DESIGNING EFFECTIVE LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS

The following steps can help you create a library assignment and help your students use library resources effectively.

1. Relate the library assignment to course objectives. What do you want your students to learn that is integral to the course or other class assignments? What skills and knowledge do you want them to acquire by doing the assignment?  Be sure to explain your goals since students often don’t see a relationship between a library assignment and the work they need to do later in the course.

2. Familiarizing yourself with the library’s resources, and ask your library consultant for help.  As you think about an assignment, find out what kinds of materials are available and how you can incorporate them into your course.  This is a good stage to ask your library consultant about resources, as well as the different ways students can learn about these resources in relation to your assignment.

3. Put library assignments in writing.  By the time students try to do an assignment, it can become garbled unless it is in writing. A written assignment also helps the reference librarian determine what you want your students to do.  

4. Be specific about what you want your students to find, but not too specific. Make sure your students understand exactly what you expect them to achieve in the library. Since information comes in various forms such as books, articles, videos, etc., it is helpful to specify exactly what type of information you expect them to find.  At the same time, avoid assignments that require students to locate information that is almost impossible to find.  Also avoid assignments that require all students to locate the same obscure facts or a particular article, such as in a scavenger hunt (this often ends up frustrating students and requiring librarians to do the assignment for them). Plan for success by providing helpful resources and their location and giving hints on how to use them. Whatever you can do to decrease student frustration and increase confidence about using library resources helps create a better learning environment.

5. Try out the assignment before giving it to your students.  Go to the library and take note of what you need to do to complete your library assignment.  What resources did you use?  What problems did you have?  How long did it take?  Also, double-check the names of resources, locations, and call numbers specified for the assignment.  Since technology changes rapidly, it is extremely important for you to test the assignment each time you use it.

rev. 04/19/2004