Library Instruction

First-Year: Librarians orient new students to the library and website, as well as teach first-year students how to find materials, use databases, evaluate sources, and cite their sources.

Methods Courses: We can support methods and upper-level courses by teaching tools specific to a discipline, advanced search strategies, and the nature and types of scholarly material at the Colby libraries.

Senior Year: Library liaisons consult with senior seminar, independent study, or honors students on complex tools, archives, primary sources, and handling major research projects.

Research Assistants: Librarians can show your research assistants how to find sources or manage your research data.

Faculty workshops: Librarians, ITS, and the writing center work together to teach about technology and pedagogy, preventing plagiarism, open access, data management, copyright issues, and historical e-collections.

Build library instruction into your syllabus. Schedule your class to meet with the librarian at just the point when they need to start their research. This keeps their time with the librarian fresh and relevant, just as they need to use our resources.

Schedule early! Contact your library liaison as early as possible so that they can reserve the best time for you. Most librarians need two weeks’ notice to develop a class.

Please provide us with assignment information. A copy of your syllabus or major assignment helps us prepare a lesson relevant to your students’ projects.

Encourage online interaction. We are happy to write library guides specific to your course or subject area or to be included on your course Moodle, WordPress, or other online discussion venues.

Attend the class with your students. Your participation in the library class ensures that your students focus, engage more deeply, and see the high value that faculty place on research in the library.

Have your students meet with a librarian. As a follow-up to the class, we would love to guide students to resources most appropriate to their specific project.

Keep in touch with your librarian. Let us know what worked and what didn’t, and share any success stories from your class – personal notes from students and faculty are always appreciated!