Information Literacy and Instructional Support

What is information literacy?

Trexler Library supports the development of information literate students who can discover, organize, analyze, create, and share information in order to achieve their academic goals and to enhance their independent, lifelong learning habits. Information literate students will thereby develop an intellectual framework for critical analysis and reflection of diverse information resources.

Read our entire Statement on Information Literacy here.

How do I incorporate information literacy into my assignments and courses?

Library Instruction

Library instruction sessions take many forms but often are tailored to a specific research project. Librarians can recommend particular resources, demonstrate search techniques, discuss resource evaluation methods, consider how items can properly be incorporated into research, and more, all in our hands-on classroom. Working in partnership with the faculty, librarians help define assignments to enhance your information and literacy course goals. A session can be scheduled for part of a class period, an entire class period, or even span multiple class periods.

Library instruction can be scheduled in a variety of ways:

Note: Please allow at least one week for class preparation.

Student Referrals

Subject librarians are available to work one-on-one with students on a referral or drop-in basis. Contact the subject specialists listed above.

Assignment Ideas

The assignment ideas listed at Alternatives to the Research Paper may help you adapt your existing assignments or develop new assignments.

Contact the Library Instruction Coordinator, Rachel Hamelers ([email protected] / 484-664-3601) or your Subject Specialist Librarian to discuss these and other assignment ideas.

Other Instructional Support

Librarians are available to assist with:

  • Integrating information literacy components throughout the course and syllabus.
  • Developing course-specific online research guides.
  • Teaching students about the proper citation of web and print resources.
  • Supporting faculty in incorporating instructional media in the library's Information Commons.
  • Developing informational-related pedagogy for faculty Blackboard/Moodle sites.
  • Understanding and applying copyright for both classroom work and individual scholarly communication.

Contact the Library Instruction Coordinator, Rachel Hamelers ([email protected] / 484-664-3601), or your Subject Specialist Librarian to discuss other opportunities.

Reviewed 2021