPS
Tips for Successful
CollaborationsWrap Up
THE MISSION
The mission of Mohave Community College is to be a learning-centered college, serving all constituencies, inspiring excellence
through innovative learning methodologies and empowering students to succeed.
Information Literacy
Professional Association of Academic Librarians
Dedicated to Serving Higher Education Information Needs
Dedicated to improving Learning, Teaching, and Research
ACRL
Information Literacy
MCC as a learning-centered organization
Why Information Literacy?
What does Information Literacy mean to students?
What is Information Literacy?
Find Retrieve Analyze Use
THE SITUATION
Services
MCC LIBRARIES
Computers
MCC LIBRARIES
Media
MCC LIBRARIES
Journals
Campus-Based Librarian &
Staff
F2FPersonalize
d Assistance
Point of Need
Services
Library Website
Equitable Services
Personal Assistance
Access to Portal of
Information
Quality Resources
Nursing, Allied
Health, & Medicine
EnglishMultidisciplinary
Research Tools
Library-Centered Information Literacy
•“…distance learning students need library resources just as much as traditional students…”
Access and Equity
•“…discerning quality information and resources on the Internet is not an innate skill…”
Education
•“…the closer the link between course assignments and library resources to help these assignments, the greater the likelihood that students will access library information…”
Targeted Information Resources
Point of Need ServicesResources
Point of Need
Ask A Librarian
Personal Contact with library staff
Research Portal
What’s missing?
Stakeholder Support
AACC
MCC President
Governing Board
THE PILOT
Buy In Through Collaboration
Faculty EL Coordinator
Specialty and expertise in the
socialization of online learnersIncluded faculty in
the decision-making process
Clarified the role of the ELs within ANGEL courses
Worked with ELs in past positions & was chosen to spearhead the pilot
Constant communication with online faculty
EL Initiative Strategy
Information maze
5 EL Assignments/Lessons
Direct Connection to Coursework
Expected Outcomes of Collaboration
Better Papers Paradigm
Improved Information
Literacy Skills
Understand Purpose of
Academic Library
Know Where to Find Research
Help
Learning Activities & Course Objectives
Pre and Post Test
Communication via Forums
Communication via Forums
Student
EL
Target:English 101
Library Activitie
s
Reinforcement of EL
Initiative
Ask A Libraria
n
THE EMBEDDED LIBRARIAN EXPERIENCE
Embedded Librarians in the Online Classroom
Lake Havasu City
Columbus, Ohio
Dover, Arkansas
Oakland, CA Bullhead City
Online
Student
Variety of Online Services in Fall Semester 2010
Academic Integrity
(Plagiarism)
Primary & Secondary Resources
Popular and
Scholarly/Peer
Reviewed Resources
Evaluation of
Websites, use of
Wikis, etc.
Services in the Online Classroom
Assisting Students with Library Basics
Sample Question:
“This may be a stupid question, but could you tell me what OPAC stands for and where I can find it?”
The OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) is the Library’s catalog.
You can use it to search for materials that the Library owns. Go to mohave.edu/library and type in one or more keywords to find books on your topic.
Services in the Online Classroom
Sample Question:
“My teacher said I can’t use Google to research my topic. Where else can I find information?”
You can find a great deal of trustworthy information through the Library’s online databases. Go to mohave.edu/library and then click on the “Library Online Databases” link. Click on the link for “Academic Search Premier” and then you can type in your key word(s). If you click on the box next to “full text” on the left side of the screen, your results will only include full-text articles.
Services in the Online Classroom
Throughout the Semester Students Learn:
How to use the Library’s catalog to locate both print and electronic
books.How to evaluate websites to
determine if the information presented is trustworthy.
How to brainstorm for key words that will help them find
the information that they need (and not just give up
after one or two tries).
How to search the Library’s online databases in order to find reputable articles from
legitimate journals and magazines.
The importance of proper
citations and the cost of plagiarism.
Skills that lead up to research that is focused, credible and credited using MLA format.
Resources that Specifically Help the Online Student
Students who can’t visit an MCC campus can sign up quickly for a “virtual” library card through our
webpage.
MCC provides many ebooks that are available through the
OPAC.
In addition to calling or emailing an Embedded Librarian, students
can now “Text-A-Librarian” for help.
MCC provides access to many of the EBSCO databases and has recently
added Gale Virtual Reference Library and Opposing Viewpoints in context.
Librarians are working to develop additional instructional materials,
such as LibGuides, screencasts and video tutorials.
