Faculty Services

Kirkwood librarians can support student learning in a number of different ways. Besides providing information resources and helping students one-on-one in the Library, librarians can also do demonstrations or present activities to your classes. To schedule any of the following, or to discuss the needs of your students with a librarian, please use one of the forms at the bottom of this box:

• A tour of the Library, or show students a particular collection (e.g. ELA books or art books).
• A presentation or activity in your classroom on a specific topic. To name just a few possible topics: citing sources, searching library databases, searching Google effectively, critical evaluation of information. We are happy to collaborate with faculty on creating an effective activity or assignment to help students gain specific research skills relevant to your course.
• A presentation or activity in the Cedar Rapids Library classroom, which seats 24 students, has a ceiling projector, and a set of laptops. Please call the reference desk at ext. 5697 to check availability of the classroom.

Please request library instruction by using the appropriate online form:
Iowa City Campus
Cedar Rapids Campus|County Centers| Distance Learning

Kirkwood Library Services provides excellent and professional reference service to students, faculty, and staff in a number of different ways:

• Stop by the Cedar Rapids or Iowa City Campus Libraries during our regular desk hours (until 9pm at the CR campus, until 8pm at the IC campus).
• Make an appointment with a librarian for an extended consultation about your research project.
• Use the "Ask a Librarian" chat function, available from the Library homepage, and from most of the LibGuides pages, for quick and timely help.

The page you're looking at right now was created using a software system called "LibGuides". It features flexible layout, easy updating, and reusable components. The content can also be embedded directly into your Talon courses. If you'd like a page with resources especially for your students, contact a librarian and we'll collaborate with you on locating the best resources for your particular assignments and in designing a page that fits your students' needs.

Examples of some customized pages for Kirkwood classes:

Global Perspectives in Interior Design

Agricultural Science

The page we create for your class can feature:

• Direct links to library resources such as the book catalog or any of the subscription databases
• Direct links to other online resources you want to direct your students to
• Pages or boxes from any of the library LibGuides pages, embedded directly into your page so your students know the resources are instructor-approved. For example, we could put a tab on your page called "MLA Style" that will include videos on MLA Citation as well as printable guides.
• Links that won't "go bad." Because they link directly into the library's pages, if we update a link to a database, the link on your page will automatically update as well
• Your LibGuides page can be embedded directly into many types of course sites, including Talon.

Contact a librarian for more details, or to get started on your own LibGuide. In Cedar Rapids contact Kate Hess (x5605); in Iowa City contact David Strass (x3619)

The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) has created a new (2016) document to guide librarians and faculty in how to support student learning of information literacy skills and habits of thought and practice. Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education outlines core ideas or threshold concepts that can be used to guide the creation of experiences or assignments in any class requiring the use of information. (This document replaces the Information Literacy Competency Standards that had been widely used since 2000, but in practice was difficult to translate into day to day work with students.)

Some great reads by Barbara Fister, from her Library Babel Fish column in Inside Higher Ed:

• "The Boundaries of 'Information' in Information Literacy" 
• "Post-Post Truth" 
• "Playing, Learning, and the Teaching Problem" 
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Project Information Literacy is a series of ongoing "research studies that investigate what it is like being a college student in the digital age," to understand how today's students use information, what their needs are, what strategies they use. These videos each give a entre into research conducted by this group. To find out more, visit their website.

• "The Importance of Truth Workers in an Era of Factual Recession" 
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