You've taken the initial steps in connecting with first year students to ensure they have a smooth college transition. As we continue to assist students in their college transition and eliminate library anxiety, it is important to engage with students and engage them with library resources.

I’ve written often in this series about collaborating with various departments around campus (see recent posts on teaming up with undergraduate research professionals or the university fellowship office). No library is an island, and building a strong network of support helps ensure more uptake and better results for your programming, whether you’re focused on the FYE, second-year transitions, or information literacy instruction. But these productive, mutually beneficial relationships don’t just fall out of the ether. Here are a couple of pointers to get you in the best position to attract meaningful partnerships.

Last week’s Connecticut Information Literacy Conference, held at Hartford University on June 14, was all about grit—both using resilience as an instructor and taking advantage of student tenacity to enhance learning.

This blog series provides easy, free access to open web resources and content that support affordable learning opportunities. A wide variety of resources published by government entities, think tanks, and more are curated to demonstrate what may be relatively unknown or ‘buried’ in the internet. Resources reflect issues happening today for the use of librarians, students, and all audiences.

The Connecticut information literacy conference took place on Friday, June 14, at the University of Hartford and had the theme “What's Grit Got to Do With It? New Approaches for IL Instruction”.

By Beth Black and Tim O'Neil

Student engagement librarian Beth Black recently interviewed Tim O’Neil, assistant director of Special Undergraduate Enrichment Programs at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In Part I, they explored how different groups in academia conceptualize research. This week they discuss how Tim has worked to engage students in their academic and creative life, and how libraries can partner with undergraduate research offices. 

Every week we add several items to Credo’s InfoLit Learning Community. They’re designed to keep you aware of what’s going on in the field as well as to help you in your day-to-day work. You may have dropped in their in the past to find IL-related webinars, articles, and links to free, web-based IL tools.

This blog series provides easy, free access to open web resources and content that support affordable learning opportunities. A wide variety of resources published by government entities, think tanks, and more are curated to demonstrate what may be relatively unknown or ‘buried’ in the internet. Resources reflect issues happening today for the use of librarians, students, and all audiences.

Discussing disinformation is a compelling way to teach information literacy to students, as it includes an appealing combination of controversy and technology. One topic that is sure to draw students in is the issue of “deepfakes,” videos that very convincingly portray some falsehood—usually a person saying something that they never said.

By Beth Black and Tim O'Neil

Student engagement librarian Beth Black recently interviewed Tim O’Neil, assistant director of Special Undergraduate Enrichment Programs at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Their conversation centers around the process of helping undergraduates see themselves as scholars, and how libraries can work with undergraduate research offices as partners and collaborators. The first installment of this two-part blog series looks at one of the questions at the heart of so many discussions about the nature of research in higher education.