An overview of the dual credit academic library instruction session, by Ngaire Smith.

1. DUAL CREDIT: SKILLS
THAT TRANSFER
Or, how to make dual credit students love your library
so much they just have to enroll in your university!
NGAIRE SMITH
REFERENCE AND INSTRUCTION LIBRARIAN - MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
MISSOURI LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 4, 2012

2. Why Dual Credit?
• Universities attract good students and ease
their transition to college
• Teachers challenge their students with college
level curriculum (Burhanna and Jensen, 2006)
• Students earn college credits, helping them to
graduate early (and save moula!) (Smith,
2007)
• Senior year ≠ prom planning and yearbook
committee

3. Purpose of Dual Credit Instruction
at Meyer Library
 Help students complete assignment
The “Wow!” factor
Motivation to attend college (Cosgrove, 2001)
Students are “more systematic and purposeful
in information gathering” (Goodin, 1991, 35)
87% of students reported that library instruction
helped them complete their assignment (Jones
et al. 2012)

4. Barriers to Information Literacy
 The Google effect
 I used Wikipedia in a paper last year and got an
A!
 Everything’s Online, right?
 The “Bones” Effect
 “Satisficing”
 Those first two articles will work!

5. The Culture of Dual Credit
Burhanna and Jensen (2006)
Dual Credit Students College Freshmen
 Close peer groups  Newly independent
 Open to group  Distracted by new
work roles and
 Focused and
responsibilities
 Range of academic
attentive abilities
 Excited to be here
 Have a lot of new
 Limited time to find information to
information absorb
 Academically

6. Structuring the Class
 Usually 1 ½ hours long
 Get to know your students
 Articulate learning outcomes: what do
you want your students to be able to
do?
 Reminder: College = study

7. Learning Outcomes
 Students will search a variety of sources in
order to find high quality information for their
papers
 Students will employ different search
techniques in order to narrow and focus their
searches

8. Making the Session Count
 Active learning and hands-on activities
 Students “need to interact more closely with the
course material than simply listening to it or
reading about it.” (Jacobson and Xu, 2004)
 Extra scaffolding for off-campus learners

9. Introductions
 Distribute index cards
 Ask students to respond to a question
 How can the library help me do my
assignment?
 Describe a time when you used
research to help you make a decision
 Discuss answers as a class
 Overview of the session

10. 1. Emphasis: The Library
Homepage
Or, the Magical Portal to Free Information
 58% of students “not sure” whether library
offers access to online databases (De
Rosa et al. 2006)
 Google v. Library Homepage
 Library pays for information so that you
don’t have to!
 Get help from the experts – Ask a
Librarian

11. 2. Finding What’s Out There
 Basic catalog searching
 Keyword Searching
 Remember to use “And” to join terms
 Play around with keywords to expand your search
 Use subject terms to find other similar items
 Call numbers
 What they mean, and how to use them to find books
 Activity
 In groups, students find two books on a topic in the
catalog and text them to their phones, go to the
stacks, and take a photo of the book. Prize for first!

12. 3. Scholarly v. Popular
 Kimbel Library video
 Group activity
 Each group gets one example of a scholarly
journal and one example of a popular journal
 Using the criteria in the video, each group will
decide which is which, and why
 Report back to the class

13. Databases
 Click on Articles and Databases link
 Ask students to find the top three databases
for Literature Research
 Pick one and demonstrate a few features,
such as narrowing by full text only, narrowing
by date, and emailing articles

14. Database Searching Activity
 Sample Assignment: Comparing MLA International
Bibliography and JSTOR
 Group Assignment: Each group will find two full text,
scholarly articles, one from the last five years, on gender
in The Ye llo w Wa llp a p e r
 Worksheet
 Describe articles
 What makes them scholarly?
 Discuss helpful database features
 Describe obstacles encountered
 Report back to class

15. Self-Directed Search Time
 Students focus searches on their own topics
 Librarian and instructor available for help
 Students retrieve books from stacks, save pdfs, or email
them
 One-on-one consultation with each student

16. Wrap-Up
 Review what was covered in class
 Ask students to share what they have found
on their topics (either to the class or in a one
minute paper)
 Reemphasize the library homepage and Ask a
Librarian
 Remind students that the library is vital to a
successful college experience
 Make sure they all now want to attend MSU!

17. Skills Acquired:
 Students can now:
 Find books in the catalog and in the stacks
 Distinguish between scholarly and popular
articles
 Use a variety of search techniques
 Identify ways to get help with research when
needed

18. Signs Point to:
 Library instruction helps students achieve at a
higher level
 Can produce work at the college level when given
the right tools and resources (Goodin, 1991)
 Library use improves student retention
 Haddow and Joseph (2010) found that students
who used the library in their first semester were
more likely to stay in college

19. Reference List
 Burhanna, K. & M. L. Jensen. 2006. “Collaborations for Success: High
School to College Transitions.” Re fe re nc e s Se rvic e s Re vie w, 34(4), 509-
519.
 Cosgrove, J. 2001. Promoting Higher Education: (Yet) Another Goal of
Bibliographic Instruction of High School Students by College Librarians.”
Co lle g e a nd Und e rg ra d ua te Libra rie s , 8(2): 17-24.
 Goodin, M. Elspeth. 1991. “The Transferability of Library Research Skills
from High School to College.” Sc ho o l Libra ry M d ia Qua rte rly . 20(1): 33-42.
e
 Haddow, Gaby, and Jayanthi Joseph. 2010. “Loans, Logins, and Lasting
the Course: Academic Library Use and Student Retention.” A tra lia n
us
A a d e m ic a nd Re s e a rc h Libra rie s , 41 (4): 233-244.
c
 Jacobson, Trudi and Lijuan Xu. 2004. M tiva ting Stud e nts in I rm a tio n
o nfo
Lite ra c y Cla s s e s . New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
 Jones, C.G., T. Stout, R. Thompson, and L. Cline. 2012. Libra ry
Co ns titue nc y Surve y : I rim Re p o rt. Springfield: Missouri State University
nte
Libraries.
 Smith, D. 2007. Why Expand Dual-Credit Programs?” Co m m unity Co lle g e