LIBRARY INSTRUCTION SERVICES
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

9.1 Definitions 9.2 Scheduling  9.3 Assessment  9.4 Data Collection 9.5 Resources and Materials 9.6 Instruction Forms

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9.1 DEFINITIONS:

Information Literacy Team - Library Faculty and Staff engaged in the following activities;

• Teaching Libray Science (LIBS) for credit courses
• Providing English 2010 and FYE instruction
• Teaching course integrated instruction
• Presenting other general orientation sessions for students, faculty, staff or off campus groups

Library Curriculum Committee - Small group of Library Faculty appointed by the University Librarian each year to make recommendations to WSU Curriculum and General Education Committee. Committee membership includes University Librarian, Instruction Services Librarian and library faculty member serving on the Curriculum and General Education Committee.

Formal Courses :
    LIBS TD HU1115 (Humanities on the Internet) 3 semester credit hours
    LIBS TD 2201 ( Library Skills Resources and Research) 2 semester credit hours (Discontinued Fall 2007)
    LIBS TD 1704 (The Internet Navigator) 1 semester credit hour
    LIBS TD 2704 (Information Resources in Business Disciplines)1 semester credit hours

    LIBS TD 2804 (Infromation Resources in the Social Sciences) 1 semester credit hour

Teaching Faculty - Faculty that teach formal courses. Formal teaching assignments are accepted by Library Faculty annually in consultation with the Instruction Services Librarian and the University Librarian.

English 2010 and FYE instruction - One infromation literacy instruction session is done by a librarian in cooperation with the course instructor for each section of these courses every semester.

Course integrated Instruction - Instruction sessions, often one hour, providing instruction for a particular WSU program, course, department, discipline or sub discipline. These are provided by Subject Librarians and other Library Faculty and professional staff at the request of WSU Faculty.

General Orientation Sessions - These can include other general instruction sessions. These may also include tours for community groups or visitors; and tours or orientation sessions for other groups such as faculty or staff that are not integrated within a specific WSU course or program

WebEvents - an online scheduling system and calendar used to keep track of all instruction sessions held in the library classrooms.

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9.2 Scheduling Instruction

A. Formal Courses

Formal, for credit courses are scheduled each Fall Semester for the following academic year by the Instruction Services Librarian and the University Librarian, in consultation with the Library Faculty. These are posted as the Library Teaching Schedule. Additions, cancellations, and changes to teaching schedule are made by the University Librarian in consultation with Instruction Faculty and the Instruction Services Librarian. The Information Literacy Assistant may make additions and changes to the schedule prior to registration at the request of the University Librarian and the Instruction Services Librarian. After registration begins changes are submitted to Registration. For credit courses are listed in Banner, on the library Website and in the Web Events online calendar.

Other Formal Course Procedures:

Students who feel they need to test out of a course may take the Information Literacy Competency Exam. 

B. English 2010 and FYE

English 2010 and FYE instruction will be scheduled in the preceding semester by the Instruction Services Librarian with assistance from the Information Literacy Assistant and the English Department and will be posted online. It is the responsibility of the team member assigned to present the English 2010 instruction to find a replacement if s/he cannot do it. In case of severe illness, see below.

C. Other General Instruction

Library orientation sessions and other general instruction sessions will be scheduled by the Instruction Services Librarian (with input from the team) with assistance from the Information Literacy Assistant by using the WebEvent calendar.

D. Course Integrated Instruction

Course Integrated Instruction is scheduled by library faculty with assistance from the Information Literacy Assistant.

E. Instruction Calendar

Scheduling requests for library classrooms 138, 59 and 31 must be made via the WebEvent calendar. A Web calendar (and print back up) for all instruction sessions, tours, and classroom use, is maintained by the Information Literacy Assistant, Reference Coordinator, or other designated person. All instruction sessions, tours, orientation sessions and library classroom use must be scheduled on the Web calendar. This includes walk around tours with more than four people in the group, as more than one large group meeting in the lobby or reference area at the same time can be difficult.

