LaTiffany Davis
Student Success Librarian for First Year Engagement
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
and
Sarah McCarter
Student Success Librarian for Professional Literacies
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Introduction
To continue our support in the onboarding and transition of new students, this case study will demonstrate how the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries (UT Libraries) has consolidated efforts to maximize the impact we have on students and their transition to college. With the overall goal of creating a seamless onboarding experience for first year students, the following pages will outline a campus-level redesigned new student orientation pathway, UT Libraries’ collaborative integration into the orientation program, and practical lessons learned that librarians could use in similar partnerships.
Background Information
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s (UTK) student enrollment has seen steady growth over the last five years. Overall, total student enrollment has increased by 26.7%, and first-time freshman enrollment has increased by 23.4% (The University of Tennessee, Student Enrollment Dashboard, 2024). This increase stirred conversations about ways to make our work with new student orientation more sustainable.
While New Student Orientation and First Year Studies once operated as separate departments within the Division of Student Success (DSS), they were combined in 2024 and now function as one centralized unit, First Year Experience (FYE). The vision behind these two departments working together brought forth a newly redesigned orientation pathway for first year students, “The New Vol Experience”, which launched in Fall 2024. This program begins with their acceptance to the university and continues throughout their entire first year. This new orientation experience consists of six phases:
- Vol 101: Online Introduction to UT
- Vol 102: New Student Advising
- Vol 103: On-Campus Experience
- Vol 104: Big Orange Welcome
- Vol 105: First-Year Seminar
- Vol 106: Vols Start Back
This program aims to prepare and equip students for the transition to college through campus resources, time management and study skills, an increased level of self-awareness, and building a sense of community and belonging. This new pathway offered UT Libraries an opportunity to collaborate with DSS in a more integrated way along with many other units across campus.
Librarians at UTK have long been invested in the success of first year students with special emphasis on new student orientation each Fall. Over the last several years, UT Libraries has provided orientation offerings that have centered around gamification and the learning of library resources coming in the form of escape room activities. Most iterations of these activities, in-person or virtual, have successfully been produced alongside our longtime partner, DSS. To ensure a continued relationship with DSS, UTK librarians worked hard to collaboratively integrate themselves into this newly redesigned program rather than compete for the students’ time and attention. Since the start of this new program, UT Libraries has been involved in five out of six phases of this experience.
Literature Review
New Student Orientation at the Campus Level
The literature on new student orientation (NSO) at the campus level is substantial. Upcraft, Mullendore, Kuh and others have paved the way with multiple works detailing guiding principles for creating holistic learning environments, creating orientation goals, components for success, program credibility, retention principles, and assessment of the program’s efficacy (Kuh, 1996; Mann, 1998; Mullendore and Banahan, 2005; Perigo and Upcraft, 1989; Upcraft and Farnsworth, 1984; Ward-Roof, 2010).
Due to their hard work laying the groundwork for orientation programming, many researchers focus on the impact the event has on retention, academic performance, and graduation. With some variation in outcomes, many researchers found that NSO has a significant positive influence on first-year students’ grade point averages and retention rates (Boudreau and Kromrey, 1994; Busby, Gammel, & Jeffcoat, 2002; Fidler, 1991). As Fox et al. (1993) says, “creating a catalyst that precipitates a chain of events helping students” (p. 50). However, Hollins et al’s 2009 study examining orientation attendance and grade point averages found that there was no statistical significance to infer attendance led to higher grade point averages. Although researchers have found differing results, knowing the information is valuable because we can begin to understand how students are affected from these types of events.
Some researchers looked at multiple facets of new student orientation affecting academic performance. Mohzana (2024) examined the impact of new student orientation on students’ adaptation process and how it affected their academic performance. The adaptation process included looking at social orientation, skill development, etc. They found that “the new student orientation program has a positive and significant impact on the adaptation process and academic performance of new students” (p. 175). Mayhew et al. (2010) reviews how “organizational characteristics affect orientation programs and their potential impact of student academic and social learning … [and] suggest that institutional control and the sponsoring division of the orientation program had little impact on the orientation programming’s efficacy in helping students learn” (p. 337). One item they did note of importance was having a dedicated office for orientation programs signaling to students to come in and ask questions (Mayhew, Vanderlinden, & Kim, 2010).
Yarbrough (1993) looks at the impact of an extended NSO program. Yarbrough found that their research aligns with the literature and determines that an extended orientation program positively affected out-of-classroom involvement, retention rates, and graduation rates. Both Brunelle-Joiner (1999) and Soria et al. (2013) build upon this idea of assessing an extended orientation program. They choose to look at multiple factors encompassing well-being, academic performance, and retention rates. Soria et al. took their research one step further and framed it within social identity theory. Revealing “that participation in the extended new student orientation enhanced students’ social identities as college students within this particular institution, thereby increasing their sense of belonging, academic performance, and retention” (p. 43).
Libraries and New Student Orientation
Most libraries’ roles in new student orientation focus on creating engaging, library-specific events during orientation season and the hopes of that event reducing anxiety in students, commonly known as library anxiety. However, a new study that veers away from these two ideas examined the awareness of orientation services and programming available in the library. Joseph et al (2024) found that students’ current awareness of these services was insignificant, emphasizing the need to improve the marketing of their services.
Librarians get creative with their events to engage with students. Both Veach (2019) and Giles et al. (2023) describe how they developed an escape room that would familiarize students with their library spaces, collections, and services. Noe (2016) took a play out of the football fan playbook and turned a static display into a tailgate at the library. Tents were set throughout the library at separate service points inviting students to visit and learn what services they provide. Twork (2013) decided to partner with the campus orientation committee to create a tabling event. When students visited all stations at the event, they would qualify for the prize drawings.
Many librarians center their attention on creating a welcoming environment during new student orientation. Cahoy et al (2004) describe their luau in the library event as a colorful, fun theme aimed at “addressing students’ affective feelings about using the library… rather than focusing on orienting new students to print and electronic resources” (p. 49). Collins et al. (2011) has a similar idea and “design[ed] their communication pieces…with a focus on eliciting positive first impressions about the library” (p.3). To do so, they share guidelines for creating a successful outreach event during new student orientation. Goebel et al. (2004) examined the impact of their library orientation session on students’ attitudes by measuring the level of library anxiety among students before and after the session. They found that “the scavenger hunt and introduction to the library actually [did] help to reduce the students’ overall library anxiety” (p. 397). Dennis et al (2015) took the idea of assessing library orientation sessions one step further and wanted to learn how to create a session that was less boring. Their goal was to understand how their orientation sessions could overcome the problem of student boredom while also meeting class learning outcomes. They learned that the effects of boredom and confusion are not the same, and feelings of boredom decreased when feelings of confusion stayed the same when compared 2013 data to 2014 data.
New Student Orientation Partnerships
Throughout campus level and library related literature, the discussion of collaboration always remains a key component. A popular example is most notably academic affairs and student affairs, who are encouraged to collaborate during NSO to create an all-inclusive learning environment for the students (Mullendore and Banahan, 2005; Perigo and Upcraft, 1989; Shuh and Whitt, 1999). It is also evident that libraries value partnerships with student affairs or academic affairs during NSO. One article establishes that a “partnership between academic services, student services, and the library ultimately benefits both the university and the student” and I think that remains true throughout the literature (Rhoades and Hartsell, 2008, p. 4). Other examples of this kind of partnership include Engle (2011) whose institution fell on hard financial times and found a proactive way to get involved with the university orientation program. Sanabria (2013) details the inclusion of library faculty in the development of student orientation and first year seminars. They describe their collaboration as “essential…and can help improve the first-year experience of its students and thus help to achieve stronger retention rates and higher-grade point averages” (p. 99). Goldman, Turnbow, and Roth (2018) discuss their partnership with the First Year Experience Program to reenvision their library orientation module to include database instruction and more interactive components such as a scavenger hunt to engage students (p. 117-119). Aligned with our own goals for orientation, Dawes (2018) details the partnership with the First-Year Experience and Transition staff and how they built a sustainable campuswide orientation program (p. 137; 140-142). Tenofsky (2007) reveals why these collaborations are so important and the crux of our own article, “Library work is associated with good organizational and communication skills that foster exceptional campus collaborations and librarians can assist in creating a seamless transfer of information across the university. These collaborations will benefit not only the library and the students, but also the institution with its retention efforts.” (p. 292)
Case Analysis
Anchoring our work in the Campus and Libraries’ Strategic Vision (The University of Tennessee Libraries. Mission, 2023), UT Libraries has actively positioned itself to be part of the New Vol Experience orientation program. Part of creating a cohesive experience for the 6,804 newly enrolled first year students has been our work to create consistent messaging of library services and resources available to them while they are already learning about other campus units (The University of Tennessee, Institutional Research and Strategic Analysis, 2024). We’ve achieved this goal by placing ourselves in five of the six phases of this new program. Integrating ourselves within the New Vol Experience provides an opportunity for us to reach a greater number of new students and follows through on delivering educational opportunities that are responsive to the learners’ needs.
