ICYMI: Tools and Resources for Libraries

Online learning is now critical in supporting students and educators. I spoke with Ide Thompson, a college senior majoring in English and history at the University of the Bahamas to see how he has been responding to the pandemic. Thompson said, “The virus has forced all of my classes to convert to online instruction. While […]

Looking for a Teaching Resource? Check Out Creating Data Literate Students

Thinking of ways to teach or integrate data literacy into your library instruction? Data literacy is defined as the ability to read, interpret, understand, and create data as information. There’s an open access publication called Creating Data Literate Students (2017) edited by Kristin Fontichiaro, Jo Angela Oehrli, and Amy Lennex. Supported by the University of […]

Helping Transfer Students Succeed: Tips & Strategies for Academic Librarians

Have you done outreach to your transfer students? If not, then you may want to consider transfer students as another important student group to support. We’ve covered orientations for first-year students and international student events, and in this post, we’ll cover outreach services to transfer students. Late last fall, a colleague and I attended our […]

Collaborating with Student Affairs for Student Success

I often get emails from other academic librarians asking how they can increase their outreach efforts serving first-year students. (Thank you for your emails!) One way to enhance your student services as an FYE librarian is to engage with your student affairs or student services division directly. Typically, this division supports all student-related matters from […]

Library Orientation Kick Off: Sampling Different Types of Orientation Engagements

The academic school year has started for many universities and colleges. If you had planned for something or will be planning for something soon, think about some creative ways to engage with students. From photo booths to scavenger hunts, you can showcase library resources and giveaways to attract your new learners and introduce them to […]

More Creative Assessments for the First-Year Experience

In a previous post, we covered different assessment activities that you can adapt in your instruction program. We find that FYE librarians need to continue shaping their instructional and assessment methods for first-year students. Instructional assessments are important to measure students’ learning and your own instruction performance. Here are some additional ones you can consider doing!   […]

Creative Assessments for the First-Year Experience

Thinking of creative ways to assess your first-year students? Assessment is such a hot topic in academic librarianship today. There’s an assessment program for user experience, instructional services, collections usage, and more. Librarians should always be thinking about new ways to assess their users and information-seeking needs. One way to identify future trends in services […]

HIP in Action Spotlight: Service-Learning and Community-Based Learning in Academic Libraries

An Interview with Librarian Anne Marie Gruber FYE correspondent Raymond Pun interviews academic librarians who are integrating HIPs (high-impact practices) into their work. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has defined HIPs as active learning approaches that can increase student engagement and retention. Service-learning is considered a HIP, and in this interview, Ray […]

Accreditation and the FYE: Selected Resources for Longitudinal Studies

Did you know that selected regional accreditation programs may include information literacy as a core competency skill? Are you involved in the accreditation process for your school or library? Today, many academic libraries are tasked with providing students’ IL learning data for accreditation purposes.  Groups such as WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) have […]

Transforming Online Instructional Content to Engage Students and Alleviate Library Anxiety

This post was contributed by Bryant Moore, FYE Librarian at Texas A&M University–San Antonio.  Librarians constantly use online content as instructional resources. These resources may come in the form of information literacy modules, research guides, or library tutorials. Utilizing these tools allows libraries and librarians to expand instructional reach and provide around-the-clock instructional services to […]