Engendering Relationships: Developing an Embedded Librarianship Program for First Year Composition

In Fall 2016, Rebekah Scoggins and Rachel Scoggins discussed the research needs of the students at their University. Rachel, professor of English, saw the struggles of her students with critical thinking and research. Rebekah, Teaching and Learning Librarian, was interested in improving students’ information literacy skills at an early stage in their academic career after seeing similar issues in instruction sessions. In response to these challenges, Rebekah and Rachel devised an embedded librarianship pilot program for three sections of research focused ENGL 102 in Spring 2017, which was a test run for a possible embedded program for the English department. After gaining the support of the Library and English Department, Rebekah and Rachel began a semester long program to increase students’ information literacy skills through a scaffolded research program brought to students at key points. Throughout the semester, Rebekah taught numerous sessions, both in the classroom and the Library, that fulfilled various research needs. Sessions began simple, with choosing keywords and topics, then advanced through guided resource searching and analysis, resource mining, and determining legitimacy of sources. These sessions were supplemental to continual research and writing instruction given by Rachel throughout the semester. Rebekah and Rachel conversed frequently to assess the students\u27 progress, changing approaches and adding sessions when necessary. By semester\u27s end, the students were better writers and had improved their research skills, which were assessed with pre and post-tests as well as comparative analysis to previous English 102 classes. This panel would discuss the benefits, best practices, and execution of this program