This program uses scaffolding and builds on one another starting with Vol 101: Online Introduction to UT. This online module must be completed by all students prior to their first day of class. Reviewing relevant campus information, UT Libraries is part of this module content by highlighting three main areas: spaces, services, and resources available to new students. The spaces section encourages creativity and expression by showcasing our two makerspaces, the eXperience Point gaming lab, both quiet and group study areas, and locations of the three libraries available to undergraduate students. Our services include research assistance in a variety of formats including our chat service that’s available 24/5 days a week, text, and email. Students are also able to request consultations with their subject expert librarian for more in-depth inquiries or meet with a tutor in our Academic Support area. We also cover the valuable resources students have at their fingertips such as electronic articles, journals, databases, eBooks, etc., self-paced and interactive tutorials, and information on how to check out books, laptops, cameras, and more.
The next phase, Vol 103: On-Campus Experience, is held the summer before students start their first semester. This is an optional one-day, on-campus opportunity that gives students and families the chance to visit campus departments, residence halls, dining areas, and more. First stop of the day, a valuable resource fair where UT Libraries is proud to be included. We connect with prospective students and families while sharing important information, they’ll need to be successful in their classes. The librarians work collaboratively with the Libraries’ marketing team to collect swag giveaways, reach out to subject librarians and library departments to gather informational materials, and invite the entire library staff to volunteer at the sessions so there are multiple people available to answer questions. To make things easy on volunteers, there is a pre-stocked cart with all materials and swag needed for each session, and they are emailed logistics ahead of time for where and when the event takes place. Those who volunteer are supplied with a hand-held tally counter that allows them to quickly add the number of people seen at their session. With two staff members representing the library at each session, the library is able to connect with 1,950 students and families over the 10 sessions.
Once the semester starts, the next two phases begin. First, is Big Orange Welcome, Vol 104, and then First Year Seminar, Vol 105 . Big Orange Welcome is the longest running phase of this program. It’s held over the first six weeks of the fall semester and provides opportunities for students to meet others at events, explore campus, and find services and resources that will help students in their academic success. UT Libraries participates as one of these options by providing interactive library tours for those who are interested during this six-week period. Students sign up at a convenient time best fitting their schedule and in a 30–45-minute timeframe visit the spaces and services in the main library, John C. Hodges Library. During this time, students have an opportunity to ask questions and have one-on-one conversations with library employees while learning about the function of each area.
First Year Seminar is a 1-credit course students are automatically enrolled in for their first semester. This course frames the learning objectives around individual strengths and well-being. Students learn about different learning strategies, financial literacy, career competencies, and UT resources they can use to help them succeed. The university’s Vol 105 course syllabus provides room for alternate lessons of the instructor’s choice, and the library is one option that can fill this spot. The library session has three different offerings depending on the preferences of the instructor: a tour of the service floors of the main library, a classroom session exploring the library’s online resources, or a mix of both with a tour at the beginning followed by a short classroom session. However, the learning outcomes remain the same for each: 1) identify ways of getting help from the library, 2) locate different resources and services to support academic and personal success, and 3) use effective search strategies for getting started with research. Fall 2024, the First Year Engagement librarian coordinated or taught 33 instruction sessions and connected with nearly 500 students.
Our concluding involvement in The New Vol Experience is Vol 106: Vols Start Back. This happens in the Spring to welcome students back after completing their first fall semester. Events and programs are held to offer help to students so they can start back strong to finish their first academic year. One of these events is a resource fair held within John C. Hodges Library. Similar to the On-Campus Experience held in the summer, units from across campus attend to reorient students back to campus and help remind them of all the services they have at their fingertips.
Discussion and Findings
Creating a well-rounded experience for students has become one of our priorities at UT Libraries. For one, we find this strategy to be involved in campus orientation to be a proactive approach that allows us to connect with as many students as possible. Additionally, participating in orientation at this level prevents us from competing with other campus units for students’ time and attention, and provides a consolidated list of service offerings for students. Striving to develop new ways to maximize our impact while remaining conscious of finite resources has quickly become a reality with the work done for new student orientation. This work has not been without its challenges along the way which have turned into valuable lessons learned. In the hopes of preventing others from repeating our mistakes, we aim to share what we’ve learned. We will examine our successes, ways we would like to improve, and how we would like to grow moving forward.
