The Instructional Services department coordinates all formal educational activities at the Guggenheim Library. Educational initiatives include: course-integrated or course-related library instruction, classes on specific research tools such as electronic databases, and instruction on effective use of the Internet for research. In addition, Instructional Services coordinates the development and publication of print and online support materials such as subject research guides.
Information literacy is knowing how to find information, evaluate it and use it effectively. An informationally literate person knows when information is needed and how to go about finding it. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools has identified information literacy as one of the essential components of a college education. It is also one of the core competencies of the general undergraduate curriculum at Monmouth University.
To arrange a library instructional session for your class, please use the instruction request form to submit your request. Classes must be requested at least 2 weeks in advance and professors MUST accompany their classes. All classes are tailored to a specific library assignment which is generated by the course content (course-related or course-integrated). The optimal time to schedule a library session is when students are about to begin their library research assignments. For more information on instruction options, please see our research instruction guide.
Mission
Instructional librarians teach information literacy skills, which include the ability to access, retrieve, analyze, evaluate and apply information, and document sources. These skills, essential to lifelong learning, are an investment in student success in their academic career as well as moving into the workplace. Collaborating with teaching faculty, instructional librarians conduct course or assignment related library instruction sessions. Instructional programs are developed to meet different learning styles of students. Assessment measures will be taken to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional program.
Objectives
- Identify key concepts of a defined topic and develop appropriate keywords for research.
- Use AND/OR/NOT operators (Boolean logic) to establish effective search strategies.
- Introduce finding tools such as the Library Catalog, Research Databases, Internet search engines, and Internet subject directories.
- Identify information sources such as books, journals, Internet, multimedia, and reference materials.
- Distinguish between the Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal classification systems used to organize information in libraries.
- Evaluate sources critically to determine reliability, validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness, and point of view or bias.
- Distinguish scholarly from non-scholarly sources.
- Locate full-text documents in research databases or by using the Journal Locator tool.
- Use the interlibrary loan service to retrieve materials the Library does not own.
- Understand the components of a citation and introduce popular documentation styles.
- Learn about Library services.
Services for Faculty
- Help with design of customized library assignments
- Review of course research projects to determine whether:
- The Library has sufficient resources to support the assignment
- Students will be able to use resources outside the library
- Assignment is realistic; e.g. time frame, level of difficulty, etc.
- Workshops on specific topics or databases
- One-on-one consultations/instruction in Library or faculty office
- Access to fee-based information resources