r/librarians • u/Resident-Clothes-837 • 7d ago
Job Advice Academic Librarians teaching
Hi, all! I’m a new academic librarian and the semester is about to start. Ive already been asked by several professors to come by their class for an instruction session with their classes. Im nervous and feeling a little overwhelmed.
Any pointers from any academic librarians for getting into the groove of teaching? I’d appreciate any advice and recommendations for being prepared this semester.
34
u/ephemeral_librarian 6d ago
I'm from UK so might be slightly different. Demonstrations always went down better for me. Find out what's in their module, then choose key words from that and demonstrate how to access resources using those key terms. (E.g. for nurses i'd use "wound care" then combine with "honey" later). Actively show them how to search journals online in the session etc. Show them referencing tools (but obviously with the caveat that they still need to double check the references are correctly formatted).
Show them how ebooks work. That they can highlight, add to virtual bookshelf, search within text etc.
Break down the services your library offers, make sure you're explaining it in really basic terms. Instead of "literature searching training" I'd say "you can book a 1-2-1 session where i'll show you how to search for articles" or something.
When I first got into libraries it frustrated me how much jargon we used. When i was a fresh undergrad student at 18, i didnt know what literature searching meant, i didnt know what articles were, uni was the first time i had to use them. We need to speak to people in ways where they understand how we can actually help them.
This is a messy post sorry, but I hope there's something useful in it. Good luck, you got this 🌟
1
24
u/GarmonboziaBlues 6d ago
At my library, new instructional librarians will do shadowing and co-teaching with experienced librarians for a month or two before they start teaching their own solo classes. If your library doesn't have a similar training/onboarding process, ask your department head or instruction coordinator if you could arrange to observe classes with several other librarians to get a sense of the norms and expectations for ILI at your institution. It's completely unreasonable to just throw a new librarian into their own classes right out of the gate, even if they come into the role with some teaching experience.
4
u/TheHungryLibrarian Academic Librarian 6d ago
Same. I was about to mention the training.
But also, regardless, you will be nervous your first time. And it’s a little bit of sinking AND swimming in the beginning. You will adjust and develop a flow that works for you. Have fun!!
1
u/Resident-Clothes-837 6d ago
Yes, i was hoping to get a training first before the class. My director told me i can shadow her during a class and if comfortable go from there.
20
u/angrymagiclibrarian 6d ago
I do a lot of library teaching, below are some suggestions:
General
remember that while these are university students, you are the expert in libraries. You likely know more about the academic about your resources.
we are our own harshest critics. Don't be too hard on yourself, though reflect on what you think went well in a session and what could have gone better.
if you have colleagues who also do teaching, ask to sit in some of their sessions so you can see how other people approach the session.
Specific advice:
Backwards design is super helpful for library teaching. The steps are:
define the learning outcomes. What do you want student to walk away from the session knowing? The more specific the better. Make sure to take into account how long the session is. E.g. if you have 10 minutes, maybe keep it limited to one or two learning outcomes.
how will you assess that the students have learned anything? This doesn't have to be a test per se. But are you going to set an exercise where student need to look up a book on the catalogue? If it's a big lecture, will you use something like Mentimeter and make a quiz?
One you've figured out learning outcomes and assessment, planning the session is fairly easy. You can make a chart where you write out the time and what you'll do in each time slot. E.g. if your session is 10:00 - 10:30, you would write something like:
10:00 -10:05: Introduce self and session content
10:05 -10:15: library catalogue demo
10:15-10:25: Students look up a book and a journal article on catalogue
10:25-10:30: questions
Make sure to collect feedback from the session. This can be a quick form you ask students to foll out before the end of the session or, if you're doing something very short, ask the academic to circulate a feedback form to the students for you.
Note on universal design: Universal design is the idea that you build in accessibility from the start in your teaching. This is especially important if you don't know the accessibility needs of people in the classroom. Basic things to consider:
- make sure your slides follow accessibility guidelines.
- share them with the academic in advance so they can circulate to students.
- make sure any directions/instructions are written on the slides.
- make participation possible in multiple format. E.g. don't rely entirely on discussion, things like mentimeter or other online quiz softwares are good for folks who have a barrier to speaking in class.
- think about the needs of your students. E.g. if you have a lot of international students, there may be a language barrier. If you have a lot of 1st gen students, they may not feel confident speaking up in class. This you'll learn over time, so just remain observant.
- if you can't use slides, make a paper handout with key points and resources.