Our Successes
One of our biggest successes truly is the valuable partnership we’ve created with DSS. Tenofsky (2007) states the benefits of partnering with campus during orientation which include consistent messaging and campus departments coming together as a united front in addressing the university’s retention efforts. This remains true for our experience as well. We have been able to partner with DSS in many events; however, the new student orientation has been one of the most beneficial for students and librarians. Partnering together has created a sense of community by uniting all departments and focusing on one collective goal during this time – a successful student onboarding experience. Thinking long-term, another benefit of this partnership includes the potential of addressing burnout before it starts. There are many wonderful reasons for collaboration, but sharing the weight of planning and executing an event is always a benefit.
Another one of our successes was offering an instruction window that spans much of the semester. This was important to us so that instructors had flexibility to fit library instruction into their syllabus when it worked best for them. This, in turn, produced far more opportunities to engage with first year students. Instructors found the instruction signup window valuable and thought highly of the instruction session itself. They shared anecdotes about how they appreciated the tour of the library and mentioned that even they learned new things along with their classes. Additionally, students commented on ways they like to use the library as a space along with their academic needs – creating in the Medbery Makerspace, getting coffee with friends, or attending an event. Even though we value these successes, we were not without our challenges.
Room for Improvement
Outreach and engagement are areas that constantly need assessment, and adapting the way we plan and execute events is imperative to improve effectiveness. Our lessons learned from this year’s first year student engagement initiatives fall into two categories: building a sustainable process and increasing frequency of information sharing with library staff.
Our current assessment methods are numerical and anecdotal such as collecting data on number of student and family interactions, noteworthy comments or questions, and class attendance. However, we were not successful in capturing assessment data in every instance of this program. One reason for this was information overload in the seminar sessions. Instructors found it difficult to have students complete the feedback survey with the time allotted. Another reason is the newness of the program itself. This multi-phase orientation has only been completed once in its entirety since it takes over a semester to finish, and we relied on a trial-and-error approach to determine what worked best. We intend to create a more formal process of gathering feedback on the backend, so that we can obtain the data we would like to see in the hopes of increasing librarian awareness of students’ needs or how the library can strengthen the support they provide.
Another need we identified was to create a group of librarians to assist in teaching Vol 105: First Year Seminar. The turnout for instruction exceeded expectations and led to an unsustainable level of instruction for our First Year Engagement librarian. Since this was the first year of the newly rebranded orientation program, we were unsure of the amount of instruction we would receive. Additionally, we refer to unsustainable as burnout. The class load itself did not initiate the feeling of burnout since this is typical for instruction librarians. The other requirements of a tenure-track librarian, such as service and research, in combination with this instruction load became near impossible to complete without assistance from others.
Discussing how to move forward, we wanted to be mindful of our capacity and create boundaries that help us be better librarians. In doing so we plan to improve this process by forming a core group of librarians willing to assist with first-year seminar instruction. This would involve information sharing with other librarians to gain interest for the next orientation season. Wanting to make it as easy as possible for librarians to be willing to help, we would share instructions and best practices for course instructor communication, classroom logistics alongside lesson plans, course materials, and provide a quick check-in to go over materials and logistics in-person. We also plan to offer an online anonymous survey for teaching librarians to use to make suggestions to improve library instruction so that they are more included and represented in the lesson planning process.
Onboarding first year students continue into the spring semester as most students enter their second semester while some students are entering for the first time. As the spring semester fell underway, we noticed that library staffing at engagement initiatives declined. A total of two library employees, including the FYE Librarian, participated as volunteers. Engagement and outreach efforts consisted of two sessions of VOL 103 and one tabling event, VOL 106. However, these sessions alone reached over 400 students which could potentially make them more of a top priority for future spring semesters. To combat the staffing decline, we intend to make more frequent requests for staff to represent the library at these events. Additionally, librarians will work to leverage other ways of reaching first year students beyond instruction and tabling engagement when human resources aren’t available. A potential strategy includes sharing digital tools, such as tutorials and research guides, and distributing those online tools as first point of contact during the spring semester will help library outreach and engagement efforts when human resources are not available. Finding ways that we can build on sustainable practices will make our efforts align with our goal of consolidating efforts to maximize impact.
