Bringing Library Resources to the Online Classroom: Building Faculty-Librarian Partnerships

The number of students taking online classes has risen substantially over past several years. Many traditional colleges offer online and hybrid classes as an alternative to traditional face-to-face instruction. Face-to-face faculty are encouraged to learn and use course management systems (CMS) to publish syllabi and assignments, track student grades and supplement traditional interactions with chat and electronic discussion boards. Often overwhelming to instructors, digital educational tools proliferate throughout the academic landscape. Determining which tools will work for your classroom environment can be daunting, in addition to the hours of training so as to effectively use those tools. Partnering with librarians who are already trained using classroom enhancement tools can be a solution. The purpose of this presentation is to show various ways that can improve faculty-librarian collaboration in promoting library resources and information literacy:-Incorporating library resources into course management systems (iCollege, blackboard)-Collaborating with faculty on electronic pathfinders that are customized to a specific subject or assignment (Libguides)-Embedding virtual reference tools into online classes to provide immediate library and research assistance in an online classroom environment (ask-a-librarian widget) This presentation also looks at statistical evidence that can demonstrate increased usage of the digital classroom tools, and thereby enhancement of student information literacy as a result of established partnerships involving faculty and their librarians. This presentation is geared for instructors who teach in online, hybrid, and face-to-face classroom environment and academic librarians interested in collaborating with faculty in virtual classroom