Library Instruction Program

Goals

Misericordia University’s library instruction program supports the academic mission and curriculum of the college by means of library instruction sessions that prepare students to:

Acquire both the immediate library research skills to achieve academic excellence as well as the lifelong skill of using information effectively in an increasingly information-driven society

Develop information independence and critical thinking

Understand the legal and ethical implications of information use

The above goals for our students comply with both the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education as endorsed by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Information Literacy competency goals stipulated by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education .

The Misericordia University Library offers individualized instruction sessions as well as group or course-related library sessions for individual classes. All sessions cater to the specific needs of the individual, group or class. Our library instruction staff seeks a partnership with faculty in developing and nurturing a positive learning environment in which all students may excel in the academic field of their choice as well as acquire important lifelong learning skills for them to lead productive professional and personal lives.

Instructional Plan and Objectives

Introduce incoming students to the availability of library resources and services through general orientations and other sessions.
Offer a variety of instructional tools, both online and in print, to support the needs of the student and the library instruction program.
Provide instruction in basic research by designing learning sessions for introductory level and core courses
Provide instruction in advanced research techniques for specific disciplines, including graduate study, as requested
Offer independent training sessions as requested
The library instruction sessions are structured into the following components:

Level 1

This category includes all incoming undergraduate students as well as first year and possibly second year undergraduate students who have not had any library instruction at Misericordia University. These students will be introduced to the Mary Kintz Bevevino Library and its resources, acquire an understanding of how information, especially scholarly information, is organized and retrieved, learn how to determine the nature and extent of the information needed, learn how to organize the information that is used, learn how to evaluate the information retrieved, including information from Web sites, and understand the basic legal and ethical implications of information use.

1. Introduction to the library and its resources

Students will learn the following:

i. How to navigate the library homepage (includes introducing students to library services such as inter-library loans,
reserves and circulation)
ii. How to use the library catalog
iii. How to physically locate items in the library
iv. How to make use of the library’s reference collection (eg. what is an index or an abstract and how to use it)

2. Determining, organizing, and evaluating information

Students will learn the following:
i. How to begin the research process
ii. How to identify and use different information resources (eg. periodical indexes, both electronic and in print,
peer reviewed journal vs. popular magazines, etc )
iii. How to retrieve information, eg., using Boolean operators, keyword searching, controlled vocabulary
iv. How to evaluate web sites for authority, accuracy, currency and usability (including understanding the nature of the
World Wide Web as a whole)
v. How to organize information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose (eg. sort information retrieved by relevance order)

The following materials were used as a reference for this section :

Middle States Commission on Higher Education. (2003). Developing research and communication skills: guidelines for information literacy in the curriculum. Philadelphia, PA: Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Malone, D., & Videon, C. (2003).First year student library instruction programs. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

3. Understanding the basic legal and ethical implications of information use

Students will learn the following:

i.What is plagiarism
ii.How to avoid plagiarism
iii. How to document sources and use designated editorial styles

Level 2

Students will be introduced to specialized resources in a specific assignment or course of study. Library instruction sessions are mainly course specific, depending on the wishes of faculty members. Students will learn advanced search techniques for retrieving desired information and develop further insight into the scholarly communication process.

1. Introduction to specialized resources and additional search strategies

Students will learn the following:

i.How to apply advanced search techniques when retrieving information
ii. How to develop and modify search strategies that may be unique to each source, including the Web
(eg. making use of different search engines) How to identify, critically evaluate, and use major scholarly
or reliable Web sites (eg. identifying and using the different Web directories such as the Internet Public Library
and the Librarian’s Index to the Internet)
iii. How to differentiate between primary and secondary sources

2. Understanding the scholarly communication process

Students will learn the following:
i. How new information is produced, reviewed and disseminated in a field
ii. What factors affect the biases or values of information in an area of study (eg. who produced the information, where does the information come from?)
iii. What constitutes ethical and legal use of scholarly resources (eg. understanding issues of copyright and intellectual property, censorship and freedom of speech)

Library Orientations

All incoming students will be introduced to the library and its resources through library orientation sessions. These students may include freshman, graduate, transfer, Expressway, Adult Education, and Weekend College students. The type of session will be determined by level and need of students.
Instruction Sessions

Due to our commitment to information literacy, our library staff encourages faculty to arrange library instruction sessions for their students, be it for introductory sessions as stipulated in Level 1 or for more advanced and course-specific sessions as stipulated in Level 2, or both. The instruction staff welcomes the opportunity to work with faculty in scheduling these sessions throughout the year. We do request that sessions be scheduled at least one week in advance and strongly recommend that these sessions last at least one hour. Faculty, who are scheduling these sessions, want to make sure that students are present for the session at the top of the hour. Faculty is expected and highly encouraged to be present during the library instruction session. The presence of faculty will help keep students focused and attentive during the library instruction session as well as underlines the importance of these sessions.

Reference Department’s library contact for academic divisions

Each instruction staff member is assigned a specific core academic division within the college. He or she will work with faculty in producing course-specific guides and instruction for students. Faculty is encouraged to contact their division’s representative so that both faculty and representative will be able to work productively in designing instructional materials that will benefit students most. If your contact person is not available, faculty should contact Lizah Ismail, Coordinator of Instructional Services, directly.

Reference Instruction Staff Contact Information

David Marks
Reference Librarian
Tel: 674-6352
Email: dmarks@misericordia.edu

Christopher Mahoney
Information Literacy Librarian
Tel: 674-3032
Email: cmahoney@misericordia.edu

Peggy Leonhart
Reference Specialist
Tel: 674-3038
Email: pleonhar@misericordia.edu

Jaclyn Macey
Reference Specialist
Tel: 674-6392
Email: jmacey@misericordia.edu