Contact a librarian for classroom library
Butler faculty librarians teach library research skills that
support the Association of College & Research Libraries
Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education. They
provide information literacy/library research skills in support of
the core curriculum through the first-year
seminar and via the librarian subject
liaison program with Butler's colleges and academic majors.
This provides a tiered information literacy approach where students
are introduced to the academic research process in the first-year
seminar and then learn discipline-specific research skills within
To request a library instruction session, contact your
librarian. For first-year seminar library instruction support,
contact Sally Neal, Associate Dean for Public Services, 940-9949,
Concepts/Skills taught during an Instruction
Teaching students how to determine their information need,
develop terminology, access and search for resources, and evaluate
and use information effectively, promotes academic excellence and
life-long learning. It is essential to students' success here at
Butler and in their future careers and life experiences. Below are
some examples of areas where Butler librarians can provide
instructional and curricular support. This instruction can be
delivered both in-person and virtually.
- Defining an information need - how to formulate a research
topic, developing key search terms
- Analyzing types of information sources (journals vs. magazines;
pre-prints; conference proceedings, primary vs. secondary
- Interpreting, comprehending the structure of research results
(ex. how to read a journal article)
- Accessing information tools (subscription-based, free)
- Utilizing the library catalog / accessing eBooks and finding
books in the library
- Finding articles in a general database such as Academic Search
- Using specialized databases such as MLA, PsycINFO, ERIC, etc.
for discipline-specific research
- Evaluating websites, blogs, articles, books, etc.
- Exploring advanced web searching - Google Scholar, Google Book
- Explaining the shifting landscape of how academic information
is published, shared, and valued
- Discussing Academic Honesty / Plagiarism / Copyright
- Teaching citation fundamentals
- Demonstrating the use of citation management tools - RefWorks,
- Providing curricular design support to ensure that
assignments/papers/projects are making the best use of the
libraries' information resources
How is instruction most effective?
Listed below are some best practices that will ensure that your
students have a productive learning experience:
- Instruction is most effective when it's connected with a
research project or paper. Meet with your librarian to develop
specific research learning outcomes for the assignment.
- Provide the librarian with a copy of your course syllabus and
- Integrate assessment into the library research skills process.
Your librarian can help you build the library instruction quizzes
or tests and/or assist in assessing the quality of the sources
students used for the research assignment.
- Irwin Library has an instruction classroom that has 18 laptops.
Your librarian can schedule this space or an on-campus computer lab
for you. Providing an interactive, hands-on learning experience in
a computer classroom promotes student learning; your librarian can
share ideas about how to incorporate active learning into the
- Request instruction sessions well in advance. This allows time
for the librarian to review relevant course materials, develop
pertinent learning objectives, and review the class content and
format with you.
- Work with your liaison librarian to time the library research
skills session at the students' point of need. Timing the session
when the students will actually begin researching leads to stronger
- During the session, feel free to ask questions and reinforce
concepts that the librarian is teaching. Interaction between
faculty, students, and the librarian enriches the learning process
and stresses the importance of library instruction to
- Consider scheduling multiple sessions if the session goals are
beyond those that can be covered during the allotted time.
Make use of Online Library Instruction
Your liaison librarian can select appropriate online library
research tutorials or create online modules to support library
research instruction for your classes. Included here are some
selected sites to quality tutorials:
Library Instruction Project
Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online Databases
Butler Librarians also create tutorials; a selection of these
are linked below:
Business Research Tutorials
Interlibrary Loan at Butler
Understanding Plagiarism (accompanying
Again, contact your liaison
librarian to integrate information literacy tutorials into your
students' learning experience.
Integrate Library Instruction and Library Resources in
Moodle and Online Learning
Interested in integrating library research tutorials, resources,
and librarian-led chat sessions into Moodle? Consult our
Moodlepalooza Cheat Sheet. Your liaison librarian will be happy
to work with you to extend information literacy instruction into
the Moodle environment and help you deliver other online
information literacy learning opportunities to your students.
Who is your librarian?
The Butler University Libraries have a subject librarian liaison
program with colleges and departments at the institution. Each
academic department is assigned a faculty librarian as a subject
liaison librarian. Subject liaison librarians provide
information literacy instruction, collection development, and
library service support for their assigned college/department(s).
This model fosters faculty participation in the libraries and
insures that the libraries' resources support the University
curriculum and both student and faculty scholarship. Contact your
liaison with any question that is library-related.
For additional information concerning faculty-specific library
services, follow the links below: