Library Instruction Services for UCSB Faculty

Course-related instruction: We encourage instructors to schedule in-depth sessions tailored to the subject matter of a specific course or assignment. The UCSB Libraries offer these classes in all subject areas, either in the library or at your department. To request a session, please fill out this form.

New faculty orientation: New faculty members may arrange an orientation and tour of the library by contacting the Collection Specialist for a particular subject.

Tours: Library tours for classes and campus groups are offered each Fall and Winter quarter and can be arranged by filling out this this form. Please indicate that you are requesting a tour rather than classroom instruction.

Library tour script: Please feel free to use this script if you prefer a do-it-yourself library tour for your students.

Orientations to groups: Library orientations for new UCSB students are offered during Discovery Days at the beginning of the Fall quarter. These hands-on sessions introduce new students to the library's resources and services. Librarians also conduct orientation sessions elsewhere on campus in order to reach large classes, student assemblies, faculty groups, and other UCSB communities.

Subject guides to library resources: These guides serve as a starting point for research in subjects taught at UCSB. They recommend sources for background information, indexes to periodical articles, Internet resources, and printed and electronic reference materials. For additional assistance in subject-specific library resources, contact the Collection Specialist in your discipline.

Consultation services for library-related exercises: Faculty members are encouraged to work with an instruction librarian when creating library-related exercises. We can help you design an effective assignment by taking into account certain general guidelines:

• currency and availability: Make sure we have what you're asking your students to find! The Library's collections are dynamic: what was on the shelf last winter may have been moved to the Reserve Book Service for spring, or might be checked out, now in storage, or otherwise unavailable. Locations change, database coverage and scope is constantly evolving, and finding journal articles is always a challenge for students new to library research. We'll help you avoid the scavenger-hunt approach in favor of efficient, information-literate research.
  
  
• outline the research strategy: Include a list of steps involved. Will your students be expected to use article indexes? Do they understand the distinction between the World Wide Web and an online version of a scholarly journal? A class session with a librarian can be a worthwhile step in the research process.



• recognize the demand on resources:
When an entire class is looking for the same few materials, it invariably leads to misplacement, loss, or mutilation of materials. Give students a variety of topics and sources; we can help you create assignments that avoid dependence on limited resources.