Growth Opportunities
Considering ways we would like to improve, one of our first growth opportunities will be to create that core group of librarians for first-year instruction mentioned earlier. Building off this idea and taking note from the literature, the idea of creating a “Student Success Working Group” (SSWG) is another way UT Libraries could grow sustainably. Deeken et al (2019) shares how two universities have a SSWG composed of representatives across campus including university libraries. While implementing a campus wide SSWG would be redundant at UTK, UT librarians are interested in the idea of creating a similar group for library staff. This group would coordinate library engagement initiatives for first year students giving students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with library resources and services. Both groups, the SSWG and the core group of librarians focused on instruction, aim to strengthen our impact on student success with the goal of sustaining our efforts over a long period of time.
Conclusion
Continuing our support for students and their transition to college, UT Libraries has demonstrated how we have collaboratively integrated into DSS’ redesigned orientation pathway. Consulting the literature to understand the prevalence of work done in libraries, on campus, and collaboratively through partnerships, we have built a solid foundation to showcase our work with NSO and how it adds value to the conversation of libraries forming partnerships with other campus units for orientation. Keeping in mind our overall goal of creating a seamless experience for students, we show how we have successfully integrated into five of six phases of this new pathway: Vol 101, Vol 103, Vol 104, Vol 105, and Vol 106. Details of our lessons learned can be seen through our successes, ways we can improve, and our growth opportunities, and shed light for others hoping to engage in a similar partnership with campus level orientation programming.
References
Boudreau, C.A., & Kromrey, J.D. (1994). A Longitudinal Study of the Retention and Academic Performance of Participants in Freshmen Orientation Course. Journal of College Student Development, 35, 444-449.
Brunelle-Joiner, K.M. (1999). Effects of an extended orientation program on personal resiliency and adjustment to college as it relates to academic performance and retention. (Order No. 9919688) [Doctoral dissertation, The Florida State University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Busby, R.R., Gammel, H.L., & Jeffcoat, N.K. (2002). Grades, Graduation, and Orientation: A Longitudinal Study of How New Student Programs Relate to Grade Point Average and Graduation. The Journal of College Orientation and Transition, 10(1), 45-50. https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/jcotr/article/download/2559/1967
Cahoy, E.S., & Bichel, R.M. (2004). A Luau in the Library? A New Model of Library Orientation. College & Undergraduate Libraries 11(1), 49-60. https://doi.org/10.1300/J106v11n01_06
Collins, N., & Dodsworth, E. (2011). Reaching First-Year Students during Orientation Week. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library & Information Practice & Research, 6(2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v6i2.1473
Dawes, L. M. (2018). The Big Red Ruckus @ Love: From Cooperation to Collaboration. In Bailin, K., Jahre, B., & Morris, S (Eds.), Planning academic library orientations: Case studies from around the world (pp. 115-124). Chandos Publishing, an imprint of Elsevier.
Deeken, L., Vecchione, A., Carr, A., Hallman, S., Herzellah, L., Lopez, N., Rucker, R., Alfieri, M., Tenofsky, D., Moore, A., Fawley, N., Glover, J., Peacemaker, B. and Pajewski, A. (2019), Charting a path forward in student success, Reference Services Review, 47(4), 503-526. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-08-2019-0048
Dennis, M., & Dees, A. S. (2015). It’s SO Boring: Improving Library Orientation Sessions for First-Year Students. The Southeastern Librarian, 63(2), 2–10. https://doi.org/10.62915/0038-3686.1564
Engle, L. S. (2011). Hitching Your Wagon to the Right Star: A Case Study in Collaboration. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 18(2-3), 249–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2011.577682
Fidler, P. P. (1991). Relationship of Freshman Orientation Seminars to Sophomore Return Rates. Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 3(1), 7–38.
Fox, L., Zakely, J., Morris, R., & Jundt, M. (1993). Orientation as a catalyst: Effective retention through academic and social integration. In M. L. Upcraft, R. H. Mullendore, B. O. Barefoot, & D. S. Fidler (Eds.), Designing successful transitions: A guide for orienting students to college (pp. 49–59). Columbia, SC: National Resource Center for the Freshman Year Experience.
