Course Specific Research and Information Literacy Instruction Details

Faculty and librarians share the common goal of student success, both in the context of an individual course and for the duration of the students’ academic career. Embedding research and information literacy skills into your assignments can prepare students with the skills to succeed in your course, and with skills they can carry on into their future endeavours.  

What is information literacy?

The Association of College and Research Libraries defines information literacy as:

the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning

Association of College and Research Libraries, 2016

Why is information literacy important? 

Building information literacy skills is a crucial component in a student’s academic journey. Information literacy skills prepare students to effectively locate relevant information, evaluate information, and ethically incorporate information into their various research projects.

Collaborate with a Librarian during your assignment development

As you prepare your course material, consider consulting with or working with your New College Librarians to expand your pedagogical practices by finding new ways to incorporate research and information literacy skills into your research and writing assignments. Your New College Librarians are excited to work with you to explore new assignment designs and other possibilities to further incorporate information literacy into your course.  

Visit the DG Ivey Library Services for Instructors bookings page  and select “Information Literacy (Research) Instruction to book a time to meet with a librarian.  

Request information literacy instruction for your course 

If you are incorporating a research assignment into your course or feel that your students could use a library instruction session, your New College Librarians are available to work with you and your students to develop instruction and supporting materials. Library information literacy instruction will introduce or develop your students’ online and library research skills to help them produce better research papers and projects. The DG Ivey library offers customized information literacy and library instruction sessions, workshops, tutorials and library guides for your students to help them develop effective research practices for their papers and assignments.  

Please fill out the online Library Instruction form if you are interested in library instruction tailored to your class’s assignments. 

References

Association of College and Research Libraries. (2016, January 11). Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education. https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework  


Online Course Reader Service Details

The Online Course Reader Service offered by the New College Library is a great way to provide your students free access to your course readings. This is a free service through which the library will source, scan, link, or upload accessible, copyright compliant versions of your assigned readings into Quercus where your students can access them for free.

Complete the Online Course Reader Service Form to request that materials be scanned and/or linked into Quercus.

We encourage you to send your reading list as soon as you can so that we can start processing it, especially the first 4 weeks of readings. If you are still working on your reading list, please send us the first 4 weeks so that we can start working on processing readings. We can make adjustments to the submitted lists later.

Online appointments are available to any instructor who would like advice or assistance from the Librarians at New College in navigating the ins-and-outs of selecting readings.

The D.G. Ivey Library helps make course readings available to students while respecting Canadian copyright provisions and existing U of T licensing agreements. Assigned material is analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Assigned readings can be made available to your students in accordance with the University of Toronto Fair Dealings Guidelines. In cases where assigned readings exceeds these guidelines or current licenses, the University of Toronto Libraries will negotiate copyright clearance for these items at no costs to you.


Research Consultations for Faculty and Instructors

Have you consulted with a librarian to plan an effective search strategy for your research? A librarian can help you with:

  • brainstorming keywords
  • selecting appropriate databases
  • database specific search techniques
  • identifying sources relevant to your projects
  • citation formatting
  • and more!

Use the Book a Research Consultation page to meet with a librarian for help with researching your projects.

If you are affiliated with a specific New College program, please select the librarian based on their subject areas as indicated in brackets beside their names. If you are not affiliated with a New College course, you may meet with any librarian.

Subject Area codes:

  • AFR: African Studies
  • BPMH: Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health
  • CAR: Caribbean Studies
  • CSE: Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity
  • CEL: Community Engaged Learning
  • NewONE
  • IFP: International Foundations Program
  • HMB: Human Biology
  • WGS: Women and Gender Studies