Library Instruction Requests

Library 101 sessions for TCU first-year and transfer students are led
by Humanities & Theatre Librarian Ammie Harrison. To request a Library 101 session, please use this session request form.

Our subject specialist librarians offer advanced library instruction. These librarians provide in-depth resource demonstrations specifically related to your course topic. Please use this online request form and/or refer to our Reference Department staff directory for Research Librarian contact information.

Reviewed 1/23/2013 by Ammie Harrison.

Library assignment guidelines

Purpose

Using the TCU Library can be an overwhelming experience for students new to Texas Christian University. Well-designed course-related library assignments are an effective way to introduce these students to library research and reduce their anxiety. Library assignments work best when instructors and librarians collaborate.

Checklist

The following checklist is meant to help ensure students have a positive library experience, reinforce library use as a means of learning, and help faculty design library assignments. A greater number of elements contained in a research assignment will increase students' chances of acquiring effective and transferable research skills.

Assign a variety of topics. Books, periodicals, and other resources can often be misplaced, lost, or mutilated when a large number of students are working on the same topic. Consider placing needed material on reserve (i.e., in-library reserve or online reserve). While using reserves helps, it does not completely alleviate the problem of a large numbers of students needing to use limited numbers at the same time.
Have a purpose. Structure assignments so students are required to find and evaluate or analyze information. One obvious way to do this is to have the assignment require them to make comparisons between two or more sources of information. Another method of critical analysis would be to have the student look at the potential impact of something or agree/disagree with a researched viewpoint.
Make it relevant. Tie the assignment to what is being discussed in class or to future assignments. Students will not be motivated to remember how they did their research or analyze the information found if it is not pertinent to the course.
Provide written instructions. Give students clear, precise written instructions. Students can frequently misunderstand, forget, or incorrectly write down an oral assignment. Library staff are often asked to interpret assignments or determine an instructor's intent.
Prepare library staff. Send a copy of the assignment to the Reference Desk or Ammie E. Harrison, Humanities and Theatre Librarian at TCU Box 298400. You can include what you would prefer staff do, and not do, when helping your students in the library. This will also allow us to ensure the proper resources are available for your students to use.
Include a source list. Provide a list of appropriate resources for students to work from (i.e., subject encyclopedias, databases, reference sources). Refer students to the subject research guides available through many library web pages.

Other helpful practices

Check the library catalog to verify the accuracy of references given to students and make sure that the TCU Library owns the cited materials.
Schedule a library orientation session to introduce students to the library and its resources.
Refer students with research problems to the IC Reference Desk for a personal library instruction session.
Online library materials -- Be careful when instructing students not to use the Internet or Web. The library catalog, most of our databases, and some other resources are only available through the Internet/Web.

Pitfalls

Scavenger hunts (busy work) tend to lack a clear purpose, teach the students little about doing research, and usually frustrate students. Librarians rather than the students frequently end up locating the answers.
Do not assume the students already know how to use the TCU Library. Not all incoming freshmen attended a library instruction session or a library orientation session during their first year.
Students may not refer to or cite a resource because the TCU Library does not own it. If given enough time, items can be placed on reserve or students can acquire a TexShare card from the library which affords check-out privileges at all university libraries in the Metroplex.

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Reviewed 1/23/2013 by Ammie Harrison.

Services and policies

Services

Library orientation and tours.
Instruction to groups demonstrating effective use of the library's electronic and print resources.
Instruction on the proper use of library services.
Individual instruction targeted to the specific level of a patron's sophistication and needs.

Facilities

The Mary Couts Burnett Library Training Room (219) is used to provide library patrons with instruction in the use of information resources available through the Library, such as the library catalog and other electronic research tools. It is also used by Information Technology (IT) for training of TCU faculty and staff on various software products. The Training Room is jointly administered by Mary Couts Burnett Library and by IT.

The Training Room was created to provide a restricted training facility for TCU Library and Information Technology staff use only.

The Training Room may be reserved by staff librarians or library student supervisors for library instruction, library student worker training, library staff development, or library product vendor demonstration purposes. Information Technology services trainers may also reserve the room for computer related training for faculty and staff as well as IT student worker training.

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Reviewed 1/23/2013 by Ammie Harrison.

Information literacy

Definition

The American Library Association maintains that for a person to be information literate they "must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information."

The TCU Library Information Literacy Mission

The Information Literacy Program's mission is to support, promote, and enhance teaching, learning, and research at Texas Christian University by providing training in the development of information literacy skills for flexible, independent, and lifelong learning. Training given will assist the TCU community in finding, retrieving, and managing information through various systems and in a variety of formats.

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Reviewed 1/23/2013 by Ammie Harrison.