We in the Chalmers Library believe that building strong research skills and critical engagement with sources are essential to student success in the classroom and serve students far beyond their time at Kenyon. These skills are most effectively developed and applied when directly connected to course assignments or activities.
To schedule a research session or discuss integrating library resources into your course, please complete this form or contact your Subject Liaison Librarian.
100–200 Level Course Library Instruction
Library instruction for 100–200 level courses focuses on building foundational competencies that will support research across disciplines. The goal is that through a combination of pre-work, tutorials, and library instruction, students will learn a variety of the skills listed below as they pertain to the assignment or course of study:
Navigate the library website and key resources: Locate materials and services with confidence—whether it’s finding a book on the shelves, accessing course reserves, managing your library account, or connecting with library support.
Brainstorm and use effective keywords: Develop and refine search terms that help find relevant information, including how to expand or narrow a search to suit the topic.
Understand and apply basic to advanced searching mechanics: Choose appropriate databases, use filters and facets effectively, locate specific sources, explore citation trails, or apply advanced techniques like truncation and subject headings (e.g., MeSH).
Evaluate sources for credibility and relevance: Distinguish between scholarly and popular materials, determine a source’s fit for your assignment, or apply source evaluation frameworks.
Recognize and differentiate primary and secondary sources: Identify the role of different source types in research, understand what constitutes a primary source in your field, or identify where to find those materials.
300-400 Level Course Library Instruction
At this level, library instruction builds upon general competencies and addresses discipline-specific research methodologies and terminology.
When working on assignments for these courses, for example, literature reviews, independent research projects, or capstone projects, librarians provide students with subject-specific tools and strategies both in the classroom and through personally tailored individual consultations. We encourage faculty to collaborate with their subject liaison librarian to design a session that is aligned with the course assignments and outcomes.
Information Literacy Dispositions
Dispositions are attitudes or beliefs about information that we feel are characteristic of a person that is working to become information literate. These are reflective of a critical mindset that students strive to attain in order to make sense of the world around them.
- Exhibit mental flexibility and creativity and persist in the face of search challenges
- Maintain an open mind and critical stance throughout the information process
- Manage search processes and results effectively
- Develop awareness of the importance of assessing content with a skeptical stance and with a self-awareness of their own biases and worldview
- Develop, in their own creation processes, an understanding that their choices impact the purposes for which the information product will be used and the message it conveys