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Faculty Guide: Teaching Support

Guide for faculty introducing them to library resources.

Course Reserves

PRINT RESERVES

The library tries to keep one copy of every required undergraduate course textbook in our Course Reserves. We work with the IIT Bookstore to maintain this collection, so it is vital that you submit your course texts to the Bookstore as early as you possibly can. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at library@iit.edu

ELECTRONIC RESERVES

Electronic reserves should be uploaded into the BlackBoard Content Management System. If you have questions about BlackBoard, contact the Office of Digital Learning. 

For Instructors

  • Faculty may place materials on Reserve to allow students maximum access to a specific work
  • Reserve materials may be from the library's collection or may be the instructor's personal copies
  • Books and videos are the types of materials usually placed on reserve

To place library or personal copies of items on the reserve shelf, faculty must:

REQUIREMENTS

  • Requests for books from our collection should be placed at least two weeks in advance of the semester
  • Requests for books to be purchased should be placed at least six weeks in advance of the semester
  • A departmental or professor's personal copy may be placed on reserve, or donated to the reserve collection

POLICIES

  • Items placed on Reserve must be renewed every semester
  • Items requiring special instruction, or that faculty wish to place on permanent reserve, must be discussed with the Reserves Specialist
  • Faculty may designate the borrowing time on materials they submit

Research Guides

A recent Project Information Literacy study stated that:

85% of students said the hardest part of a research assignment was knowing where to start.

Fix that with a research guide. We can create one for your class that focuses on what the students will need to complete your assignments. Students love these guides because they alleviate the anxiety of wondering if they are using the wrong resources.

EXAMPLES
  • Communications 111: Polls students on their knowledge of library resources and provides an overview
  • Public Administration 508: An all-Chinese cohort that needed to find government documents, empirical studies and more for their final project

Library Instruction

We are happy to provide library instruction for your classes. Librarians will work with you to design interactive instruction for your students.

Select an instruction package below for suggested information literacy topics for your class. You can also customize your own session. This is not an exhaustive list. If you would like other resources or topics addressed, we’d be happy to discuss the options with you and determine content and objectives that work best with your situation. Fill out the online form to request instruction.

STARTER PACKAGE

  • Basic introduction to the library 5 mins

A basic overview of the library resources and services provided, including workshops, and ways of accessing librarian assistance

  • Create a search strategy 15 mins

Constructing a search strategy based on research questions
Using a concept map to determine concepts, keywords and synonyms for keywords
Using boolean operators

  • Introduction to database searching 15 mins

Conducting basic searches and finding full text articles in one database
Requesting articles via interlibrary loan

  • Search the library catalog 10 mins

Finding books and ebooks using the library catalog
Requesting books via interlibrary loan
Finding textbooks

  • Evaluate sources for credibility and relevance 20 mins

Analyzing the credibility of a range of sources. Comparing and distinguishing between popular and scholarly articles
Identifying characteristics of credibility via websites

  • Use information ethically 10 mins

Identifying when and why sources must be cited
Analyzing examples for plagiarism characteristics
Introduction to APA or MLA citation manual and resources

UPPER LEVEL CLASS PACKAGE

  • Develop a research question 15 mins

Brainstorming ideas with the help of concept mapping or other tools
Narrowing or broadening topic to fit the scope of a research project

  • Specialized database searching 20 mins

Searching for topics in discipline-specific databases
Using advanced searches to find specific results

  • Track the literature 15 mins

Interpreting citations (book, article, etc.) in an original article’s reference list;
Locating the full text from a citation in the reference list;
Locating earlier sources that have cited the original article.

  • Use information ethically 10 mins

Identifying when and why sources must be cited
Analyzing examples for plagiarism characteristics
Introduction to Zotero workshops

  • Synthesize sources for a literature review 15 mins

Incorporating sources into research project

OTHER TOPICS

  • Locate primary sources 15 mins

Identifying characteristics between primary and secondary sources.
Strategies for locating primary sources using databases and/or the University Archives and Special Collection

  • Cite sources properly 20 mins

Creating references and In-text citation

  • Where do I publish? 20 mins

Open access and traditional publishing models.
Using databases to find journals related to your research.
Journal “impact” metrics.

  • Introduction to the library and a tour 30 mins

General information about the library resources and services provided.