Information Literacy Instruction: How To Make It Impactful

When I started as an instruction librarian, I was a liaison to 11 academic departments. By the time I left, that number was closer to 16. In thirteen years, I taught thousands of students in hundreds of one-shot sessions, helped revamp our information literacy curriculum, and developed a couple of credit courses. 

As an instruction librarian, the challenges are real. You have to demonstrate how the library supports academic excellence and student success, but you’re lucky if you see students for more than 50 minutes once a semester. You need to show you’ve made an impact, but often, the only data you have is how many students attended a one-shot or looked at a research guide. And in addition to these external stressors, if you’re like me, you really do believe in information literacy and want students to be skilled critical thinkers. 

Teaching information literacy can feel hugely gratifying or unbelievably frustrating. Instruction was a major part of my job for a long time, and while I got more comfortable with it, I often wondered if I was making an impact. I created more LibGuides than I could count, held regular office hours, and had great statistics—but was anyone learning anything? 

Fortunately, Niche Academy can help you shift from frustration towards gratification. Information literacy instruction will always be important, but it doesn’t have to be stressful. I wish I’d had access to the Niche Academy platform when I was a teaching librarian. I spend a lot of time thinking about how I would have used it to meet student needs. Let me show you the possibilities. 

Common Teaching Challenges and Solutions

Here are some of the challenges I dealt with each semester—and a few solutions I wish I’d had. 😉

Challenge: Teaching faculty don’t see the value of information literacy. 

I would hear everything from “I teach information literacy myself” (maybe they did) to “My students know how to use the library” (trust me, they didn’t). On the other hand, information literacy is complex, and I’m not sure I always did a great job explaining it. In any case, there were always those classes I wanted to break into and couldn’t.

Solution: Provide asynchronous online tutorials

If an instructor really doesn’t want to set up a library instruction session, offer an online tutorial instead. Tutorials can give students a jump on their research and point them to the library, where they can ask questions. You can meet their needs without taking extra time from the instructor, and gather data to show why you should be in the classroom.

Challenge: You’ve got more classes than you can teach. 

On the other hand, there were some semesters when I taught 15 or 16 one-shot sessions. Sometimes, I’d stop in the middle of teaching and ask the students, “Wait, did I already tell you this?” because I’d have back-to-back classes. It was great for creating impressive statistics, but I doubt I was in my best teaching form. 

Solution: Replace or supplement instruction

Instead of turning down teaching offers, you can replace or supplement in-person instruction with tutorials to cover more bases. You can also use tutorial pathways to standardize teach-the-teacher models so TAs deliver content in the same way to students (building their own information literacy skills while they’re at it!). 

Challenge: You can’t possibly cover everything. 

If I only had students for one hour, once a semester, I wanted them to know everything! The result was a firehose of information: brainstorming, keywords, search tools and strategies, information analysis, proper citation…you get the idea. I overwhelmed students and myself—and very likely made the library (and research process) far more intimidating than it had to be. It took me years to realize that less is more, but I still struggled to figure out what to include when everything seemed important and one step built on the next. 

Solution: Flip the classroom and follow up

Niche Academy tutorials are going to be your best friend. Let’s say you want to cover the best primary and secondary sources for a history class. Instead of taking class time to explain what these sources are, flip the classroom and assign a tutorial on this topic before an in-person session. Students can come to class ready to learn about more detailed and specific tools for their research. Plus, you’ll be able to look at how they did in the tutorial and make adjustments to truly tailor one-shot sessions to their needs. For example, suppose you plan on teaching the parts of a citation. If tutorial reports show students got the hang of it, you can use classroom time to tackle something more in-depth.

Challenge: You’re only asked to demonstrate databases. 

Often, I was in way too many classes where the instructor just wanted me to show students how to use JSTOR or some other database. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not information literacy instruction per se. A 50-minute session on how to use databases was pretty much guaranteed to bore the students and me.  

Solution: Use eResource Tutorials 

Niche Academy’s eResource tutorials can really save the day here. Each gives students an overview of databases like JSTOR, Credo Reference, Academic Search Premier, OneFile, History Vault, the ProQuest, Gale, EBSCO suites, PsycINFO, ERIC, and ScienceDirect, to name a few. Introduce eResources through these tutorials and spend more time teaching information literacy. The best part? We keep them updated, so when changes occur, we adjust the tutorial to provide the most up-to-date content.

Challenge: Classes have no clear research objective. 

I called these the “Can you do a library session for my class next week while I’m at a conference?” situations. For years I said yes, figuring that some time in the library is better than no time in the library. It took me a while to realize that this is not the case (see the comment on boredom above). Eventually, I started replacing this type of one-shot with research guides and office hours, but I know I’m not the only librarian who has struggled with this dilemma. 

Solution: Customize content and add office hours

The next time someone wants you to cover for them while they’re at a conference, offer customized tutorials and extra office hours to meet instruction needs. Ask to see the syllabus, find out what the students are working on, and choose a tutorial from the Niche Academy Marketplace that will address research needs. Want more ideas? The Marketplace also includes plenty of professional development tutorials, including a series on Shaking up the One-Shot, which is full of ways to work with instructors.

