Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
PARB 227
Abstract
The Teaching Librarians at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries have traditionally offered in-person library instruction to all sections of UNIV 112 and UNIV 200, two writing and research intensive courses all students are required to take which are taught out of the Department of Focused Inquiry (FI). In Spring 2018, we realized that our teaching load had become unsustainable and, with the blessing of FI leadership, made the difficult decision to end in-person instruction for UNIV 112.
In this presentation, I will cover how we handled this transformation of services without jeopardizing the immensely positive relationship we have with FI. Over the course of the 2018-2019 academic year, I worked closely with the FI Information Fluency Committee, as well as the Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning at VCU Libraries and my fellow Teaching Librarians to create a suite of online activities, lesson plans, powerpoints, and more that would replace in-person instruction for UNIV 112.
I will discuss all of the steps we took, from meeting with FI leadership, to sending out a survey to UNIV 112 instructors asking which information fluency concepts they felt their students needed to learn, to the creation of the LibGuide which housed all the tools we created and collected, to hosting Q&A sessions after the change went into effect to hear UNIV 112 instructors’ concerns and questions. Attendees will learn a framework for making their services sustainable while maintaining positive relationships with the departments they work with.
Presentation Description
What happens if your library finds itself in a position where you have to reduce or change the services you offer in order to make them more scalable or sustainable? How can you say “no” without losing the positive relationships with departments you work with? In this presentation, I will discuss how the Teaching Librarians at Virginia Commonwealth Libraries reduced our teaching load without losing the regard of the instructors we work with.
Keywords
Instruction, liaison, scalable, sustainable
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Stout, Jennifer, "How to Make Services Sustainable Without Losing Friends or Making Enemies" (2020). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 66.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2020/2020/66
How to Make Services Sustainable Without Losing Friends or Making Enemies
PARB 227
The Teaching Librarians at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries have traditionally offered in-person library instruction to all sections of UNIV 112 and UNIV 200, two writing and research intensive courses all students are required to take which are taught out of the Department of Focused Inquiry (FI). In Spring 2018, we realized that our teaching load had become unsustainable and, with the blessing of FI leadership, made the difficult decision to end in-person instruction for UNIV 112.
In this presentation, I will cover how we handled this transformation of services without jeopardizing the immensely positive relationship we have with FI. Over the course of the 2018-2019 academic year, I worked closely with the FI Information Fluency Committee, as well as the Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning at VCU Libraries and my fellow Teaching Librarians to create a suite of online activities, lesson plans, powerpoints, and more that would replace in-person instruction for UNIV 112.
I will discuss all of the steps we took, from meeting with FI leadership, to sending out a survey to UNIV 112 instructors asking which information fluency concepts they felt their students needed to learn, to the creation of the LibGuide which housed all the tools we created and collected, to hosting Q&A sessions after the change went into effect to hear UNIV 112 instructors’ concerns and questions. Attendees will learn a framework for making their services sustainable while maintaining positive relationships with the departments they work with.
