Zeroing in on a Moving Target: Strategies for Reaching Transient Teachers

From community colleges to research universities to private colleges, part-time, graduate student, and adjunct instructors are increasingly the norm. Approximately 50% of all graduate teaching assistants have full teaching responsibility for one or more courses and 40% of faculty appointments are part-time. Among those with the greatest need for library instruction are first-year students, yet these populations that are often transient in nature teach many first-year classes. Reaching these moving targets via traditional means can be difficult, as they may not have campus offices or phones. The University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign conducted a survey of those teaching first-year rhetoric classes to address communicating with this audience and incorporating library instruction into the courses they teach. This group consisted of both graduate teaching assistants and non-tenure-track instructors. The results of this survey provided numerous strategies for reaching this group and expanding the incorporation of library instruction into their courses. This session will emphasize the importance of opening the lines of communication with these groups and share strategies for doing so. The presenters will examine why library instruction is particularly important for these classes and look at some of the reasons there is such disparity in incorporating this instruction. Although responses to the survey provided many ideas and suggestions, the presenters will also examine broader studies and literature in the disciplines. Results of this session will help librarians working with graduate students or part-time faculty - or both - make library instruction a part of these courses

Assessing the Implications of Faculty Beliefs and Expectations for Information Literacy Instruction

This presentation was offered as part of the CUNY Library Assessment Conference, Reinventing Libraries: Reinventing Assessment, held at the City University of New York in June 2014

Strengthen Your Teaching Framework: Using Self-Assessment of Instruction as a Structural Support

What role does self-assessment play in improving your teaching? The University of Illinois Undergraduate Library shares their self-assessment rubric, based on the ACRL Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators. Such a tool provides an important framework for self-assessment and can significantly impact the instruction of librarians at multiple points in their careers. Hear how an instruction coordinator, an early career librarian, and a library school graduate assistant use self-assessment to reflect and improve their effectiveness as teacher librarians. Learn strategies for using self-assessment that can help you become a more effective teacher, too

Shaken or Stirred? Mixing Elements of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) into Library Instruction Sessions

Shaking up our instruction cocktails on a regular basis is advantageous, and tying what we do to campus initiatives makes the cocktail even better. Many universities include a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at their institution. WAC principles state that writing is learning and responsibility for writing should belong to all academic programs and cross all disciplines. Is it even possible, given the time constraints of one-shot instruction sessions, to include elements of WAC? This interactive presentation will demonstrate that, not only is it possible, it can significantly improve student learning, engagement, and participation; plus we\u27ll help you find just the right mix. Several WAC elements will be introduced and practiced in this workshop. Activities such as quick writes and microthemes take just moments, but because they require students to focus and organize their thoughts they assure us that all students really have thought about the issue and have something to contribute to the class discussion. A significant impact on the level of student participation during library instruction has been experienced by the presenters through the addition of these short exercises. At the conclusion of this workshop you will be familiar with a number of Writing Across the Curriculum activities and have a better understanding of the impact of these activities in a library instruction session. Armed with new cocktail recipes, you will return to your library ready to shake up your instruction classroom

Shaken or Stirred? Mixing Elements of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) into Library Instruction Sessions

Shaking up our instruction cocktails on a regular basis is advantageous, and tying what we do to campus initiatives makes the cocktail even better. Many universities include a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at their institution. WAC principles state that writing is learning and responsibility for writing should belong to all academic programs and cross all disciplines. Is it even possible, given the time constraints of one-shot instruction sessions, to include elements of WAC? This interactive presentation will demonstrate that, not only is it possible, it can significantly improve student learning, engagement, and participation; plus we\u27ll help you find just the right mix. Several WAC elements will be introduced and practiced in this workshop. Activities such as quick writes and microthemes take just moments, but because they require students to focus and organize their thoughts they assure us that all students really have thought about the issue and have something to contribute to the class discussion. A significant impact on the level of student participation during library instruction has been experienced by the presenters through the addition of these short exercises. At the conclusion of this workshop you will be familiar with a number of Writing Across the Curriculum activities and have a better understanding of the impact of these activities in a library instruction session. Armed with new cocktail recipes, you will return to your library ready to shake up your instruction classroom

Beyond Consultation: A New Model for Librarian's Office Hours

Given the many changes in our students and their study and research practices, libraries are finding it necessary to seek new ways to reach these students. The Undergraduate Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created a new model to do so. Librarian's Office Hours are a hybrid of reference and instructional services that fulfill the dual purposes of meeting the needs of term paper research counseling and library workshops. This article discusses the strategies involved in the creation and implementation of this service and examines suggestions for the future of such a service.Ope