Faculty Information

Instruction Sessions for Classes

Why schedule instruction?

Students may not know the basics of research or have done a research project for several years
Improves student understanding of research tools and reduces their tendency to "just google it"
Introduces students to resources tailored to the subject and assignment — our resources are constantly changing and we may have significantly better resources than when you last used an assignment
Clarifies students' thinking in relation to the project, identifying potential problems earlier and helps make sure that terms are clear (what you mean by "primary sources" for example, or "internet sources")
Improves students' critical thinking skills
Makes students more likely to seek help because they are familiar with the librarian
Guarantees that sufficient resources for the assignment will be available — remember we are only a community college library. We may not have every resource you think we do.

Schedule your instruction by contacting Ruth Lindemann at ext. x735 or rlinde@dacc.edu

Developing Successful Research-Based Assignments

Successful research assignments require planning and coordination between the library and the instructor. Providing the library with a copy of the assignment, even if you don't expect that students will actually need to go into the library because they can do the work online, means that:

Librarians can verify that adequate resources are available for students to complete the work
Library staff can place on reserve any items that are in limited supply
A copy of the assignment will be available for students to consult
Any potential points of confusion can be identified and resolved
Library staff can have a copy of the necessary course TurnItIn information, if applicable
Library staff will be aware of any citation requirements you have made in order to best advise students

Looking for ideas for something different in the way of a research-based assignment?

Requesting Materials Be Placed on Reserve

What are reserves?

Reserves are those library materials that are assigned special designated circulation periods by instructors in order to make sure that they remain available for all students.
Items may be designated to check out for: 2 hours (in library only), over night, 3 days, or 1 week. Reserves items also accumulate fines if they are not returned at a rate of $1/hour or $1/day depending upon the check out period.
The types of items that can be placed on reserve include books; whole issues of magazines or journals; CDs; videos; original notes, charts, or drawings; or (for a single semester and pending copyright fair use check) articles.
To put an item on reserve, contact Kerry Bowden at x733 or by email: kbowden@dacc.edu

Textbook Reserve

Why place a copy of your textbook on reserve?

Many students do not have sufficient funds to make textbook purchases until the latter part of financial aid disbursements come through. In the interim, textbook reserve enables them to keep up in the class. Other students may simply have insufficient funds for other reasons. For them, the library copy can be the difference between being able to take the course or not.
If insufficient copies of a textbook are available through the bookstore, students can use the library copy to keep up until additional copies arrive.
Students who forget to bring a book on a particular day, while unable to check out a book to bring to class, can use the book between classes to work on homework.

Why don't we just buy all the textbooks?

It would consume a majority of our annual book budget to do so, leaving little money to do anything else. Not an effective use of resources.

What you need to do:

Request an extra copy of your course textbooks from the publisher.
Send them to the Circulation Department: Library to be placed on Reserve.

Requesting Items Be Purchased by the Library

The library will purchase materials (books, video, audio) that you need to support your classes to the extent that our budget allows. Very large purchases, very expensive video series, for example, may have to be spread out over a series of fiscal years unless the requester can contribute some matching funds from his or her department (ask, these are sometimes available).
Periodical purchase requests are viewed in terms of their availability in print and online form and the cost of making them available. Individual journal purchases can be prohibitively expensive, so the library must consider actual use, accreditation factors, and availability of comparable resources.
All items purchased using library funds become part of the library's collection. Instructors can, however, place them on reserve and so be certain of their availability.
To request an item be purchased: contact Ruth Lindemann at ext: 735 or email: rlinde@dacc.edu

If you have questions about this or any other library web page, contact a librarian at 443-8739 or by means of the convenient web form.

Created November 13, 2008
Revised August 24, 2009