F. Guidelines for scheduling library classrooms 31, 59  and 138

• Rooms 31, 138, and 59 will be scheduled according to the classroom guidelines. Scheduling requests must be made via WebEvent.   After receiving the scheduling request, the Information Literacy Assistant will send an email confirming the scheduling request. Scheduling will be prioritized as follows:
1. Formal Library Science Courses have first priority followed by Library Team meetings scheduled in room 138 on Thursday afternoons from 1:30-3 pm.
2. English 2010 sessions, FYE are usually scheduled next
3. Other instruction including course integrated instuction,and other general instruction, library training and library related training will be scheduled on a first come, first served basis;
4. Use by other departments may be scheduled if they do not conflict with library instruction priority needs. Generally these would be scheduled in late afternoons, evenings, and after the fifth week of the semester. Priority is given to courses from the College of Arts and Humanities.
5. These classrooms may NOT be scheduled as open labs for unsupervised students. Library faculty/staff  should be present whenever the room is in use and are responsible for opening and closing classrooms for their students.
6. If computers or networks in classrooms malfunction, instructor will make a note on the clip board at the teaching station AND call Systems staff.

G. Guidelines for "No Show", Scheduling Problems and Rescheduling

1. If an instructor is ill, it is still their responsibility to try to find someone to cover for them, unless they are too ill to do so. In case of severe illness the instructor will need to contact the Instruction Services Librarian, or the Information Literacy Assistant, or the Reference Coordinator (in that order).
2. In case of severe illness, if the instructor forgets, or if for some other reason no Library Faculty or Staff member shows up to give instruction, reference staff , or whoever becomes aware of the problem, should call the Information Literacy Assistant, or the Instruction Services Librarian or the Reference Coordinator (in that order). If s/he is there, s/he will try to find a replacement, or cancel and reschedule.
3. Faculty/Staff may also check the Instruction Calendar  to see who is supposed to conduct the session and try to find and remind them quickly.
4. If the person who is supposed to do the session can't be found, contact the Instruction Services Librarian. If s/he can't be found, inform the group that the tour or instruction session will have to be rescheduled by the person originally assigned the session. Inform that person.
5. If a class that has been scheduled does not show up (particularly an FYE or 2010) the library faculty/staff member assigned to do the session will contact the FYE or 2010 instructor ASAP and use the classroom scheduling form to try to reschedule the session. 
6. If a class shows up at the wrong time, try to accommodate them if possible; if not, reschedule.

H. When the classrooms are scheduled by people not working in the library, the doors should not be opened until the person in charge (usually a WSU faculty or staff member) arrives. 

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9. 3 Assessment and Continuous Improvement of Instruction

All instruction is assessed according to instruction team assessment plans

A. Formal Teaching

Faculty submit final grades (for students) online according to campus calendar and policies.

Formal teaching (done by faculty) will be assessed by the University Librarian, in consultation with the Instruction Services Librarian according to the following library documents:

• Instruction Service Evaluation Criteria 
• Performance Expectations 
• Library Tenure Document
  • Library Peer Review document

Library Science Department Student End of Course Evaluations will be distributed, collected and disseminated for every formal course taught, as follows:

1. Library faculty work together to develop the LibSci department student end of course evaluation form including any WSU required questions.

2. Student End of Course Evaluations are completed as follows:

• Each semester faculty will require/request students to complete the Student End of Course Evaluation.

• Each semester the library office will provide links to each faculty member to the online Student End of Course Evaluation form in Chitester as needed.

• Links will remain the same from semester to semester unless a test is changed, or a new course or instructor is added.

• Faculty using Web CT will insert the link to the Chitester evaluation into Web CT

• These links may be given directly to students. Only students enrolled in a section can access the evaluation form.

• It is preferable for faculty to leave the room while students are completing this evaluation in face to face sections.

• Each semester the library office will gather data from Chitester, distribute the evaluation results to faculty and maintain a record of evaluations as needed for tenure and promotion.

• Faculty will use evaluations to continually improve teaching and learning.