Helpful Links and Video Resources
Students are Actively Utilizing the Resources
“…My search returned over 2000 articles in the LegalTrac database. After I refined my search further with key words of
‘constitutionality’ and ‘civil unions’ I found at least two articles that are very informative and appropriate for my paper…”
Problems and Solutions
Students need completion deadlines
for the Library assignments
The assignments are designed to lead the student through different
researching skills.
Since the assignments are
based on having the student use their
skills to find information for
their final essay, it makes sense for the student to complete
the assignments throughout the
class.
Some students waited until the last week to finish all of their assignments at
once, sometimes long after they have
researched their paper’s topic, and
so they did not benefit from
building research skills.
The skills that they develop in one
lesson will lead to the next.
Problems and SolutionsFaculty need to assign grades to the EL assignments soon after each completion deadlines.
When the teacher assigns a grade to the completed assignment it sends a message that the assignments are an important aspect of the course and should be taken seriously.
Faculty need to read the students’ assignments and the Librarians’ responses before they assign a grade. If the teacher also provides a comment, the student benefits even more.
If the teacher does not take the time to read the assignments and responses, then he/she has no idea if the student actually completed the assignment correctly.
If the student sees that he/she will receive full credit for each assignment, regardless of how well or poorly they did, then they will feel that there is no real reason to complete the assignment properly.
We saw many shoddy assignments that we responded to in order to get the student on the right track, only to realize that the students either never read our responses or didn’t take them seriously.
Problems and SolutionsThe assignments need to be designed so that
the student can’t progress to the next
one before the teacher has had a chance to
grade and/or comment on the previous one.
We encountered a number of students
who completed multiple
assignments in one sitting.
If they had problems with the concepts in one, and didn’t take
time to read our suggestions about how
to improve, then the time we put into our
comments was wasted.
The student has also wasted his/her time
completing assignments that do
not improve their research skills and
critical thinking abilities.
Librarians sometimes need more than a one day turnaround when
responding to students. Although we
aim for a quick response, we can’t
always accommodate the timetable.
Issues to address
The Librarian and Instructor need to discuss:
Who will design the Library assignments for the online class? The best design will come from a collaboration between the instructor and
librarian.
Who is expected to grade the EL assignments?
What are the assignments’ point values?
Are they informal posts or graded assignments?
Does the instructor understand the purpose
behind each assignment?
PILOT SUCCESS & OUTCOMES
Student Feedback
“… it was nice to have another outlet to have
questions answered…”
“…I [hope] that other students take advantage of this fantastic
idea…”
“…having a librarian
available for additional
assistance is a great help!”
“…the embedded
librarian was very helpful…”
Online Faculty Feedback“… I didn’t realize how much this was truly needed…”
“…my students tell me they found the activity helpful; they didn’t know the electronic library existed…”
“…I am pleased it will be going into ENG 102 for the spring…”
What We DiscoveredFaculty
supported the idea of involving
an Embedded Librarian, but many of them didn’t really
understand how we could help the students
become critical thinkers and
better researchers.
We had to do a better job
explaining how the assignments would result in better essays.
Students were initially
confused and overwhelmed
by the assignments.
The assignments
were generally seen as
unnecessarily hard “busy work.” We needed to
simplify the instructions and be clearer about
why the assignments
would actually improve their
research.
Since there was some confusion
between the instructors,
librarians and students
regarding the purpose of the
assignments, we needed to be sure that the
faculty understood that
treating the assignments seriously was
the first step in getting the
students to take the research process more
seriously.
Partnership Experience
•Providing a conduit between the e-librarians and online faculty•Leading the collaborative assignment development process•Developing the pre- and post- tests for assessment•Hosting training webinars for all participants•Ensuring that the collaboration is consistent and continuous throughout the semester
Resident DE faculty has been
key
NEXT STEPS
Distance Education Collaboration
Expansion •MCC’s resident campus librarians with Wendi Birkhead and Matthew Pierce as ELs, monitoring up to 5 courses per session.
Broaden the reach of the EL
Initiative
•500 to 600 students for spring 2011
English 101 and 102 all online
sections
•Psychology•Humanities•Sociology
Include other courses, both on
ground and online:
Expansion
Continued Development
Consistent Assessment Modifications
Tips for Successful Collaborations
Students• Provide
instructional materials: research guides, web links, videos
• Communication• Explain purpose
of a ‘personal librarian’ &
• How to access EL assignments
Resources• Develop FAQs• Describe
services• Provide
contact information
• Explain how to obtain library cards
Faculty• Communicate about
how the EL Initiative will be introduced to students
• Write a brief welcome statement for students explaining role & purpose in the course
• Communicate weekly with faculty to ensure ‘same-page-ness’
• Include faculty on all email communication with students
Wrap Up
CONTACT US @ Mohave Community College