Library Instruction

To schedule library instruction, please review the guidelines below and complete the Request Library Instruction Form.

• Because the library instruction session is a collaborative effort between the course instructor and library faculty, the course instructor must be present for the scheduled session. Your presence facilitates answers to questions specific to the assignment and encourages students to take the instruction seriously.
• Request your instruction session at least one week before the desired date of instruction to allow time for collaboration and preparation.
• Instruction sessions should correspond to a specific research assignment or project; students should have topics chosen or narrowed to the point they are ready to do hands-on research.

Dates and times are not reserved until confirmed by a librarian.

Library QR Scavenger Hunt

• QR codes placed at various locations around the library link to the questions. The goal for the scavenger hunt is to encourage students to move around the library, learn where things are, find books, and identify areas like the new book display and the TERC supplies.

Library Virtual Escape Room

• is a story-based learning module with objectives that include student discovery of the Library’s FAQ, catalog searches, surface level basics of Dewey Decimal, basic navigating of LibGuides, printing, room booking, and Library contact options for more help.
• Link to access the Escape Room: https://lorainccc.libwizard.com/f/escaperoom1

Plagiarism and Citation

• The library’s “Cite Your Sources Help” page provides LCCC’s plagiarism policy as well as resources on plagiarism that can easily be incorporated into a classroom lesson. You will also find updated citation style guides and online citation builders that your students can use as they learn how to correctly incorporate other texts into their own writing. There is a link to this information on the library homepage: http://libguides.lorainccc.edu/cite

Conducting Research

• The library provides several resources that introduce and reinforce academic research methods. The library homepage links to a guide to the research process that students can follow on their own or that can easily be incorporated into classroom instruction: http://libguides.lorainccc.edu/research-process.
• The library also offers the Library Research Toolkit, a mini-Canvas course that you can ask your students to enroll in and complete. In the Library Research Toolkit, students earn a digital badge when they complete the course which can be used as evidence of completion (aka, an assignment).  Link for our FAQ about the Library Toolkits: https://libanswers.lorainccc.edu/faq/188498
• You may also bring your students to the library for hands-on research workshops led by one of the librarians. These workshops work best when they relate to a course assignment, reinforce work that students have already completed in the classroom and/or using the Research Toolkit. Use the "Request LC209 or Library Instruction" button above.

To make these sessions as productive as possible for students, faculty/instructors, and librarians:

• Instruction Sessions must correspond to a specific research assignment or project. It is helpful to provide a copy of the assignment or syllabus.

• The best time to schedule a Library Instruction Session is just as students are starting work on the project that requires the use of Library resources. When the information is relevant to students' immediate needs and concerns, they are more likely to recall and be able to use the resources and strategies taught. Students should be made aware of the requirements of the assignment and should choose at least a preliminary research topic before the Library Session.

• Feel free to talk with the librarian about what resources you would like covered, and be open to alternative suggestions. LCCC Library collections are vast and always changing. The research tool you used a few years ago may no longer be the best tool for your purposes. It is the librarian’s job to stay abreast of the best research tools for locating all sorts of information. We are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the Library’s print and electronic resources. LCCC Library owns or subscribes to hundreds of electronic databases, reference tools, and digital archives, and millions of print resources. 

• It is crucial that instructors be on hand to answer questions about the research assignment. Librarians can lead students to available resources and teach them how to use them, but cannot advise students on whether or not their chosen research topic is acceptable or meets course requirements.  Instructors will be students’ primary resources in completing research assignments after the Library Session.