The library offers tours and instruction on the use of library resources in print, microform, online, and electronic formats, as requested by students, faculty, and staff in groups and/or on an individual basis. Classes are conducted in the library, in a classroom setting, or in a workshop environment. Librarians design and teach instruction sessions tailored to fit the specific research and curricular needs of the students.

Faculty may contact a librarian in advance to schedule a class visit to the library (1). Classes are often held in the library conference room, where a computer and projector make it possible to demonstrate the use of the online catalog and electronic databases, while at the same time students can follow along in their hard copies of the Library Handbook (2).

Individuals are welcome to request instruction from any library staff member at any time during normal library hours. The Library Handbook is also available at the Information Desk, as well as on the library website (2) for those who prefer written instruction in the use of library resources.

A bibliographic instruction overview is available to anyone, either on campus or at any off-campus location, as a PowerPoint presentation called the Self Guided Tour, which is linked on the library website (3).

Library bibliographic instruction includes but is not limited to general tours of the library facility, use of the library homepage, use of the online catalog and electronic research databases, introduction to the Internet, access to print sources, general and subject-specific, and other materials including audiovisuals and items available on microfilm. Sessions may include guided hands-on practice with information technology, electronic database searching demos, and search strategy workshops for the students, faculty, staff, and the library community. Specially created handouts are provided, along with hard copies of the Library Handbook, for subject-specific class sessions as requested by faculty.

Learning Assistance Center

The Learning Assistance Center (LAC) (4) is a professionally staffed (5) facility for individual study and tutoring, plus a resource area and a commons area. LAC programs and services include over 50 hours per week of individualized instruction from professional learning consultants; over 20 hours per week of individualized instruction from specialized instructors; academic workshops offering effective learning strategies; modern facility for the nationally certified peer tutoring program provided by Student Support Services; academic skills review/extension software for English, reading, math, information literacy, and sciences; and more than 300 text and video resources for academic skills review and extension (6).