Library tutorials offer on demand and as-needed instruction, a necessity as higher education continues to extend the reach of online learning. Our institution has increased its online course offerings alongside a university-wide shift in pedagogical and student-centered philosophy. To align our library tutorials webpage with these advances, we…

With new program additions and changes to existing graduate programs, librarians at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas were interested in investigating if students taking online courses were successful in accessing the library services and instruction. A survey was created that included all types of graduate students (fully online to fully…

This study examines the current attitudes of librarians toward the practice of librarians teaching classes beyond the domain of library skills and information literacy. An electronic survey was sent to ILI-L (Information Literacy Instruction List), the Association of College and Research Libraries library instruction e-mail list. The author…

Graduate students are a significant part of a university's research population who may begin their studies without all of the skills they need to be successful. The authors conducted a convenience survey, sent to five library e-mail lists, to explore if librarians interact with graduate students and what methods they use to do so. Results show…

Graduate students lament the need to achieve the proficiency necessary to competently search multiple databases for their research assignments, regularly eschewing these sources in favor of Google Scholar or some other search engine. The author conducted an anonymous survey investigating graduate student knowledge or awareness of the open-access…

Education for Instruction Librarians has traditionally centered upon the acquisition of practical classroom skills. While this approach has merit, from a sociocultural perspective of learning, student development emerges more completely through engagement with the communal activities and values that constitute professional practices rather than…

This article reports the results of a survey that targeted reference and instruction librarians who work at libraries that are members of the Asso- ciation of Research Libraries (ARL). Respondents were asked to indicate whether or not they teach students to use the one-box tool, and why or why not. Based on the responses of the 352 librarians who…

This article introduces psychologist Carol S. Dweck's entity and incremental theories of intelligence and explores the prevalence of these theories in academic librarians who participate in reference and instruction activities. Based on existing research, it is possible that implicit theories of intelligence could affect the ways in which…

Are services that were once intended to be exclusively available to the distance learning population now typically available for all users in a university community? This article seeks to investigate this question using two different methods. First, an unobtrusive study of 100 library Websites was conducted to determine whether these libraries…

The published literature on information literacy in mathematics is relatively sparse. This article explores the current state of information literacy initiatives in undergraduate mathematics. The authors survey academic librarians (n = 118) who liaise with mathematics departments in order to gain an understanding of their practices and attitudes…

Many content analyses of job ads have revealed the skills and experience needed in academic library jobs and show that library instruction is an important job duty. This study moves beyond the content of the job ads and surveys the employers themselves (in the person of the supervisor). The survey revealed that supervisors highly value library…

Teaching research competencies and information literacy is an integral part of the academic librarian's role. There has long been debate among librarians over what are the most effective methods of instruction for college students. Library Faculty members at a large urban university system were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the…

Numerous studies on retention have highlighted the role of student engagement in influencing students' withdrawal decisions. This study seeks to address how academic libraries affect student retention by examining the perception of academic library deans or directors on the alignment between library services and resources with ten nationally…

An exploratory study was conducted in Summer 2012 in an effort to determine what librarians in the United States are doing to teach chemistry graduate students research skills. Chemistry librarians at ARL (Association of Research Libraries) institutions were surveyed about the content they teach; when, where, and how they present it; and what…

The purpose of this article is to chronicle and discuss a unique research opportunity at LaGuardia Community College when Hurricane Sandy caused a week of class cancelations, including library instruction sessions for ENG101 students. Librarians took advantage of the natural sample, paired with randomly selected classes that had previously…