Combining Efforts: A Subject Librarian and a Generalist Team Up for Research Instruction

Academic librarians often work with students in diverse subject areas who make use of a wide range of the library’s resources and services. In order to best serve user needs, it can be important to look for opportunities to work across the units of the library. In keeping with this approach, an Information Services Librarian in the university library and an Architecture Librarian in a branch library joined forces to offer what they thought was a one-time thesis session for graduate students in architecture and planning. It turned out to be the beginning a collaboration that would take them into classrooms in a variety of disciplines to deliver instruction to students at all levels of the curriculum. These two librarians have collaborated on research instruction sessions online for architecture and planning students working on internships and face-to-face sessions in the classroom with art history and art education students working on class projects, including a Spanish class embarking on a research assignment to study the visual culture of Spain. They will take you through their planning process, interactions with faculty members, and how they work to collaborate in a productive way while keeping their own philosophies of research instruction. They will discuss why they choose particular tools and approaches to the session, how they talk about their choices to students, and the importance of sharing more than one approach to research with students. They will also include suggestions for planning and delivering instruction sessions with librarians outside of your area