Faculty Guide for Library Instruction

Information Literacy in Your Course

We are eager to be your partners in creating information and research experiences that engage students.  Use this guide as a first step in collaborating with PC librarians to embed information literacy instruction into your courses.  Below are several options to create learning opportunities and resources to support your students.

From finding topics to using research tools to evaluating for quality information, we can provide engaging instruction that is contextualized for your course and tailored to your students' needs.  Much of what we do centers around PC Library's Information Literacy Student Competencies, so we can support your participation in Information Literacy assessment or we can simply help you to prepare students to navigate a world of information.

During our sessions we use active learning techniques to engage students  Working with you in advance for collaborative lesson planning will help us to customize sessions to the greatest degree possible.

To schedule instruction, please fill out this request form (submit one form per session), or contact Instruction Coordinator Kali Van Nimwegen by email.

1. Instruction sessions will be scheduled on a first come first serve basis.
2. We ask that you request instruction sessions at least one week in advance to give us time to prepare.
3. Instructors are asked to attend the Library instruction session with their class and to participate. Participation might include helping your students during hands-on activities or asking questions to stimulate class discussions. If the instructor is not able to attend the session, a substitute must accompany the class.
4. Library instruction is most effective when a specific assignment is the basis of the instruction. This tends to keep students more involved and interested in the library session. If you do not have an assignment, we are available to help you design one!

In addition to instruction sessions, we continue to develop asynchronous instructional material that support student learning. 

• We can partner with you to create a Research Guide or instructional video for your class

• Search "Phoenix College Library" in Canvas Commons for a variety of learning objects

• Browse our PC Library YouTube channel for ready-to-use instructional videos that cover a variety of information literacy and research topics (the channel is growing, but if you don't see what you're looking for, we are happy to take requests!).