Future Teaching Roles for Academic Librarians

Redefine your role as an academic librarian in a world of networked information!Future Teaching Roles for Academic Librarians helps you understand how the librarian can play a central role in the new university paradigm. In the past few years, the focus of higher education has begun to shift from the traditional, passive lecture-discussion where teachers talk and students listen to a new model that emphasizes student-centered, collaborative learning in all contexts, not just formal classroom situations. Academic libraries and librarians must adapt to meet the demands of this new educational motif or else fall behind.This book offers an overview of the kinds of library service that will be required, from helping students learn to use bibliographic databases to real-time online interactive information assistance--the cyber equivalent of the reference desk. You will learn practical techniques to facilitate information literacy and the principles of creating a seamless learning culture.One area in which libraries must provide new services is in helping students learn to manage the flood of available data. Though many students are familiar with the online universe, they don't know how to design artful information-seeking strategies either there or in the more traditional venues of printed books and journals, microfilm, and pamphlets. Librarians can teach skills beyond basic information retrieval, including evaluation, critical thinking, and building a successful research strategy. These skills are more crucial than ever, not just to help students write term papers, but to prepare them for the kind of jobs they will face in an information-based economy.Future Teaching Roles for Academic Librarians provides you with practical suggestions for transforming traditional library instruction, including:

• rethinking assumptions about students’needs and behavior
• designing courses for students at different levels
• making the transition to libraries without walls
• creating core resources to promote information literacy
• ensuring that library programs and collections are visible to users This vital guide offers college librarians and library administrators the specific techniques you need to create a seamless learning environment, take on new roles and challenges, and meet the needs of students in an era of networked information and instant access.