Skip to main content
SSU ship logo and 'Salem State University' text
Frederick E. Berry Library and Learning Commons

Help & Services

Information Literacy Instruction Sessions

instruction classroom

The SSU Library provides instruction sessions designed to teach information competencies to students. Sessions are tailored to the needs of each course and students.

The most effective instruction occurs when these sessions are linked to a well-defined assignment and offered at the time when the students are working on that assignment.

Faculty can request formal instructional sessions for their classes from a subject specialist librarian. The library's instructional classrooms may be reserved only by Library Administration or by the librarians who use it for instructional purposes.

To schedule an appointment to discuss a classroom-collaboration with a librarian, please contact the Subject Librarian for your subject area

What Is Information Literacy?

project info lit infographicInformation literacy is:

  • Critical thinking (including recognizing what information is needed; how to find, organize, and evaluate information; how to use information ethically)
  • Lifelong learning
  • Research process
  • Research skills
  • Teaching students how to systematically approach new topics
  • Teaching students discipline-specific tools

 

Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education | American College and Research Libraries (ACRL)

ACRL's Instruction Section's Information Literacy in the Disciplines Guide

Project Information Literacy

 


 

Related literacies that can be integrated to enhance an assignment:

Digital Literacy

Media Literacy

 

Why Collaborate With a Librarian?

Integrating information literacy into a course can:

  • Reduce student research anxiety
  • Reduce plagiarism
  • Foster lifelong critical thinking skills
  • Introduce key concepts necessary for academic success across the curriculum
  • Improve the quality of student work by demystifying the research process and making their search process more efficient (allowing for time for deeper analysis and understanding and more thoughtful expression)

Possible Components of an Instruction Session

  • Developing and refining a topic (concept mapping)
  • Searching for books and eBooks
  • Searching for full text scholarly articles (library databases)
  • Reading scholarly articles
  • Types of sources (primary, government, etc.)
  • Structuring an effective search
  • Specialized databases for specific research fields/topics
  • Advanced database search techniques
  • Citing sources and RefWorks
  • Bibliographic traces
  • Archival research
  • Searching for laws/legislation/policy
  • Searching for tests/measures
  • Media literacy and searching for news sources
  • Website evaluation
  • Google
  • Presentation tools
  • Social media tools

And more!