Challenge: Classes are scheduled at the wrong time of the semester.

These are the “library orientation” classes in the first few weeks of the semester. Classes like these were a big part of the overwhelming schedule in my early teaching years. It eventually became obvious that students weren’t retaining anything because these classes weren’t connected to anything the students needed to know immediately. What was the use of a library session in week two when research for their term papers didn’t start until week eight?

Solution: Follow up just in time 

Tutorials are a lifesaver here, too, especially for students. If you have to do a library session in the first weeks of class, follow up with links students can access when they actually start researching. Include eResource tutorials so students remember the databases you showed them. And check the tutorial reports now and then so you can reach out to anyone who’s struggling. 

Challenge: Reaching distance students can be a challenge. 

I didn’t have many remote students, but post-pandemic, it’s likely you’ll have at least some off-campus students—if not entire distance programs. Information literacy instruction isn’t only for students in the library, and making sure distance students have the same quality of instruction and time with a librarian can be a challenge.

Solution: Offer the same content to everyone

The good news is that with our tutorials, you can provide distance students the same instruction as on-campus students. Embedding tutorials in a LibGuide or course page puts them in the hands of students no matter where they are. So whether a student is across campus or across the world, you can provide in-depth help when they need it. 

Challenge: You’re not sure you’re helping students learn. 

As I said, I had great statistics but almost no qualitative data to back up the numbers. For every student who thanked me in their thesis, there were classrooms full of people I only saw once. I never had a chance to get to know them, evaluate their work, or reach out if I thought they needed extra help. And because I really did care about their research and critical thinking skills, it bugged me not to have more insight into my teaching’s effectiveness. 

Solution: Measure learning with activities

Okay—I know I sound like a broken record. But, the ability to measure learning and follow up with students would have been a game changer in my teaching days. I would have loved the chance to see what students were learning, push them farther if they were doing well, or provide extra instruction if they weren’t. So, even if you don’t directly see students’ research results in their final papers, you can track their progress in tutorials. The activity tools are by far my favorite feature of the Niche Academy platform and pretty much guarantee you’ll increase your impact. 

Challenge: You have to demonstrate your value. 

Every office on campus is responsible for student success in some way. The library was no exception at my university, and it probably isn’t at yours. And with budgets shrinking, demonstrating value becomes more important and complex. The library, like a few other units on campus, is responsible for the success of all students, not just those in a certain program. But without deeper involvement in students’ research journeys, it can be tough to demonstrate your impact on their success. 

Solution: Access and share reports

Once you increase that impact, we’ll help you prove it. When you need to report to your dean or provost, put together a tenure packet, or are asked to show data, we have you covered. Tutorial reports show how many students took a tutorial and how well they’re doing on the knowledge checks. You can download this data while protecting student privacy and use it to provide context to teaching stats. 

How Niche Academy Supports Information Literacy Instruction

How do we help you solve so many problems? Here’s a bit of what we offer to make information literacy instruction more impactful and effective:

Ready-made tutorials

Dozens of Niche Academy tutorials cover topics from research basics to critical thinking to data literacy. Each allows students to move through the material by reading or watching videos, gathering key points as they go. All are research-based and include notes with teaching ideas for librarians and instructors.

Access to quizzes and knowledge checks

Each tutorial we make comes with knowledge checks to actively engage students with the topic. Want to know if a student really can combine keywords or differentiate between qualitative and quantitative data? We’ve got you. Knowledge checks provide immediate feedback to students and you—letting you know not just whether a student finished a tutorial but whether they learned from it. 

Tutorials that map onto the ACRL Framework

Many Niche Academy-made tutorials map onto the ACRL Framework so you can see exactly which aspects of information literacy each covers. If you use the Framework to shape your information literacy curriculum, you can be confident that our tutorials align with at least one of the frames. Check out our Framework Map to see how.

The ability to copy, customize, and create content

Our tutorials can be quickly copied and customized to meet the needs of individual courses. Without having to write a tutorial from scratch, you can add or hide lessons and assignments so students get only the information they need. You’ll save time, create relevant content, and look like you’ve worked magic.

Multiple ways to embed content to reach students

Invite students to view your Academy of tutorials, assign specific content, or embed information literacy and eResource tutorials directly into LibGuides, Canvas, or Blackboard. You’ll reach students where they are with highly curated lessons that let them bypass the often overwhelming information on library websites.

The ability to assign, track, and report on impact

Assigning tutorials to students can help increase engagement, prepare students for a one-shot session, and reinforce instruction. Our easy-to-use dashboards and reports provide broad, in-depth data you can use to improve your teaching, reach students who need extra help, and demonstrate your value as an instruction librarian.

Streamline and Standardize Information Literacy Instruction 

Information literacy instruction is key to student success. And it’s challenging. It has both academic and real-world importance, and if you’re anything like I was, you want to make sure you’re giving students the best shot at building critical thinking skills (even if that best shot is a one-shot). 

We can help you streamline and standardize information literacy instruction, making it more effective and impactful for you and your students. If you’re interested in learning how you can reach more students in more effective ways, request a demo.

And if you’re a current subscriber who relies on Niche Academy to support your instruction, reach out to me—I’d love to hear more about what works for you.