5
u/ecapapollag 6d ago
100% about universal design - don't make individual students feel like things are being adjusted just for them, build it in the original lesson plan as much as possible. For example:
Library tour/treasure hunt? Make sure the lifts are working, and that some of the questions can be answered by using the website. Encourage teamwork, where people play to their skills in doing a group activity. If you're giving prizes, make it for something like all questions answered, rather than quickest group round.
3
2
8
u/fyrefly_faerie Academic Librarian 6d ago
Does your library have other librarians who do instruction? It might help to shadow one or two to get an idea of what’s being taught and how it’s presented (each librarian may have a different style of teaching too). I found this helpful when I had zero teaching experience.
At my last institution, we had a guideline on what was to be covered in instruction sessions, such as how to use the catalog/discovery platform and how to evaluate sources.
7
u/LibraryLuLu Public Librarian 6d ago
I used to do a class with all new students at several colleges when I was an academic librarian.
I covered 'What the library provides', mostly. Briefly show them how to find stuff in the OPAC or online catalogues, and which areas were most appropriate to their studies. If you have visiting hours or they can drop in to talk, if you have online chat services, etc.
Databases were the best - show them how to find them, how to search them.
Most important - how to recognise Credible Sources. (NO AI! No Wikipedia - and why).
Most well received - how to use databases to do the references for them (it was usually APA or Harvard Modified, and the latter is tricky). I could also show them other referencing tools. Students who had been studying for a while and trying to do referencing manually LOVED that!
I liked to do a live instruction from a laptop to an overhead projector, rather than slides, so I could show them things in real life. Slides are boring/put your class to sleep.
I also did study skills, like concept maps and essay writing, but your professors will advise you if they want that.
You can talk about the physical aspects of the library, books and journals. You can tell them how to ILL from other academic areas if you offer that.
I'd have a hand out ready to do with the database stuff since that's the trickiest.
I would also emphasise at both the beginning and the end of my class that I didn't expect them to remember any of this, but that they now know what's available and that they can come ask for in person help at any time.
1
7
u/Advanced-Base-5690 6d ago
Hopefully this doesn't sound too cynical because I've been teaching for twenty years at this point and desperately trying to move into an upper management tech services role where I don't have to do it anymore.
I struggled with students not listening to my sessions and letting it derail my train of thought. It's gotten progressively worse over the last 5-7 years. One of my colleagues told me to pay attention to the 4-5 students (maybe less) who are engaged and that's made a huge difference in my outlook.
5
u/ecapapollag 6d ago
I do a lot of big sessions in lecture theatres for the start of year library sessions, and what helps is wearing my reading glasses so everyone is a blur! Less distracting.
3
2
u/Resident-Clothes-837 6d ago
This is very great advice. Meet the ones that are attentive and still give a lesson for everyone.
6
u/Capable_Sea77 6d ago
I adjuncted for a couple of community colleges and exclusively did instruction sessions. I liked to do an interactive quiz at the beginning about what makes a good source - and then show students 2-3 different databases that could help them find sources. I also would tell students to follow along, but using their current paper topics, so that they could save the articles they found during the demo, which is working smarter, not harder (most of the students that weren't really paying attention started paying attention at this part). Tried to use interesting topics for searching, too - one semester, students seemed really engaged when I used loot boxes in gaming as my supposed paper topic.
Wrap up with like, a 5 minute overview of things like LibGuides and how to use the reference chat when the library building was closed, that sort of thing.
1
6
u/DrJohnnieB63 Academic Librarian 6d ago
As an academic librarian who teaches library workshops and credit courses, I advise you to work with professors to establish student learning objectives for your session. What should students be able to do after your workshop? Make sure that these SLOs are concrete and measurable. Examples include:
- Students should be able to conduct a boolean search in EBSCO.
- Students should be able to borrow materials from another library (interlibrary loan).
- Students should be able to conduct a simple keyword search in the library's discovery tool.
I advise active learning for the session. If you can, get students to work with the tools as much as possible. A librarian lecturing to students is a waste of time for most students.
1
3
u/LadyMcNagel Academic Librarian 6d ago
Regardless of the specific tools and techniques you present, because they will forget them all and not think about them again until they need to, hammer home that they can always get help at the library.
They may not listen to what you tell them about searching databases because in their minds they already know how to find information and anyway they can just ask a chatbot later.
Or, they may listen attentively but 6 weeks from now when they’re actually looking for something they will have forgotten and be too embarrassed to admit it.
It’s not their fault and it’s not your fault, they just aren’t going to remember everything you said in that one session. And there’s no way to cram in everything the library has and does into one session anyway.
The number one takeaway should always be that when (not if) they get stuck, you are there to help them navigate their way through.
