Tennessee State University was a decade long user of OCLC's ILLiad platform. 2019 marked the year when the relationship with that system ended as our two interlibrary loan departments migrated to Tipasa, OCLC's new cloud-based system. The platform change did not stem from dissatisfaction with ILLiad but from being informed that Tipasa would…

The purpose of this paper is to describe how a series of one-shot or single class library instruction webinars were created for on-campus and distance education students at Virginia Tech, a land grant institution in rural southwestern Virginia. Virginia Tech's distance learning department on campus trained in Centra 7.6 software and the lead…

Video tutorials are a common form of library instruction used with distance learners. This paper combines professional experience and literature reviews from multiple disciplines to provide a contextual overview of recommendations and findings for effective and engaging videos. The tools for tutorials appear in five main categories: screencasts,…

The easy availability of Internet information has caused many to question the future of libraries. However, librarians, as experts of information science, are even more necessary to help students navigate the Internet. An embedded librarian provides assistance at the most critical point -- exactly when it is needed.

There is a "clash of civilizations" going on in the information field--a clash characterized by a brash upstart, Google, and its attendant creations, Google Scholar and Google Books, and the old guard represented by the library world. Librarians who deprecate Google Scholar or simply ignore the Google phenomenon do so at their own risk. Google…

A diverse group, account-based services include a wide variety of sites commonly used by patrons, including online shopping sites, social networks, photo- and video-sharing sites, banking and financial sites, government services, and cloud-based storage. Whether or not a piece of information is obtainable online must be considered when creating…

The original concept of information literacy (IL) identifies it as an enabler for lifelong learning and learning-to-learn, adaptable and transferable in any learning environment and context. However, practices of IL in electronic information and learning environments (e-environments) tend to question the origins, and workability, of IL on the…

This article presents reports from the 2011 Missouri Library Association Annual Conference held on October 5-7, 2011. The first report, entitled "Online Information Literacy Instruction: Challenges and Strategies," was presented by Kristine Stewart and Kyle Denlinger, University of Missouri-Columbia. Stewart and Denlinger talk about…

In recent years, libraries have made efforts to create games, often for the purpose of information literacy instruction. Games can provide an interactive alternative to traditional instruction by introducing research tools and resources while also teaching problem solving skills within a collaborative learning environment. Despite the benefits,…

College students today are spending more time online accessing information and connecting with each other. Libraries and librarians have made changes in their collections and services so as to be easily available and accessible in the online world. Embedding a librarian in a course enhances student learning by connecting students with reliable…

As library patrons move online, librarians must move instructional content online to join them. One means of educating library users is to meet them on their computers with electronic tutorials. Electronic tutorials may be used for various instructional tasks such as teaching users about the basic elements of a library catalog, pointing out the…

From Web guides to online tutorials, academic librarians are increasingly experimenting with many different technologies in order to meet the needs of today's growing distance education populations. In this article, the author discusses one librarian's experience using Camtasia Studio to create subject specific video tutorials. Benefits, as well…

At the 2008 ALA Annual Conference, a wonderful Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) preconference was presented entitled "Library Instruction 2.0: Building Your Online Instruction Toolkit". The presentation was enlightening and provided numerous and valuable recommendations for Web 2.0 sites that can facilitate and enliven library…

While composition programs are frequently responsible for teaching basic research writing, it is still common practice to limit lessons in information literacy to "one-shot" library instruction sessions. This practice reinforces the perception that the research process is separate from (and simpler than) the writing process, that teaching students…

Due to a shortage of librarians to teach classes coupled with a growing student body, librarians at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) decided to explore alternative means to deliver instruction. Their charge was to supplement traditional classroom instruction by utilizing ETSU's course management system (Desire2Learn, D2L) to inform students…