To arrange a library instruction session for your class, tailored to course objectives and students' needs, faculty may complete and submit an online request form or contact the User Education Department: Boris Teske Instruction & Information Literacy Librarian Phone: (318) 257-2992 Fax: (318) 257-2579

Effective Library Instruction in the Electronic Classroom

We know that your time with students is limited, so working together would help us to customize a class session, or more than one, that will benefit everyone involved.

To allow us to prepare a session which is tailored to your course and helpful to your students, please give us at least 2 weeks notice.

Students routinely tell us on the class evaluations that their learning experience with us would be more productive if they came with a topic in mind. A trip to the library may seem like a great starting point, but the library instruction session is more effective when it complements your instruction, meets your expectations for a particular research project or paper, and you've laid the groundwork for it.

You might think in terms of targeting what you would prefer the class session to cover. Below is a list of common activities and an estimated amount of time it takes to undertake each one. Expect times to vary from instructor to instructor.

Introduction to:

• The Library Website (5 minutes) - acquaints students with locating and navigating the Library Website
• The Library Catalog (15 minutes) - explains and demonstrates how to locate books, periodicals, and government documents
• Indexes of general-interest articles (15 minutes) - explains and demonstrates how to retrieve listings of articles in scholarly journals, magazines, or newspapers using Academic Search Premier
• Search strategy techniques (10 minutes) - demonstrates browsing by subject categories or searching by keywords using Boolean operators, truncation, and nesting
• Indexes of specialized articles (20 minutes) - explains and demonstrates more advanced searching, for example, using controlled vocabulary and field tags, in discipline-specific databases such as Engineering Village, ERIC, Medline, MLA International Bibliography, or PsycINFO
• Distinction between popular magazines and scholarly journals (10 minutes)

The Electronic Classroom affords your students opportunities for active learning during demonstrations and, time permitting, hands-on practice.

Please let us know if you would like us to address any resources or skills not mentioned here.