Giles, K., & Sullivan, B. (2023). Putting the Puzzle Together: Creating a Library Orientation Escape Room for First-Year University Students. Practical Academic Librarianship: The International Journal of the SLA Academic Division, 13(1), 3–26.
Goebel Brown, A., Weingart, S., Johnson, J. R. J., & Dance, B. (2004). Librarians don’t bite: assessing library orientation for freshmen. Reference Services Review, 32(4), 394–403. https://doi.org/10.1108/00907320410569752
Goldman, C., Turnbow, D., & Roth, A. (2018). Building Partnerships for Better Library Orientations. In Bailin, K., Jahre, B., & Morris, S (Eds.), Planning academic library orientations: Case studies from around the world (pp. 115-124). Chandos Publishing, an imprint of Elsevier.
Hollins, T. N. (2009). Examining the Impact of a Comprehensive Approach to Student Orientation. Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges, 14(1), 15–26. https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol14/iss1/3
Joseph, L., Vanen, A. B., & Joseph, I. (2024). Examining Undergraduate Students’ Satisfaction with Current Awareness and Orientation Services in University Libraries in Benue State. Library Philosophy and Practice, 1–14.
Kuh, G. D. (1996). Guiding Principles for Creating Seamless Learning Environments for Undergraduates. Journal of College Student Development, 37(2), 135–148.
Mann, B.A. (1998). Retention Principles for New Student Orientation Programs. The Journal of College Orientation and Transition, 6(1), 15-20. https://doi.org/10.24926/jcotr.v6i1.2482
Mayhew, M. J., Vanderlinden, K., & Kim, E. K. (2010). A Multi-Level Assessment of the Impact of Orientation Programs on Student Learning. Research in Higher Education, 51(4), 320–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-009-9159-2
Mohzana, M. (2024). The Impact of the New Student Orientation Program on the Adaptation Process and Academic Performance. International Journal of Educational Narratives, 2(2), 169–178. https://doi.org/10.70177/ijen.v2i2.763
Mullendore, R. H., & Banahan, L. (2005). Designing orientation programs. In J. Gardner, L. Upcraft, & B. Barefoot (Eds.), Challenging and supporting the first-year student: A handbook for improving the first college year. (pp.391-409). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Noe, N. (2016). Party with a purpose: The library open house. College & Research Libraries News, 77(4), 184–187. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.77.4.9476
Perigo, D.J., & Upcraft, M.L. (1989). Orientation programs. In M.L. Upcraft, J.N. Gardner, & Associates (Eds.), The Freshman Year Experience. Helping Students Survive and Succeed in College. (pp. 82-94). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Sanabria, J. E. (2013). The Library as an Academic Partner in Student Retention and Graduation: The Library’s Collaboration with the Freshman Year Seminar Initiative at the Bronx Community College. Collaborative Librarianship, 5(2), 94–100. https://doi.org/10.29087/2013.5.2.05
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Soria, K., Lingren Clark, B., & Coffin Koch, L. (2013). Investigating the academic and social benefits of extended new student orientations for first-year students. Journal of College Orientation and Transition, 20(2), 33-45. https://doi.org/10.24926/jcotr.v20i2.2828
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Twork, M. (2013). Filling in the Blanks: Developing a Library Orientation for Incoming Community College Students. Journal of Library Innovation, 4(2), 69–77.
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Appendices
First Year Seminar Lesson Plans
Purpose
This document details three lesson plans used for First Year Seminar. Instructors have a choice of choosing from these options:
- Library Tour
- Classroom Session
- Tour & Classroom
Learning Outcomes
- Identify ways of getting help from the Libraries.
- Locate different resources and services to support academic and personal success.
- Utilize effective search strategies for getting started with research.
Option One: Tour Session
| Time Allotted | Location | Talking Points |
| 30 min | 2nd Floor |
|
| 10 min | 1st Floor |
|
| 10 min | 3rd Floor |
|
Option Two: Classroom Session
| Time Allotted | Method | Content |
| 5 min | Lecture |
|
| 10 min | Lecture/Demo |
|
| 10 min | Demo |
|
| 5 min | Lecture |
|
| 10 min | Practice |
|
| 10 min | Lecture |
|
| 5 min | Discussion/Reflection |
|
Option Three: Tour & Classroom Session
| Time Allotted | Method | Content |
| 25 min | 2nd Floor |
|
| 5 min | 1st Floor |
|
| 15 min | Classroom Instruction |
|
| 5 min | Session Wrap Up |
|