F & M Library: Library Research Workshops

F&M Library Research Workshops

Purpose

Library Research Workshops at F&M are provided to enable students to become fully information literate: able to recognize when information is needed, and to locate, evaluate, and use effectively, ethically, and legally the needed information.
As information seeking and retrieval becomes increasingly complex, and as the quality of information becomes increasingly difficult to discern, the development of students' critical thinking skills is crucial. Library Research Workshops help develop critical thinking skills by enhancing students' information literacy.

Library Research Workshops can be particularly helpful to first-year students.There are often vast differences between an incoming first-year's high school library experience and the library environment and research experience at Franklin & Marshall. Providing an introduction to, and solid foundation in, research skills at the appropriate time (usually about 4-6 weeks into the semester) goes a long way to reducing first-year student research stress and improving student performance.

Possibilities

Librarians offer Library Research Workshops designed to fit the specific needs of a course. The librarian consults with the faculty member to learn the objectives of the course, course content, materials covered, and course assignment(s). The workshops, and accompanying supportive documents (such as those featured on the library's Class Guides web site), are then developed to support the course's research requirements. Information sources typically included in workshops are: the Library Catalog, print and electronic indexes and abstracts, books, print and electronic reference sources, print and electronic journals, scholarly databases, and effective Internet searching and evaluating.

Library Research Workshops most often occur in the library's computer classroom, to allow student participation in active learning and group exercises. Librarians are also available to teach in your classroom.

Faculty are strongly encouraged to attend Library Research Workshops with their students.

The Librarians develop workshops for all course levels:

First-Year Seminars
Foundations courses
100, 200, 300 level courses
Senior Seminars

for all assignments:

annotated bibliography
research paper
group projects and presentations

covering a wide array of topics:

the Library Catalog
understanding the organization, archiving and retrieval of scholarship
effective scholarly database searching
evaluating information sources
effective Internet searching for scholarship
citing information sources
ethical use of intellectual property (See Plagiarism: a Resource for Faculty)

Procedures

Faculty are encouraged to schedule their workshops as far in advance as possible. At least two weeks lead time between the date the request is made and the workshop date is preferred.

To schedule a Library Research Workshop, contact the liaison librarian for your department:

DEPARTMENT

LIAISON LIBRARIAN

DEPARTMENT

LIAISON LIBRARIAN

Africana Studies

Lisa Stillwell, x3844

American Studies

Christopher Raab, x4225

Anthropology

Pam Snelson, x3896

Arabic Language

Pamela Snelson, x3896

Art & Art History

Louise Kulp, x4242

Bioinformatics

Dale Riordan, x3843

Biological Foundations of Behavior

Scott Vine, x3840

Biology

Dale Riordan, x3843

Business, Organizations & Society

Tom Karel, x3845

Chemistry

Dale Riordan, x3843

Chinese Language

Pamela Snelson, x3896

Classics

Renate Sachse, x4435

Computer Science

Scott Vine, x3840

Earth & Environment

Dale Riordan, x3843

Economics

Marty Gordon, x3842

English

Lisa Stillwell, x3844

French

Renate Sachse, x4435

German

Renate Sachse, x4435

Government

Tom Karel, x3845

History

Christopher Raab, x4225

International Studies

Pam Snelson, x3896

Italian

Renate Sachse, x4435

Japanese Language

Pamela Snelson, x3896

Judaic Studies

Marty Gordon, x3842

Mathematics

Scott Vine, x3840

Music

Andy Gulati, x4261

Philosophy

Scott Vine, x3840

Physics & Astronomy

Dale Riordan, x3843

Psychology

Scott Vine, x3840

Public Policy

Tom Karel, x3845

Religious Studies

Marty Gordon, x3842

Russian

Renate Sachse, x4435

Science, Technology & Society

Scott Vine, x3840

Scientific and Philosophical Studies of Mind

Scott Vine, x3840

Sociology

Louise Kulp, x4242

Spanish

Renate Sachse, x4435

Theater, Dance & Film

Andy Gulati, x4261

Women & Gender Studies

Lisa Stillwell, x3844

last updated 8/09 ls