Barnard College Personal Librarians offer support and instruction on research methods and research resources according to their subject matter expertise. They collaborate with faculty to teach in-class instruction sessions, conduct workshops, create research guides, and provide other course support. They offer one-on-one consultations to students, faculty, staff, and independent researchers.

The librarians also collaborate on more customized work, including curricular development and tutorial videos, depending on time commitment and availability.

Course support and instruction emphasizes:

• Overview of relevant library research tools 
• Strategies and practices for the effective use of library resources and research tools 
• Research as an iterative process
• Application of critical thinking during research 
• Critical information literacy
• Information and research ethics 

Librarian-led research instruction sessions happen during regularly scheduled class time. Faculty can work with a librarian to schedule an appropriate time for a session during the semester, usually when students are starting a research project. 

The objectives of the session determine the length and number of class meetings necessary. This could range from a 15-minute introduction to a session lasting the full length of the class.  

We would love to collaborate with you. Collaborating on an instructional session or research guide (more on this below) takes time and effort, and should begin as early as possible, especially depending on the level of involvement necessary for the librarian. 

Please reach out to the Personal Librarian assigned to your department to discuss options for support and pre-session planning: 

• For single sessions, we recommend a minimum of two weeks from the date of the request to the date of the session (and is still dependent on librarian availability.) For creation of a course guide, or more involvement from the librarian, earlier request dates are better. 
• If you’re interested in integrating or embedding a librarian into a course beyond a single session, you must discuss this collaboration with the librarian directly during the syllabus-creation phase. 

First-Year Writing (FYW) Workshops

Every FYW section includes at least one library instruction workshop. Sessions encourage exploration, demystify library services and resources such as CLIO/databases, and assist students in becoming more effective and ethical users and interpreters of information. The sessions aim to prepare and equip students for both their immediate and long-term undergraduate research needs.

Senior Capstones Workshops

Senior thesis/capstone/seminar library instruction sessions help prepare students for rigorous, independent research. Sessions are highly responsive to current student research topics and/or faculty focus of the seminar. They may feature discussions about research methods & ethics, exercises on database exploration, topic formation, primary source research skills, and research approaches. 

Barnard librarians create broad subject area guides and can also create custom research guides for individual courses. Research guides are web pages that make it easier for students to access research resources, tools, and materials for a course or subject. All guides are created by the Barnard Library and Archives staff. 

Guides often include links to the library catalog, subject-specific databases for finding primary sources and secondary scholarship, search strategies, and instructions for connecting Google Scholar to CLIO. 

• Example of a course guide: Modern Architecture of the World, created by Meredith Wisner
• Example of a subject guide: Computer Science, created by Erin Anthony

Creating these guides takes time and collaboration. Contact the librarian in your subject area about creating a guide for your course or topic. When librarians teach a workshop, they often create a guide to complement workshop content.

Faculty can consult with librarians about finding articles, readings, and other available texts for teaching a course and potentially replacing expensive textbooks. Librarians are knowledgeable about access to freely available course materials and Open Educational Resources (OER).

Librarians can also give input on designing research projects that help students gain appropriate research skills and meet specific learning objectives.

Please contact the librarian in your subject area to discuss ideas for other instruction and course support options.