Highline Community College Library has an instruction program to teach information literacy to students.  We are delighted that so many of you have called on us to work with your classes in recent years.  In response to increasing requests for our services and resources, we’ve developed an instruction policy, including scheduling guidelines. The following information is intended to help faculty plan for and schedule information literacy instruction for their classes.  The complete policy can be found on the web at: http://flightline.highline.edu/reference/Library_Instruction/InstructionPolicy.rtf

Scheduling:

·         To schedule a single class or a short series of classes tailored to the demands of a current assignment, please contact the Reference department by email (refhelp@highline.edu), phone (ext. 3232), or in person.  We’ll add your class to our calendar and assign a librarian to teach the class based on who is staffing the reference desk at that time. 

·         Please contact the Reference department well in advance of the class date to be sure we have space on the schedule and to give the librarian time to prepare.

·         Librarians will be glad to teach in the library instruction area, in the ICC (if a room can be scheduled) or in your classroom. 

·         Regardless of location, the Reference Department is able to offer only one class at a time, due to availability of staffing.

·         Sometimes, the instructional outcomes can best be met through a short series of classes.  We are delighted to provide these for your class.  However, if it appears that your class needs more than a few sessions (six or more) you and the librarian may want to explore creating a linked one-credit Information Literacy class (LIBR 105).

Planning:

·         It is important that you and the librarian make contact prior to the class.  This provides an opportunity for you to discuss desired outcomes and assessment. 

·         Please send a copy of the current research assignment to the librarian, along with a brief description of where it fits in the context of course.  Also helpful would be information about the character of the class, pedagogical strategies that work with them, or any other details that would help make the class successful.

·         Decide together how to conduct the class.  Regardless of who leads the library class session though, it is essential that both of you are present and engaged in the delivery of instruction for students to get the full benefit of your collaboration.

·         Assessment is a top priority of the library faculty.  Please consider incorporating information literacy assessment into your assignments.  Librarians welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you.

The Library has limited facilities to support its educational mission.  In our Reference area, we provide over 60 public access workstations for college-related research and Internet access, but these are frequently filled, with other students waiting for access.  Twenty of these workstations are enclosed in an Instruction Area where librarians teach classes.  When this area is not being used for that purpose, it is open to all library users to meet the demand for independent and librarian-assisted research.  So that we may meet the numerous, and sometimes conflicting, demands for this space, we have established the following priorities for scheduling use of the Instruction Area.

Scheduling:

·         First priority – formal instruction sessions:  The area may be reserved for a single class or a short series of classes taught by a librarian or a librarian in collaboration with a course instructor. 

·         Second priority – follow-up lab sessions:  The area may be reserved for classes doing research using print and electronic resources as follow-up to a prior formal instruction session as described above.^*

·         Third priority – independent lab sessions:  The area may be reserved for classes doing research using the computers and electronic resources without having had prior formal instruction by a librarian. To allow for the scheduling of higher priority sessions, these may be scheduled no more than 3 days prior to the class.^*

Important notes:

·         Since these sessions occur during regularly scheduled class times, the instructor is expected to be present to conduct and/or monitor the class.

·         Librarians may limit the number of second and third priority classes if necessary to meet first priority needs.

·         For group computing needs other than these, consider scheduling a classroom in the Instructional Computing Center (ICC), ordering a COW for the classroom, or allowing the students to come to the library to use computers on a first come, first served basis.

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