This article describes how and why the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which novice students fail to recognize their own lack of research skills, often occurs with the one-shot library instruction mode. In contrast, we offer a holistic model of instruction that emphasizes closer information literacy connections to higher education curricula. Through…

Too many history students struggle with the citation practices that are central to the historical method. They document their sources incorrectly--or not at all--and do not know what to do with the footnotes and endnotes they encounter in the scholarly texts they read. This article describes the "Follow the Footnote" exercise, which…

Information literacy instruction based on the ACRL "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" tends to focus on basic research skills. However, research is not just a skill but also a subject of study. The ACRL "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education" opens the door to integrating the…

Academic libraries in Macao, China, began to use the term "information literacy" and to offer information literacy programs approximately three years ago. At the University of Macau, information literacy is considered important to help the honors students become junior researchers. Using the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher…

Librarians are tasked with helping students navigate content and discourse across disciplines as well as within their particular major. At times this requires a non-discipline-based form of teaching information seeking, gathering, and sharing that is often called information literacy. Digital storytelling provides a process for uncovering many of…

Many of the research skills needed to succeed in higher education are never explicitly taught. Most students learn through experience and exposure. However, working-class students don't always grow up in academic environments that provide the same exposure to these skills. This paper will explore ways to help working-class and non-traditional…

Research workshops are designed to help students develop skills that go beyond the scope of one-shot library sessions. However, with more students conducting research off-campus, online, and in the evening, workshops targeted towards complex skills and competencies are difficult to offer. But what if librarians were to design and deliver intensive…

"Special Libraries, Special Challenges" is a column dedicated to exploring the unique public services challenges that arise in libraries that specialize in a particular subject, such as law, medicine, business, and so forth. In each column, the author will discuss public service dilemmas and opportunities that arise in special libraries.…

School librarians in Newport News, Virginia, are meeting the challenges of integrating an Inquiry Process Model into instruction. In the original model the process began by asking students to develop questions to start their inquiry journey. As this model was taught it was discovered that students often did not have enough background knowledge to…

At the State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego), a faculty member and advisement coordinator, both of the biological sciences department, and the biological sciences librarian have worked together since 2013 to present a workshop called Writing for the Biological Sciences. Offered once per semester, the workshop is sponsored by the…

A major responsibility of instruction librarians is to help students develop a more extensive and flexible information literacy repertoire. The teaching and learning of information literacy most often takes place in one of two ways: within the context of single 50-minute library sessions, or at the reference desk. In both cases, it usually takes…

For almost 40 years, the Minute Paper has been a quick and easy means of learning assessment, both in the college classroom and in library instruction. More recently, the use of social media, particularly selfies, has gained popularity by connecting with students through the technology with which they are most familiar. This article makes the case…

In this column, the author discusses a lesson in the credit-bearing information literacy course for honors undergraduates at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). The lesson comes last in a unit including resource instruction, search practice, and culminating in the reading and evaluation of a scholarly work. The course, Honors 235: Research in…

Why is it important to prove that school libraries add value to the school program? The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 20 percent of U.S. public schools lack a full or part-time certified librarian (NCES 2013). In California the ratio of certified school librarians to students is 1:7,374 (California Department of Education…

Dual credit students (those enrolled for both high school and postsecondary curricular credit) benefit from library instruction classes and provide an important opportunity for academic libraries to reach out to local K-12 schools. These classes benefit high school students whose excitement and enthusiasm make them uniquely open to acquiring…