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Examples of Library Instruction at Carnegie Mellon

• Freshman level instruction
• Higher level undergraduate instruction
• Graduate level instruction

Freshman level instruction

Course: Research Methods in Social Psychology

Librarian: Scott Vine

Purpose: Students in this introductory course are required to design and conduct an original experiment. They need to locate published experiments to use as models, and then consult background sources and periodicals on their topic.

Plan: Students are taught how to access and search the key databases in the discipline, PsycFirst and Psyclit. They learn how and why to use reference books and retrospective indexes.

What Students Learn: The class gains a familiarity with the location and manipulation of electronic and print resources in psychology, along with an introduction to the department's library liaison. The goal is for the students to become comfortable with the library, whether working on their own or asking for assistance with their research.

Class: Introduction to Research for Concept Studio I

Librarian : Mo Dawley

Purpose: This class is taught in conjunction with assignments given in the mandatory Concept Studio I courses to help art freshman develop "transferrable conceptual skills" by investigating a non-medium specific, personal approach to artmaking.

Each course assignment is used as a springboard to introduce students to basic research processes, strategies and reference resources in a library setting.

Plan: Example course assignment: Professor Patricia Bellan-Gillen requests students to select a non-traditional media item randomly from a hat (red lipstick, 10 or more dairy cows, light from any star or galaxy etc.). Students are required to use their media selection to develop an artwork in proposal form within two weeks by investigating the personal, social, political and abstract aspects of the selection, as well as developing a context for their artwork.

Library class: Through discussion, verbal/descriptive writing exercises, selected database demonstrations and viewing a dramatized video called "Navigating the Sea of Information", students are taught the basics of how to focus the research process within a brief time-frame.

What students learn:

• how to "warm-up" before starting a research project
• how to form "keywords" from the warm-up to develop a search strategy
• how to orient oneself to the Libraries by knowing how subjects are arranged and starting with basic sources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias
• how to adapt search strategies when investigating different resources, databases or the Web
• the basics of what to expect of the research process in the Libraries and when to know to change directions in research if necessary
• the importance of asking for help in the library and asking questions in general during the entire research process

Course: Experimental Techniques in Chemistry III

Librarians: Lynn Labun & Angela Locknar

Purpose: "A key component of Lab III is a team molecular design project, where the students have to support their ideas with data from the chemical literature. Many chemistry majors also begin undergraduate research about this time." --Professor Stuart Staley

Plan: Students work on their projects in teams of 3 or 4. During 3 class periods, a team of librarians from the Engineering & Science and Mellon Institute Libraries teaches 1) Chemical Abstracts in print, 2) Chemical Abstracts online, and 3) Science Citation Index. In-class exercises allow students to try out the tools before attempting the assignments. Assignments are done as a group, and graded by librarians.

What Students Learn: Students learn how to work together to solve problems and to relate new experiments to previously published research. They learn how to search both print and electronic indexes for articles in chemistry, either by subject or by tracking citations.

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Graduate level instruction

Course: Commercialization of New Product Technology

Librarian: Adele Barsh

Purpose: To teach students how to exploit a range of business information sources that will help them think creatively and lead to implementable, real-world solutions. They work in small teams that are paired to a local business that is in some stage of new product development. Students act as consultants, making suggestions based in large part on their market research. They uncover information about competitors, market conditions and potential consumers for products and industries that are often "cutting edge" in some way.

Plan: Students systemmatically are introduced to the print and electronic resources at their disposal during one class session. Then, half of the remaining class time is devoted to hands-on work, with librarian providing individualized suggestions for avenues of further research. The librarian consults with the students frequently as their research progresses, through email, in person and telephone. Each product requires in-depth research strategies that are often unique and evolve, based on student contact with company and the material they uncover in their research.

What students learn: Students learn the general structure of business information and research strategies that can be applied to any company or industry. As well, students master how to break down the information gathering as a team, into managable and organized segments. They get extensive practice and feedback in basic competitive intelligence techniques ranging from networking to finding published print and online information to support their analyses.

Course: Research Seminar 57-901

Librarian: Antoinette Powell

Purpose: To introduce new music graduate students to music research by using resources both at Carnegie Mellon and elsewhere (via electronic sources, Interlibrary Loan, etc.).

Plan: This course was developed to help music graduate students identify, use and understand basic music reference materials. It is designed to be helpful to students interested in any aspect of graduate study: performance, theory and composition, history and literature, conducting, education, etc.

What students learn: The following topics are addressed through assigned readings, weekly assignments and oral reports, periodic quizzes and a final research paper:

• how to find and develop a research topic
• how to find information relating to that topic using books, periodicals, Internet and electronic resources (including the libraries' catalog)
• how to evaluate sources and information
• how to organize information into a cohesive form and correctly cite information