I recently inherited a bin containing the historical documentation of the library instruction program at Duke University. Included in this treasure trove of manila folders, cassette tapes (!), and 8×11 documents is a legendary “script” that, at one point in the 1990s, instruction librarians were required to read verbatim to students during their library instruction sessions:

[excerpt] Section I. Introduction – Why this session?: Understanding the Academic Library

I would like to welcome you all to Lilly Library. My name is ________________ and I am (title) at (library) … If you stay awake and pay attention, what you will learn today will save you time in doing your research and allow you to devote more time and energy to reading and analyzing sources and writing your papers…

The script covers the wonders of library catalogs and periodical literature indexes, as well as tips on keyword searching and Boolean operators. While librarians at Duke have (thankfully) ditched this script in favor of more dynamic, hands-on instruction over the years, introductory “one-shot” library sessions are still a common form of library instruction at Duke and in libraries nationwide.

An encouraging trend over the last decade has librarians moving from a model of one-shots to a model of embedded librarianship. In such a model, librarians work more closely with liaison departments and seek opportunities to serve on curriculum committees. The embedded librarianship model “enables librarians to demonstrate their expertise as information specialists and to apply this expertise in ways that will have a direct and deep impact on the research, teaching, or other work being done.”[1]

My participation in the Language, Arts + Media Program (LAMP) faculty learning community in the Thompson Writing Program (TWP) has provided an opportunity for me to become embedded in the TWP’s curricular planning endeavors. Part of my role in this group has been doing what librarians do well – connecting LAMP fellows with available resources on campus. From digital humanities specialists to scholarly communications experts, the library has a diverse staff of “human resources” who can provide expertise on 21st century research tools and methods.

Another area of my contribution is helping LAMP fellows address a major curricular question: what do students need to know about conducting research in the 21st century? How do we teach students about “authority” in an age of Wikipedia? What does it mean that news breaks on Twitter before the associated press? What should we make of the subtle, but growing, gap in worldwideinformation inequality?

These questions are at the heart of one of the three curricular goals of the  LAMP@TWP  program:

1. Research as critical evaluation across media: Includes teaching students to make informed decisions about different types of sources and critical consumption of media ranging from print, video, audio, images, and social media.

The task of critical evaluation across media is one that Aria Chernik and I are exploring through a LAMP innovation in her Writing 101 course, Hacking Knowledge. As a librarian embedded in the course, I have helped co-design an assignment with Aria that asks students to critically evaluate a search tool they use on an everyday basis – such as Wikipedia or popular social media sites, Facebook and YouTube. By taking a deep dive into understanding how these everyday sources are organized/authored/filtered, students will put critical evaluation into research practice. More details about this collaboration to follow in a future blog post.

Returning to the library instruction script, I am reminded that despite how much has changed – much remains the same:

[script excerpt]:

Why do you think you are here today? [Rhetorical :)] We are here today to not only help you find and identify the materials you need for your research but also to suggest criteria you may want to use in evaluating your resources…

Librarians remain in this same business of helping students find materials for their research. But librarians need to work collaboratively with faculty to prepare students to evaluate the wider world of materials they have available to them – be they digital, print, multimedia, or academic. To do so, librarians and writing faculty must keep on their toes, ditch the script, and find ways to instill the creativity and curiosity that students will need to be critical researchers in the digital age.

NOTE: [1] Carlson and Kneale, “Embedded Librarianship in the Research Context Navigating New Waters,” College & Research Libraries News, 72, no. 3, 167.

IMAGE CREDIT: [Young scholar reading a scroll] [Delle antichità di Ercolano], Engraving, c. 1757-1792. This digital image has been retouched by VMS for the GRI Library bookplate; an unenhanced image of the engraving also exists in TEAMS. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.

First published on September 28th, 2014 with Duke University’s Language, Arts and Media Lab.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hannah Rozear is a Research & Instructional Services Librarian and library liaison to the Thompson Writing Program and the Duke Global Health Institute. She is @nilblogger on Twitter.