Library Day for the First Year Writing Program

Brief Overview: Libraries' Information Literacy Program

What is Library Day? What will students learn?
Requesting Library Day
Preparing Students in Advance: 4 Exercises

Pitfalls to Avoid
Additional Resources
Contact Us

• The Libraries have developed a large year-round information literacy program. On average, library faculty, staff & graduate assistants teach 1,000 classes, orientations and workshops to over 22,000 participants each year.

• The Libraries' information literacy program places an emphasis on enabling students to become independent researchers, thereby encouraging lifelong learning. Librarians partner with course faculty to provide library instruction within the curriculum, especially at a time when it can be directly applied to students' needs.

• See UM Libraries' annual instruction statistics.

• See Special Lecturers and ENGL 101 students testimonials about Library Day.

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• Years ago, Library Day was the term coined by ENGL 101 instructors to title this program. The Libraries have adopted this name to refer to this large information literacy program.

• The Library Day Program constitutes the Libraries signature information literacy program for college freshmen. It reaches approximately 3,500 first year undergraduates in about 165 classes per year.

• In a nutshell, Library Day is an opportunity for students to become familiar with how to locate information in support of formulating and refining a position, in the context of ENGL 101 assignments.

• Library Day sessions are either 50 or 75 minutes in length, and take place during a regular ENGL 101 class period. They are taught in 1 of 3 McKeldin Library instruction labs. They are scheduled at the request of ENGL 101 instructors.

• Library Day is a hands-on active learning class, where students are encouraged to use lab computers to construct their own searches, ask questions and get one-on-one assistance.

• Library Day is taught by a team of Special Lecturers who are typically graduate students in the College of Information Studies, the English Department, or are tutors in the Writing Center.

• Special Lecturers will e-mail ENGL 101 instructors in advance to learn if there are any special directives on delivering the content. The limited class time may prevent much variation on the usual structure of the session.

WHAT WILL STUDENTS DO?

WHAT WILL STUDENTS LEARN?

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Submit requests for Library Day request by Friday, January 30, 2009 using the online request form.

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• The most effective and meaningful Library Day sessions are the ones where students come with concreate topics (or firm ideas) to research.

• Before the session remind your students why they are coming to the main campus library.

• Share the customized Library Day web page with your students in advance. It links to the resources covered in the session, and also provides research tips and other suggestions on how to get help.

• Consider using 1 or more of the 4 Research and Library Skills Exercises to help students gain a clearer understanding of information literacy concepts prior to attending Library Day. These Exercises are not required as prework, but many ENGL 101 instructors use them. You will need to decide if and when they fit best into your syllabus. For example, some instructors ask students to complete the Brainstorming Keywords Exercise before attending Library Day. Other instructors require that their students do all four exercises as one large block, while others assign them by spreading them out over the semester.

  The 4 Research and Library Skills Exercises are:

  • Brainstorming Keywords
    Students practice developing keywords for a sample topic, then apply what they have learned to their own topic.

  • Scholarly vs. Popular Sources
    Students learn characteristics that will help them identify scholarly sources, and apply what they've learned to several example articles.

  • Identifying & Selecting Research Resources
    Students learn to identify research needs, various sources to fill those needs, and tools to locate sources. They are asked to think about several sample topics, and also to apply what they have learned to their own research topic.

  • Choosing Databases
    Students consider who has expertise about their topic in order to identify subject areas for research.

  • Suggested Answers
    E-mail Scott Eklund in the First Year Writing Program for the current USERNAME and PASSWORD.

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Students, especially freshmen, tend to interpret assignments and their parameters literally and can be easily confused by ambiguous terminology or frustrated by narrow directives. Consider reviewing this guide Creating Effective Research Assignments.

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The Libraries have created a variety of guides to help students learn library lingo and help them navigate the complexities of a large college library, as well as the research process. Consider linking some of these resources to your page in ELMS/Blackboard:

• Have your students browse the three series of books in the Controversial Issues Alcove in McKeldin Library's Reference area (first floor):
  • Contemporary World Issues (e.g. sample item)
  • Opposing Viewpoints (e.g. sample item)
  • Taking Sides (e.g. sample item)

• Library Skills Guides
  How to prepare an annotated bibliography, Using Boolean Logic, Research Port, etc.

• Ask a Librarian for Help!

• Academic Integrity & Citing Sources (MLA):

  • Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
    
  • Guide to Citing Sources Using the MLA Handbook
    
  • Guide to Citing a Library Subscription Database using MLA
    
  • Use RefWorks to collect and organize citations, and create bibliographies.

• Information Cycle:

  • Information Cycle Timeline [Produced by Northwest Missouri State University]
    
  • The Information Cycle [An excellent 5 minute video from the Penn State Libraries]

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Do you have questions, comments, concerns?

Contact User Education Services, Mon to Fri 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Reach us by phone at 301-405-9070 or by email at libues[at]umd.edu.

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