3. The University Librarian  and the Instruction Services Librarian  review the evaluations.  A copy of the  evaluation for each section of each course is made and filed electronically in the library administrative office. A print copy  of the evaluation is given to the instructor.  

4.  It is the responsibility of each faculty member to maintain copies of  original forms and evaluation summaries to use as needed for promotion and tenure review and documentation. 

B. English 2010, FYE and Other Instruction - will be assessed by the Instruction Team member, and by the Instruction Services Librarian with input from the Instruction Team, English Department, FYE faculty and student web based feedback forms to continuously improve the quality of instruction.

C. Course Integrated Instruction - will be assessed by library faculty (as peer reviewers) and the University Librarian with input from WSU faculty and students for which instruction was presented.

D. Assessment and Revision of Library Curriculum - All Library Instruction  curricula will be continuously improved and revised to maximize student learning 

1. Teaching faculty will use data including student end of course evaluations to continually improve instruction.
2. Faculty will indicate course improvements in their FARs and if appropriate in their professional files and/or supplemental file (teaching portfolio). For example, faculty may attach examples of improved syllabi, assignments, Web pages, lesson plans, etc.
3. Course catalog descriptions for all Library Science courses will be reviewed annually and updated as needed.

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9.4 Data Collection

The IL team collects, evaluates and uses data on all types of instruction and instruction activities to continually improve the IL program.

A. Formal Instruction

The following data, and other data submitted, will be collected each semester by the Information Literacy Assistant and posted on the teaching schedule:

1. total number of sections  taught, including CE sections
2. number of students in each section

In addition, some semesters we will guage the enrollment patterns to see which sections fill more quickly.

B. English 2010 and FYE

Each month every Instruction Team member will submit their instruction data to the Infromation Literacy Assistant on the Excel Monthly IL data form . The following data will be collected each semester by the Office Specialist:

1. number of English 2010 and FYE sections taught 
2. number of 2010 and FYE instruction sessions per Library Faculty/Staff

C. Course Integrated Instruction Sessions and Other General Instruction Sessions

The number of sessions, number of students taught, course and instructor for which instruction was done will be collected monthly on the Excel Monthly IL data form.

D. Classroom use (Calculated by Information Literacy Assistant)

Classroom use is calculated by the Information Literacy Assistant through the WebEvent classroom calendar/schedule. 

E. Team activities

1. Data is collected on team members IL related activities to include in the team annual report.

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9.5 Resources and Materials for Instruction

Information Literacy Assistant maintains supplies needed in library classrooms with assistance from Library faculty. 

A. Formal Instruction

1. Hardware, Software and Furniture: Library Faculty scheduled for formal instruction will request any special software, hardware, furniture and other teaching materials through the Instruction Services Librarian.
2. Textbooks: Recommended textbooks will be decided upon by Library Faculty as a Team for each library course approved. Textbook orders are coordinated by the Office Specialist.
3. Syllabi: Library Faculty will make their syllabi and other course materials available via the Stewart Library Web site each semester. Assistance may be requested from the Instruction Services Librarian and/or the Information Literacy Assistant to load current syllabi.  The Information Literacy Assistant will make available to the public Web copies of current syllabi provided by teaching faculty as needed or requested by potential students. 

B. English 2010, FYE and Other General Instruction Sessions

Instruction resources and materials are developed by the Library Instruction Team, for the Team. Exercises and other handouts are copied and  maintained as needed in classrooms by the Information Literacy Assistant.

C. Course Integrated Instruction

Materials and resources purchased or developed for other instruction, particularly classroom equipment, will be coordinated with the Library Instruction Services Librarian and the University Librarian.

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9.6 INSTRUCTION FORMS:

The following forms are used by members of the Instruction Team

1. Stewart Library WebEvents library classroom scheduling Form
2. Stewart Library Student end of course evaluation form (delivered on Web via courses.weber.edu)
3. Stewart Library Peer Review Instruction Observation Form (as part of Tenure and Promotion activities)
4. Stewart Library Excel Monthly IL data form

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