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Section III.  Reference Department

Section III.  A.  Reference Department Mission Statement

The Reference Department of the Ethel K. Smith Library of Wingate University exists in order to support the academic pursuits and intellectual endeavors of the student body, faculty and staff, and community patrons.  The University’s curricula are represented inter-disciplinary within the collection holdings.  It is the goal of each Reference Librarian to make available a variety of research options to the researcher.

Section III.  B.  Reference Department General Policies & Procedures

The Reference Department’s primary purpose is to serve the information needs of the students, faculty, and staff of Wingate University.  Community patrons, including Friends of the Library, will be assisted as much as possible in using the computers, books, and other resources of the Ethel K. Smith Library, but the needs of campus users have priority (please refer to the Guest Patron Usage Policy Section I. C. of this document).  All Reference materials must be used in the Library.  (Faculty may be permitted to use items in class with special permission from the Reference Librarian on duty.)

Table of Contents | Introduction | Mission Statement | Circulation | Audiovisual | Reference | Bibliographic Instruction | Access Services | Unique Collections | Evaluation Statement

Section IV.  Bibliographic Instruction Department

Section IV.  A.  Bibliographic Instruction Department Mission Statement

In keeping with the Wingate University and Ethel K. Smith Library mission statements, and as a subset of the Reference Department, the focus of Bibliographic Instruction and Information Literacy is to foster lifelong learning and research skills in the university’s student body, faculty and staff, and community patrons.

Section IV.  B.  Bibliographic Instruction and Information Literacy Goals and Objectives

Benchmarks for obtaining these learning and research skills are codified in the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education as the ability to:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally
  

Source: American Library Association. (2006, September 1). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Retrieved April 1, 2008, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm

To achieve these benchmarks, Bibliographic Instruction orientation sessions incorporated into English 101 and English 102 were chosen as the most expedient platform for introducing a basic information literacy skill set that is transferable across disciplines. The goal of these sessions is to highlight, define, and explain how to implement various research mediums within the research process. The curricula for the two sessions are:

Module One:

• Library of Congress classification system
• Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)
• Physical location of stacks and all materials in the library
• Terms such as journal, periodical, peer-reviewed, etc.
• Holdings and access for online and print materials, InterLibrary Loan (ILL), etc.
• Resource evaluation techniques
• Citation format and plagiarism commentary

Module Two:

• Types of resources (primary, secondary, and tertiary)
• Authenticity and evaluation
• Sophisticated search strategies
• Open-access resources
• Reference tools (indices, subject encyclopedias, and concordances)
• Citation format and plagiarism commentary

Bibliographic Instruction sessions beyond the orientation level for more advanced, assignment-specific, or discipline-specific information literacy skills are available as outlined in the following section on services.

Section IV. C. Bibliographic Instruction and Information Literacy Services

• Bibliographic Instruction conducted by a Librarian is available by appointment for:
  • All classes at the 100 and 200 levels
  • Introductory level classes (any course that does not have a prerequisite)
  • Individual Wingate University students and faculty
  • Local high school teachers and their classes (scheduling subject to availability)
• Classes at the 300 level and above are conducted by the faculty member teaching the class. Preliminary sessions with instruction librarians are encouraged for the faculty member or, preferably, entire academic department in order to follow a “train-the-trainer” methodology of information transfer.
  • Assignment-driven classes at these levels can also be team-taught in conjunction with the instruction librarian as needed if the following requirements have been met:
    • Sessions are scheduled at least one week in advance and are conducted at least three to four weeks prior to the assignment due date to allow time for InterLibrary Loan requests
    • A copy of the actual assignment is provided to the instruction librarian at the time of booking, and to ensure student success the faculty member has determined that available Library resources will support the assignment
    • A preliminary, collaborative meeting between the faculty member and the instruction librarian takes place at least one week in advance to discuss the assignment parameters and information literacy goals for the session
• Periodic workshops on specific databases and topics are also offered throughout the year. Dates and times will be announced on the library homepage, through signage at the library, and/or through the campus e-mail system.
• Freshman and transfer student library orientation tours conducted by a trained Library Student Assistant are offered at the beginning of each semester

Section IV. D.  Bibliographic Instruction Department General Policies & Procedures

• Bibliographic Instruction sessions must be scheduled at least one week in advance – please contact the Reference Department at campus extension 8097 and ask to speak to an instruction librarian for available dates/times
  • Module One and Module Two sessions must be conducted in the first four weeks of each semester in order for students to assimilate and implement inter-disciplinary applications of the information literacy objectives before their research projects are due
• Professors interested in bringing their students to the library for class research only (no Bibliographic Instruction) must reserve the Reference Area at least one week in advance to ensure space and equipment availability
• All classes, whether for Bibliographic Instruction or class research, must be accompanied by their professor

Updated July 14, 2008