Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Room 212
Proposal
Just as a trainer addresses the continuing education needs of employees in the workplace, librarians teach research skills needed to improve academic performance. Like trainers, librarians are frequently asked to meet specific learning objectives within the span of a single session, and they must navigate the challenge of meeting and motivating a new group of participants each time. There is a wealth of information available on designing and delivering training, yet a review of the library literature shows little evidence of direct adoption of these techniques for library instruction.
This presentation will outline best practices in training design, delivery, and assessment, such as creating learning objectives, including alternatives to lecture, and evaluating results. These methods will be compared to existing library instruction techniques, with a focus on increasing student learning. The presenter will also share initial results of her application of methods from a "train the trainers" course in her own library instruction sessions.
Short Description
Librarians and trainers have much in common. Both face challenges such as motivating a group to learn, and attempting to meet specific objectives within a short period of time. A review of the training literature shows that many proven training techniques can be successfully adopted to improve information literacy instruction.
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Reinauer, Olivia, "Librarians as Information Trainers: Using Training Techniques to Improve Information Literacy Instruction" (2014). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 41.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2014/2014/41
Librarians as Information Trainers: Using Training Techniques to Improve Information Literacy Instruction
Room 212
Just as a trainer addresses the continuing education needs of employees in the workplace, librarians teach research skills needed to improve academic performance. Like trainers, librarians are frequently asked to meet specific learning objectives within the span of a single session, and they must navigate the challenge of meeting and motivating a new group of participants each time. There is a wealth of information available on designing and delivering training, yet a review of the library literature shows little evidence of direct adoption of these techniques for library instruction.
This presentation will outline best practices in training design, delivery, and assessment, such as creating learning objectives, including alternatives to lecture, and evaluating results. These methods will be compared to existing library instruction techniques, with a focus on increasing student learning. The presenter will also share initial results of her application of methods from a "train the trainers" course in her own library instruction sessions.