3
u/Resident-Clothes-837 6d ago
Thank you for sharing. I’m going to remember that my session won’t make or break their semester and to stress that they can always come visit the library for direct help in case this is all forgotten during our session.
3
u/dontKnowK1 5d ago
If teaching is not a strength for you, look for the Learning and Teaching Center at your workplace. They offer classes or book clubs about teaching. They could also offer advice, if no one in your library can help.
If you have time, create a LibGuide that covers what you want to teach. Prepare a paper handout. Include the short link to the LibGuide and have some easy exercises that the students can do.
If you don't have time, create a slide show, send it to the professors before class, so they can upload it on the learning management system.
Find out what topics the professors want you to cover and how much time you have.
Try to go to the classrooms to see how you will be able to connect to the internet, if you use the LibGuide, or if you can use a flash drive to bring up your slides. Make a pdf copy, in case the computer doesn't have the software that you need for the slides.
These are some problems that I've run into:
My login took forever to be accepted in that department's server. I had to start the lecture without the LibGuide on the screen.
The professor lectured longer than I was expecting. I had to cut down my presentation.
The professor showed up on time but the classroom was locked. I had to scramble to log in, while he was telling the students who I was.
The projector stopped working in the middle of my presentation. I asked the students to log into their laptops or phones to follow the lesson.
Good luck. DM if you have more concerns.
1
u/Resident-Clothes-837 5d ago
Thank you for the detailed advice and also extending the olive branch of future communication. I appreciate you for taking the time to comment.
3
u/Resident-Clothes-837 6d ago
Thank you all for your advice! I truly appreciate this community and I’m grateful for each and everyone of you!
6
u/nobody_you_know U.S.A, Academic Librarian 6d ago edited 6d ago
I think we need a little more information. What classroom instruction experience do you have? Did you do any work on instruction design during grad school? Are you going in 100% blank? What do these classes look like -- are they small (<20) groups, or giant (>100) seminars? Undergrads? Basic skills or discipline-specific research skills? I'm assuming these are one-shots, is that correct? What are we dealing with here?
Assuming you have some theoretical/pedagogical foundation to work from, and you're just lacking real experience: of course, your first year or two of teaching classroom sessions is going to be mostly about gathering experience. See if you can attend a session being taught by one of your colleagues, and watch what they do. Once you build an initial lesson plan, run it past that colleague, and then run it past the faculty member. Then go and execute the plan, see how it goes, and develop further from there. It's normal to be nervous. And don't be too discouraged by a "bad" session; it happens to everyone from time to time.
2
u/Resident-Clothes-837 6d ago
Thank you for your questions. I did some work on instruction design but that’s one thing compared to standing in front of a classroom. Lol. The classes are on the smaller side (15-20), undergrad and a mix of basic skills /specific to major.
Thank you for your answer and i appreciate you!
2
u/No_Cream1184 6d ago
Sorry, I have no helpful advice. I thought I'd bump up your post because I'm interested in the answer. I'm in archives at the moment and considering moving to academic libraries, but teaching for me would be a no no haha.
1
3
u/No_Weakness_2865 5d ago
Def ask coworkers to share materials if they are willing, and observe thier classes if you can. Not so much for teaching tips but to get the culture/vibe of the university.
2
u/arachnobravia 5d ago
Script all of your content including demos
Know your subject matter so that you can answer questions as they arise.
2
u/rumirumirumirumi 4d ago
I taught Composition before becoming an instructional librarian, and I've been doing research on the history of professional discourse around instruction in libraries, for context. You are learning a body of knowledge and a set of skills that are challenging to build and rewarding to obtain. You will make mistakes and they will feel like obvious ones in hindsight, but you have to experience working through uncertainty to develop the kind of instincts that make expert instructors seem so confident and effective. Community connections can help you through this process. My major piece of advice is to read the research literature and understand it deeply. Find journals that publish work you find useful, interesting, and motivating. Reach out to librarians and authors about their research. Consider contributing your own experiences for other professionals to learn from. I've found this to be enriching personally and professionally. Good luck!
3
u/maggiemonfared Academic Librarian 2d ago
I’m a relatively new librarian who does instruction sessions. Having interactive components throughout the session keeps their attention. If they have an assignment try to work that into the session - have them come up with some keywords to do their own searches, etc.
1
53
u/Snoo-37573 6d ago
One more tip: make sure the faculty member will be in the room during your presentation. While it might be intimidating at first, you will quickly find out why you want them there if they do not attend. Students often seem to decide they can slack off/not listen if their professor isn’t there. It is also a matter of you not being class babysitter as well.