LIRT (Library Instruction Round Table)

Opportunity for Change: Turning First-Year Oneshots into Workshops

Tredway Library at Augustana College, like many academic libraries, is doing too much. It is evident in nearly every aspect of our work, but the instruction overload in particular can be unwieldy: our team teaches an average of 200-220 library sessions each academic year. A large number of these classes are part of the First Year Inquiry (FYI) program, which requires each section to visit the library for research instruction at least twice. During the 2024-25 academic year, Augustana College launched a new version of its FYI program; after taking a year to get settled in this new way of doing, the Tredway Librarians took it as an opportunity to do our work differently as well by collaboratively teaching large-group library workshops in place of the traditional first FYI session. Each workshop combined multiple FYI sections so that 2-4 classes met simultaneously and rotated through 4 stations related to navigating research in the library: turning topics into keywords, strategic searching in library databases, finding physical materials, and using Special Collections.

This presentation will overview our process of change by outlining the tensions that prompted the need for change and the conversations from our development stages, before concluding with some practical tips and lessons learned for other librarians who are also looking for ways to do differently instead of doing more. 

Respectfully, 
Kathy Dejnowski
LILi Web Committee Chair