Positive Faculty/Librarian Relationships for Productive Library Assignments

Abstract

Faculty/librarian collaboration is a topic that receives almost as much coverage in the library literature as information literacy. It is probably safe to say that information literacy efforts cannot succeed without positive collaboration between classroom faculty and librarians. The most common scenario for such collaboration is the library instruction session, in which an instructor takes the class to the library, or invites the librarian to the classroom. Other types of collaboration occur- or should occur-at the time the instructor gives a library research assignment. Librarians can provide “faculty development” to their colleagues from across the disciplines as to how best to work with librarians to achieve course content and information literacy goals. A non-threatening and collegial approach can be most effective. This article summarizes one librarian's experience in conducting such a faculty development session. Content adapted from the session handout is provided.

Key Words:

• Collaboration
• faculty development
• information literacy
• library assignments
• library instruction