Faculty Guide to Library Instruction

Looking to place readings or films on electronic reserve in Canvas? Exploring how to guide students through research online for an assignment?

NU Library is here to help!  This guide is designed to introduce you to library support services for remote teaching. Have a specific question or want to learn more about how the library can help you? Contact the Coordinator of User Education and Outreach, Lucy Bell, to schedule a library session. 

Faculty Development has a number of resources that can prepare you for online course delivery.

Online Library Support: Librarians are available to teach synchronously via Zoom or other online platforms. We can also work with you to integrate library research into your online class, help you think through redesigning your research assignments in the online environment, and discuss what will work best for your class. 

Niagara University Librarians prefer to connect with professors—prior to the beginning of a course as well as during a course—regarding their students’ research needs and then customize library instruction accordingly through various formats. Level of involvement in course is to be decided amongst professor and library liaison. Note that the following options build on one another. For example, you can’t offer Tier 3 without Tier 2.

Asynchronous options offered to faculty are described below:

Online library research guides are a great way to curate and showcase research resources available to students in your discipline, whether they are found in the library or elsewhere. Once the guide has been created, it can be directly embedded into your Canvas course site for easy access for your students.

Tier 2: Specific Course Guides

Your Library Liaison will be happy to work with you to create a guide designed specifically for your course and assignments. Guides can cover a subject, course, or topic and support your student's remote learning experience by managing the research resources you would like your students to use for your course or assignment. Similar to the discipline specific research guide listed above, but tailored to meet course needs. Check out this example from MHR 346.  

Tier 3: Library Tutorials

This option offers a course guide as well as instructional guidance on various course related topics. See this example for EDU 595. 

• Video tutorials are used to demonstrate concepts such as "Selecting a topic". Feel free to embed individual videos into your courses as needed.
• Online learning modules are a more interactive way to demonstrate the use of our sources as well as applying concepts learned in videos. This software employs immediate feedback assessment techniques where students are asked to demonstrate knowledge gained. Students may download or email a Certificate of Completion to ensure participation. 
  • Optional follow up to the instruction module(s): 
    • The library liaison may be invited to the course as a guest speaker to offer a live Q&A as a way to clarify any questions after the required tutorials are completed. 
    • Create an "Ask the Librarian" discussion board thread will remind students to do just that. Either weekly, or simply during the few weeks students are working on a research assignment, students will gain insight about the research process through postings.