Promoting Information Fluency

I have been fortunate to have a good relationship with most of the faculty in the Schools where I am the library liaison.   However, there have been a few people who have never worked with me.   While not openly hostile, they just never seem to see a need for a librarian to assist their students with research. This year, I decided to find another way to build relationships.

I reviewed our fall course schedule and prepared a list of potential classes where my services might be helpful.   These included:

1. Classes where I had conducted sessions in the past.
2. Writing Intensive courses.
3. Introductory courses for the major.
4. Any class that I knew had a substantial research component.

I distributed this list at the final School meeting of the Spring Semester.   It served as a reminder for those professors who had used me in the past to schedule their sessions early.   It also was an invitation for others to contact me.   I emphasized that I knew class time was precious and told them that if they did not want an in-class session, I could create a course-specific LibGuide, prepare a module that could be embedded in Canvas, or schedule individual meetings with their students.

For several specialized classes, I went ahead and created course guides and contacted the professors with the following email.

I have created a LibGuide that I think will be useful for your class.   Of course, I would be happy to do an in-class session if you think that would be helpful.

 Right now the guide is private and may be accessed using this URL:

            setonhill.libguides.com/XXXXXX

 I welcome your comments for additions or deletions.   I may add some websites, but except for your suggestions, I think it is complete.

The response has been very positive.   I have several classes scheduled for the fall and many who have not scheduled classes have thanked me for the guide and made suggestions for things to add.   For the ones who have not responded, I think that I have a “foot in the door” and I hope to build on that for the future.

As soon as the Spring Course Schedule is available, I plan to do this again, as we have a six weeks between semesters to contact faculty and prepare.