Instruction & Research Support at Lavery Library

Lavery Library’s information literacy instruction program is designed and delivered by a responsive, collegial team of librarians. With a goal of providing a welcoming environment for learning, the program guides student discovery in support of the curriculum and prepares students for a lifetime of informed decision-making. Librarians teach information literacy through multiple means, including: 

• Individual research consultations with students
• Synchronous instruction sessions during class meetings
• Asynchronous, online instruction

Information Literacy Outcomes

Lavery Library’s Information Literacy Outcomes guide the library’s information literacy program. Written collaboratively by the librarians in 2018, these outcomes align with both the Fisher Outcomes and the Information Literacy Value Rubric (Association of American Colleges and Universities), and integrate concepts of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Association of College and Research Libraries). The outcomes are developmental, meaning that they reflect the increasing complexity and sophistication of information literacy as students progress through their academic careers.

Instruction & Research Support Services for Students

Librarians work with faculty to design instructional experiences for undergraduate and graduate students, both online and in person. We can also design information literacy learning materials tailored to a subject, including videos and online learning modules.

To request asynchronous instruction such as tutorials and modules, or to schedule a class meeting with a librarian, you can email the librarians at libraryreference@sjf.edu, contact the librarian for your degree-granting program (Who's My Librarian? [opens in new tab].), or contact Mia Breitkopf, Coordinator of Instruction and Research Services, at (585) 385-7399, or mbreitkopf@sjf.edu.

Individual and small-group research support is available to the entire Fisher community. To learn about these services, or to make an appointment, visit Meet with a Librarian [opens in new tab].

We invite faculty to include their liaison librarian as a collaborator in a Brightspace course.

Our information literacy program consists of:

Undergraduate Core Curriculum Integration

Lavery Library provides librarian-led instruction to undergraduate students as part of their Fisher Core learning experience. First-year undergraduates experience introductory information literacy instruction in two classes. Later, students build research knowledge by working with a librarian in Advanced Research-Based writing.

• Librarian teachers are integrated at three key places in the undergraduate core curriculum:
  • First-year Learning Communities
  • First-year Research-Based Writing course (1299)
  • Junior-year Advanced Research-Based Writing course (3990)
• Every section of these courses is matched with a librarian, who teaches a lesson tailored to the learning objectives of the course. The instruction sessions are interactive and student-centered, and are supported by a program of assessment.
• A librarian also serves on the Fisher Core Advisory Group committee.

Library Liaison Program

We have a librarian for every academic program at Fisher, and our liaison program provides differentiated levels of support for all academic programs.

• For all academic programs at Fisher, liaison librarians provide customized instruction upon request.
• Liaison librarians for the following Schools work with faculty to develop and implement curriculum maps: Nursing, Education, and Pharmacy.
  • These curriculum maps allow librarians to strategically contribute to the information literacy development of students throughout their academic careers by sequencing librarian-led instruction.

Individual Research Help

Librarians provide one-on-one and small-group research help to students. Students may ask about finding articles, books, and other sources; citing sources; and more. 

Students may visit our Research Help Services page for more information about how to contact a librarian, including how to schedule an appointment.

When there is an information literacy need, such as a research project, faculty may request that a librarian be available to work with students in small groups or individually. Faculty can email the librarians at libraryreference@sjf.edu, contact the librarian for their degree-granting program (Who's My Librarian? [opens in new tab].), or contact Mia Breitkopf, coordinator of instruction and research services, at (585) 385-7399 or mbreitkopf@sjf.edu.

Assessment Program

We continually assess students in order to improve library instruction, evaluate learning outcomes and information literacy skills, and provide evidence of the value of library instruction.

• We follow a three-year assessment cycle for the undergraduate Core instruction program, where we test students’ skills immediately following their library instruction session, and use the data to make evidence-based changes.
• Liaison librarians also conduct formative and summative assessments of students.
• Since 2015, Lavery Library has been annually surveying undergraduate students with the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS) Research Practices Survey (RPS) for programmatic assessment of information literacy and longitudinal assessment of information literacy skills progression.

Instructional Design for Information Literacy

Librarians provide equitable instruction services across modalities, whether the program is campus-based, fully online, hybrid, or hosted at an extension site. Librarians collaborate with faculty to customize learning content for the modalities that suit each program.

We maintain a collection of self-paced tutorials and online modules that cover various aspects of information literacy, such as searching strategies, source evaluation, citation styles, and more. Many of these online resources are freely accessible, 24/7, through our library website, and all can be added into the course management system by an embedded librarian.

Some of Lavery Library's Tutorials and Research Guides

For a complete list of available resources, email the librarians at libraryreference@sjf.edu, contact the librarian for your degree-granting program (Who's My Librarian? [opens in new tab].), or contact Mia Breitkopf, coordinator of instruction and research services, at (585) 385-7399 or mbreitkopf@sjf.edu.