UIC Library Teaching & Learning Support

UIC Librarians provide a flexible range of instructional supports to help students become more self-sufficient, efficient and expert researchers. This guide describes a wide range of instructional services offered by the UIC Library and provides a sampling of instructional activities developed by librarians, often in collaboration with disciplinary faculty and instructors. Library liaisons for specific disciplines and programs welcome the opportunity to discuss how they can support the development of student research skills for your course or program.

While there are many information literacy competencies, in general, librarians focus on teaching students to efficiently locate and critically engage with information and its sources. We welcome opportunities to partner with faculty and instructors across the disciplines to discuss what it means to be information literate in your discipline and design instruction--whether delivered as a workshop, assignment or online tutorial--to meet those goals.

Contact the liaison for your discipline to discuss instructional options.  View the complete list of liaisons or enter your discipline into the library directory to identify your liaison.

Photo above by Roberta Devlin

• Course-specific research instruction
• Online research guides for discipline and course-specific needs
• Online tutorials
• Instructional activities
• Special Collections and University Archives, Hands-On Learning with Primary Sources
• Research assignment consultation
• Assessment of student research skills
• Appointments with students
• Workshops
• Blackboard integration

Librarians customize library instruction to meet specific course learning outcomes across all levels and disciplines. We will collaborate with you to ensure that instruction provided is tailored to course content, objectives, and assignments. Use this form to schedule an instruction session or contact the liaison for your discipline to discuss options. Instruction often occurs in library classrooms or other classrooms on campus. Additionally, many liaisons deliver instruction online.

Librarians create a variety of online subject guides to assist students with the research process and help them identify key resources related to their disciplines and assignments, such as databases, books, or resources on the open web.  Course and subject guides can be accessed through the library website and/or linked to through course Blackboard sites. Contact the liaison for your discipline to plan a guide customized for your course.

Librarians can suggest and create video and interactive tutorials for students focused on a variety of research skills. These tutorials can be used in flipped-classroom settings, or to simply reinforce course content.

Librarians can create research-related activities for your students to complete either within or outside of class.

Archivists will work with you to customize learning activities to engage students with the building blocks of history, including rare books, original documents, historical photographs, and other special formats.

Librarians welcome the opportunity to discuss research  integration of library resources and information literacy skills into course assignments.

Librarians can develop formative assessments such as quizzes or knowledge probes to gauge student understanding of research-based concepts. They also integrate formative assessment techniques into library instruction to improve student learning outcomes and develop more effective instructional practices.

Librarians are available to meet with students both in-person and online, with individuals or small groups. Students can sign up for an appointment by filling out this online form. We are also more than happy to meet with you.

Throughout the semester, librarians deliver in-person and online workshops on a variety of topics, from citation management systems to conducting graduate-level research. Check the schedule to see what is available, or suggest a topic you'd like to see covered. Librarians can also develop workshops for specific audiences on demand.

At the top of all Blackboard pages, there is a library tab that directs students to key resources. Your liaison librarian can also be added to your course as a course builder to directly provide support to students or provide links to research guides or specific resources.