Instructional Services
Page main body content
Libraries' staff are available to provide instruction either in-person or virtually, on library resources and services, online research databases, the research process and subject-specific collections and research skills. Instruction is delivered by a diverse team of librarians who teach in a multitude of spaces, employ a variety of pedagogical approaches, and reach a wide range of student populations. Depending on your course goals, instruction can take place in several modalities.
In-Person Instruction - We can meet with your students during your class time either in a teaching space in the Libraries or in your classroom.
Online Instruction - We can meet with your students during your class time via Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
Asynchronous Online Instruction - Libraries staff have created a variety of online tutorials and learning objects that can be added to your course. Faculty and course instructors may also consult with librarians to design instruction sessions and/or materials that best support course goals. Contact your subject librarians to discuss your needs.
General Library Research Workshops - We offer a series of workshops throughout the year for students, faculty and staff. Faculty and course instructors can assign attendance at one or more workshops as an extra-credit activity. See the Libraries event calendar for details.
Instruction and Information Literacy
The Special Collections Research Center offers in-person and virtual instruction sessions. With three or more weeks’ notice, SCRC staff can prepare an engaging instruction session with a limited number of items. Use our Special Collections and Archive materials as part of your teaching. Faculty are also encouraged to develop undergraduate and graduate courses around the divers and unique holdings. The Lemke Seminar Room on the 6th floor of Bird Library is available for faculty members who wish to present collection materials that relate to a particular class lecture. Or instruction sessions can be scheduled in the Belfer Audio Archive and Preservation Laboratory if incorporating sound recordings, sound playback equipment and other materials from the collection of the history of recorded sound.
Fill out the SCRC instruction request form or email for more information scrc@syr.edu.
Our Information Literacy Programis designed to assist all Syracuse University students in developing the skills to think critically with and about information. We deliver quality educational opportunities to advance the University's teaching and learning. We support students and faculty in developing skills to succeed in an increasingly complex information society through information discovery, understanding how information is produced and valued, and using information to create new knowledge and participate in communities of learning.*
The Libraries offer a variety of programming to support learning, including in-person and online classes, events, library tours, information fairs and research workshops. We partner with academic departments in a variety of ways, including integration with first-year courses (such as WRT 105/205 and First Year Seminar), collaboration with Syracuse University Project Advance classes, faculty collaborations with the Special Collections Research Center and introductory and upper-division discipline-specific instruction by subject librarians.
The Libraries also deliver information literacy instruction through reference consultations at service desks and by appointment, research support for study groups, roving reference, and learning objects such as research guides and online tutorials.
*Association of College and Research Libraries, Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, 2015.