The Guggenheim Memorial Library is much more than a beautiful, historic mansion plus a modern addition housing a substantial academic collection. Our Research Instruction (RI) service, which you may know as information literacy instruction or library instruction, is an increasingly key element in our students’ success. This inaugural post of the Guggenheim Library Blog will provide all the information needed to create the optimum Research Instruction experience for students at every level, and in every subject.
Although it may seem that our students, born digital, with their phones seemingly glued to their hands, are innate masters of navigating the internet, the truth is that they usually start and end their searching at Google, and may not know which of the Library’s 223 databases is best suited to meet their information needs.
We design our instruction sessions to meet the instructional needs of you and your students. We will work with you to deliver a session at the point in your syllabus where it will have the greatest impact. We’re interested in going beyond the “one-shot” model, where we provide a soup-to-nuts tour of a host of library resources. Consider having shorter, perhaps multiple, sessions that focus on exactly what students need at a given point in the syllabus. In the interest of making Research Instruction as convenient as possible for instructors and students, we are amenable to holding sessions in other computer-equipped classrooms on the Main Campus or Graduate Center, as well as in the Library’s classroom.
Arranging for RI sessions is now very easy. Simply fill out this form: https://monmouth.libwizard.com/f/InstructionRequest. A librarian will be assigned to the session, and you may request a specific librarian to conduct the session. You will then receive an Outlook calendar request as a confirmation of the date, time and place for the RI session. You may then correspond with the librarian to discuss the material and resources that you would like to have covered.
Specialist Librarian Christine Forbes joined the library faculty on July 1, filling the position of Mary Beth Meszaros, who has retired. Christine is our new coordinator of instruction. She comes to us from the CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, where she was the coordinator of medical education. She holds a Masters in Library Science (MLIS) from Rutgers University, a Certificate in Online Learning from Duke University, and undergraduate degrees in Nursing and Biology. Contact Christine directly at chforbes@monmouth.edu or 732-571-4404.
We believe that our students succeed when they are able to effectively seek and find information on any topic. This also will serve them in their lives beyond Monmouth as they do research before making purchases, to select a mortgage, or do any sort of fact-finding. Their ability to rapidly, effectively and accurately evaluate information and make informed selections will help ensure their success in all of their future endeavors. Please use the Guggenheim Library’s Research Instruction to help build your students’ information literacy and improve the quality of their research.
Kurt W. Wagner, University Librarian
kwagner@monmouth.edu