• Sessions are weekly, on Thursdays from 2-4 pm, in the Wong e-Classroom.
  • Regular breaks are built into the schedule:
    • Sept. 24/09; Oct. 22/09; Dec. 10/09; Feb. 4/10; Feb. 25/10; Mar. 18/10; April 15/10

Planning Minutes

.

Overview

Pre-Sessions

(4) — Sept. 17-Oct. 15/09

  • Introduction — October 1/09 — Joan

    • Overview of program (1 hour)
      • Expectations
      • Rubrics
      • Liaison librarians: what do they do?
      • Mentors
      • Shadowing
      • Homework
      • Assessment
    • Customer service & some aspects of referral (1 hour)
      • who is available to help in the library (IT, liaisons, etc.)

  • Technology (2) — October 8 and 15 — Lynn & Rhonda

    • Technology Self-Assessment

Information Fluency

(17) — Oct. 29/09-Apr. 8/10

Unit 1: Types of information, why to use them and how to find them (7 sessions; sessions #1-7) — Oct. 29/09-Jan. 7/10

________________________________________

Session #1: What is/are research help & academic disciplines – October 29/09: SS & NG

  • The “culture” of reference: more than one right answer; different ways to approach the same topic; not “transactional”; when to refer, teaching; what is the reference interview?
  • Academic disciplines
    • Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities (at Mac)
    • Information use/types in the disciplines (journals, monographs, stats, GIS)
  • Liaison librarians and what they do

Session #2: The Information Cycle — Nov. 5/09: CB & NG

  • matching information needs to information sources
  • the information cycle
  • characteristics of scholarly and popular information
  • primary, secondary and tertiary sources
  • recommending appropriate sources

Session #3: The Library and University Web Sites — Nov. 12/09: NG & JF

  • the library web site
    • the four tabs
    • how to find different types of materials: books, journals, articles, e-reference, citation guides, subject guides
    • search, drop-down menus, most-used links
  • the university web site: search, A-Z list, most-used links

Session #4: Introduction to Library Catalogue – Nov. 19/09; NG & SS

  • What is the catalogue, and how do we use it at the research help desk?
  • The 6 search tips
  • Advanced searching
  • Facets & limiting a search
  • Subject headings in full record details and facets
  • The Browse tab
  • Keyword searching (Endeca) vs. alphabetical browsing (MORRIS)

Session #4: Introduction to Library Catalogue Part II — Nov. 26/09; NG & SS

Session #5: Introduction to Finding Articles — Dec. 3/09; NG & SS

  • What is a database?
  • Types of database
  • How to select the right database
    • Articles/Databases tab > Try these first
    • Subject guides
    • “How to Find” page
    • Reading the descriptions: content, dates, publication types, languages

BREAK — Dec. 10/09

Session #6: Reference Sources (Print and Online) — Dec. 17/09; JF & CB

  • Types of Reference Sources
  • Characteristics of Reference Sources
  • Finding Reference Sources
  • e-Reference Sources

Session #7: Review of Sessions 1-6 — Jan. 7/10; NG, CB, SS, JF

  • finding and distinguishing between books, journal articles, book chapters
  • advanced searching & using facets in the library catalogue
  • recommending appropriate databases


____________________________

Unit 2: Information Retrieval/Advanced Searching (6 sessions, sessions #8-13) — Jan. 14/10-Mar. 4/10

________________________________________

Session #8: Web — Jan. 14/10: — Jan. 14/10; NG, KG, AC

  • kinds of information that can be found on the Web
  • how the Web works
  • web search tools
    • subject directories
    • search engines, e.g. Google
    • specialized tools
  • web know-how
    • Google advanced search
      • +, -, “phrase searching”
      • domains
    • relevance ranking
    • URLs: how to read them
    • file types
  • browser tips

Session #9: Web II: Academic, Government and Evaluation — Jan. 21/10; NG, KG, AC

  • Google Scholar, academic web, government publications on the web
  • Evaluating information on the web

Session #10: Intro to Database Searching — Jan. 28/10; NG, KG, AC

  • searching a database to find articles on a topic
  • using synonyms, truncation, limits, and fielded searching in Scholars Portal
  • marking, emailing, downloading and exporting citations to RefWorks
  • getting full text (Get it!)
  • creating and revising a search strategy as necessary to retrieve an appropriate number of relevant results

BREAK — Feb. 4/10

Session #11: Controlled Vocabulary & Citation Searching — Feb. 11/10; NG, KG, AC

  • LCSH
    • headings and subdivisions
    • how to find and use them:
      • kw search to id. appropriate subject headings
      • to create new kw searches (kw in field vs. browse)
      • to browse a list of subject headings
      • to find reference materials and primary sources
    • facets in the library catalogue
  • descriptors and thesauri in databases
    • broader, narrower & related terms
    • “explode” a descriptor
  • hands-on application of what was covered above: activities
  • citation searching, including incomplete or incorrect citations

Session #12: Advanced Searching & Print Indexes — READING WEEK Feb. 18/10; NG, KG, AC

  • intro to Boolean logic
  • use Boolean logic in databases and the library catalogue
  • use print periodical indexes to find articles on a topic

BREAK –  Feb. 25/10

Session #13: Review: Activities — March 4/10; NG, KG, AC

  • Survey: most confident/still have questions
  • Finding books and articles activity
  • Boolean & advanced searching activity
  • Web site evaluation activity

Session #13: Review of Unit 2 Drop-in Catchup Session – March 10/10; AC, KG, NG


____________________________

Unit 3: Research Help (4 sessions; sessions #14-17) — Mar. 11/10-Apr. 8/10

________________________________________

Session #14: Reference Interview — March 11/10; NG, SS

BREAK — March 18/10 (March Break)

Session #15: Managing Information — March 25/10; NG, AC

  • stable links & DOIs
    • what they are; how to find and create them
  • database output
    • marking, saving, emailing and exporting records to RefWorks
  • brief introduction to RefWorks

Session #16: Citation Styles & Academic Integrity — April 1/10

  • Citation styles
  • Academic integrity

Session #17: Review — April 8/10


____________________________

Final Assessment: Monday April 26/10

__________________________________________________

Access Services Sessions

(2) — May/10

  • #18-#19

    • circulation
    • reserve
    • ILL/RACER
    • this unit only mandatory for non-Access Services people, only about 3 people

Vendor Weeks & Subject Sessions

  • Web of Science (live demo) – Tuesday May 4th from 9:30-12 (Wong)
  • JSTOR (webinar) – Thursday May 6th from 3-4 pm (Wong)
  • EBSCO (webinar) – Thursday May 27th from 2-4 pm (Wong)
  • later: Maps/Data/Statistics/GIS; Music; Gov. Pubs; Genealogy; Newspapers, e-Books, the referral process, etc.