The countdown is on to the beginning of Fall Term and the Brock University Library is ready to offer strategic course instruction support through a new department and request process.

For the past several years, faculty members have consulted with individual liaison librarians through the Library’s former Liaison Services Department. With the development of a new Brock Library organizational structure, this model was replaced with a multi-functional team-based approach.

Now, each Faculty has a team of librarians who act as points of contact and draw upon expertise from across three library departments: Collections Services, Research Lifecycle, and Teaching and Learning.

With a focus on instruction, the Teaching and Learning Department works with academic departments to strategically integrate information literacy, digital fluency and research skills into their courses.

“The goal is to scaffold library instruction throughout a program structure to support students at the most appropriate time in their degrees,” says Department Head Jennifer Thiessen. “We’re interested in working directly with programs to identify key courses in which students would benefit from research skill development.”

The Library’s Teaching and Learning Department can provide instruction on critical research skills in a variety of ways, including:

• Online learning via digital learning modules embedded into the Learning Management System and/or a course-specific research guide.
• Developing an assignment to teach information seeking/management skills.
• Providing in-person or synchronous sessions designed by a librarian to meet the needs of specific assignments and to address broad learning expectations.

Faculty interested in library instruction or course support are asked to review the information literacy instruction guidelines and fill out a new online request form.

In addition to offering instruction on information literacy, the Brock Library also offers course instruction on several other research-related topics and skills, including archival research; creative and emerging technologies; data visualization and analysis; digital scholarship; maps and GIS; and scholarly communication.

Faculty members are encouraged to explore the Library’s instruction support offerings to learn more about how the Library can support their teaching and student research needs.

Questions and comments can be directed to the Library Team assigned to each respective Faculty.