Connect, Communicate, and Learn: How Library Instruction Programs Benefit from Learning Management Systems

Imagine these scenarios: A librarian teaching an instruction session wants to know how the previous librarian taught that session for the same instructor last year. Another librarian is short on time and ideas and wants an easy way to prep for an upcoming class. A library instruction coordinator wants to get a sense of what other librarians are doing in instruction sessions. Do any of these situations sound familiar to you? If so, you’ll want to attend this session and learn how a library instruction program can facilitate sharing and communication of ideas and stay current on teaching strategies, outcomes, and methods of assessment. Today’s library instruction teams need more than a file cabinet full of instructional materials. An easy-to-navigate and intuitive method of sharing ideas and resources internally with the instruction team is increasingly in demand. This presentation will illustrate that by using a campus learning management system (LMS), a library instruction program can create a rich resource center full of ideas, strategies, activities, and other relevant program documents. The presenters will recommend best practices, including Gilchrist and Zald’s assessment cycle guidelines, for using an LMS in a library instruction program, and provide a case study of how their instructional team makes use of Indiana University’s LMS, Oncourse. Finally, the presenters will also share the results of a nationwide survey of instruction librarians’ experiences using LMS and other web-based sharing tools in their own programs