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Mediated Learning Newsletter

Vol. 5, Issue 2: November 2005, pg. 1

Breaking Trail in the Information Universe

Merinda McLure
Assistant Professor and Mansfield Library Instruction Coordinator

Merinda McLure

Increasingly, many students may turn to the library only after exhausting Google and just as the dawn of an assignment due date is breaking. Course assignments with research starting points help set your student researchers on the right path. In the preliminary stages of assignment design, or in the last hours before an assignment is distributed, your liaison librarian can assist you by reviewing the existence of relevant information sources for your specific class assignment and identifying potential access challenges for your students. This conversation is an opportunity to collaborate toward both student success and more informed librarian assistance.

A librarian's assignment-related review of resources often suggests new and interesting items that might be specifically highlighted for students. This review may inspire the creation of a research guide or resource listing to accompany the assignment and may also:

  • reveal a clear need for new purchases in a specific topic area;
  • serve as an opportunity to note access/title changes for the journals specified in a long-standing assignment;
  • indicate that a newly acquired database now offers a better starting point than was previously available;
  • suggest that a researched listing of quality Websites might be a desirable addition to the assignment materials.

Equipped with advance copies of research-intensive assignments, your liaison librarian can better prepare library colleagues to assist students at the Library's Information Center desk. The liaison librarian also benefits generally from such direct insight into teaching and learning in your discipline.

When an assignment asks students to seek articles from specific journal publications, the potential for student frustration can be lessened by mention of the relevant database(s) for topical searches specific to those publications. Similarly, students who are still learning to distinguish scholarly databases and e-journals from the open Web may be confused by wording that simply disallows the use of Websites. When requiring that students select articles from refereed journals, it may be useful to note that the Mansfield Library's Journals page incorporates Ulrich's Periodicals Directory via “Title details from ulrichsweb.com™” links, in most instances facilitating a quick determination.

Your liaison librarian can offer more comprehensive guides, or simple how-to verbiage for insertion into assignments, on these and other research resources and processes. Graduate students will benefit from being specifically guided to explore both WorldCat and ProQuest Digital Dissertations as they prepare to undertake comprehensive literature reviews. The assignment and syllabus might also encourage students to utilize the Library's Information Center desk and seek more in-depth assistance from the relevant liaison librarian, identified in the syllabus or assignment by both name and contact information.

Liaison librarians are indicated at http://www.lib.umt.edu/about/policies/cii.htm. To schedule a library instruction session tailored to your course content, contact your librarian directly or use the online form at http://www.lib.umt.edu/inst/slcrequest.asp. The following university library pages provide additional thoughts on the design and articulation of assignments that integrate library resources:

 

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