Schedule library instruction for Spring 2025

We hope you all have had a warm and restful winter break. We are reaching out today to remind and encourage you to schedule your library instruction for the upcoming semester 

Recently, we have noticed a greater need for library instruction and support from our student body. Whether students weren't taught formal researching skills in their high school, they are our ECA students who are finishing out their high school experiences at Miami, or they just aren't confident navigating our current information landscape (use of AI, mis/disinformation, etc.), students need assistance learning the ins and outs of academic researching. 

We strongly encourage instructors with research assignments in their syllabi this semester to work with us in the Regional Campus Libraries. Together, we can ensure that your students receive the support they need as they learn about conducting academic research for the first time or need help strengthening these skills. 

When you contact us here at the libraries, we will work with you to determine what services would best meet your course needs. We offer in-class instruction, virtual instruction, and embedded instruction to both in-person and online classes. We also have research guides that can be added to your Canvas courses that walk students through the library resources that are best suited to complete your research assignments. There are many ways that we can assist you and your students and more information about these services can be found on our website: Rentschler Library - Services for Faculty. or for Middletown: Faculty Services (Middletown): Teaching & Classroom Support.

If you are ready to schedule an instruction session for a class at the Hamilton campus, you can fill out a Library Instruction Request form or contact Mark Shores at Mark.Shores@miamiOH.edu. If you want to schedule a session for a class at the Middletown campus, reach out to John Burke at burkejj@miamiOH.edu.

We appreciate your time and look forward to collaborating with you for a great spring semester. 

How can the Library help you this summer?

Summer term will soon be here and the Gardner-Harvey Library would like to send some reminders about our summer services. The library is open year round to help with library instruction and embedded librarianship, offer a variety of technical equipment, including laptops and iPads, and provide study rooms for quiet study or group work. 

For more information about our services, please check out our Faculty Guide or our Library Services page.

Curious what an embedded librarian can do for your summer course? Having an embedded librarian in your Canvas course sites is a great way to strengthen students’ academic research skills and information literacy.

Looking back over past semesters, did your students struggle with … ?

• Incorporating scholarly sources in their research projects
• Evaluating online sources for currency, relevance, accuracy, authority, & purpose
• Requesting items from other Miami libraries and OhioLINK
• Citing sources correctly in APA or MLA style
• Using information ethically (i.e. academic integrity)

Regional campus librarians can help students master these skills through custom research guides embedded in your Canvas course site. Contact us to discuss your goals and we will tailor the guide to match them.

If you already collaborate with an embedded librarian, please let us know that you want to continue the service this summer. We will review your guide to ensure that links are functional and content is up-to-date before classes start.

If you are ready to try a new approach this summer, please contact 

Beth Tumbleson, Middletown, 513-727-3232,  tumbleb@miamioh.edu

Mark Shores, Hamilton, 513-785-3203,   shoresml@miamioh.edu 

Want to Collaborate with an Embedded Librarian in Canvas?

Librarians at the Gardner-Harvey Library invite you to collaborate with us in Canvas, as you transition to Miami’s new learning management system! 

In Spring 2015, we were embedded in 30 course sections, reaching more than 700 students.  We would be thrilled to expand this research service and partner with you this summer or fall.

Would you like to develop your students’ online scholarly research skills and deepen their understanding of metaliteracy concepts such as academic integrity or open access? 

Your LMS embedded librarians link or embed library digital collections such as:

• Individual or subject collections of e-books (such as this one for nursing)
• Media such as streaming videos from Alexander Street Press in counseling or history, documentaries from Kanopy, ARTstor images, or Naxos music files
• Subject databases like Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text
• Open access scholarly portals like Public Library of Science or the  Digital Public Library of America

Other services we provide include:

• Creating customized screencasts  & course guides
• Help citing sources
• Demonstrating library finding tools like the EBSCO Discovery Service, Online Catalog, and Discipline-specific databases
• In-class instruction
• Research consultations with student groups
• 3D printing projects
• Virtual reference assistance
• Research assignment review and redesign

Faculty who use the LMS Embedded Librarian service appreciate the personalized information literacy instruction their students receive.

Students have also expressed appreciation.

This is the first class that I have had an embedded librarian. I think it is great knowing that someone is there to answer any question we may have!

She presented us decent places to find credible articles. She also told us how to narrow down search results on the online library.

Please contact us this summer to begin a joint adventure in Canvas.

Regards,

John Burke, Director, burkejj@miamioh.edu

Jessie Long, Public Services Librarian, longjh@miamioh.edu

Beth Tumbleson, Assistant Director, tumbleb@miamioh.edu

Got an Embedded Librarian?

In Winter 2015 or Spring 2015, will your students be conducting research for papers, presentations, or projects? If so, they can benefit from working with an embedded librarian  in your Niihka or Canvas course.

  

First-year students find online searching difficult and are frustrated when navigating complex digital libraries.  Many admit their research competencies are limited. Could your students use some guidance, based on the bibliographies they are building?

Students are already familiar with Google.  Many are unfamiliar with Google Scholar, however, which links back to Miami University Libraries’ full-text holdings of scholarly articles.  Most have never used Miami University Libraries’ discovery service: Articles & More, until shown by a librarian. Articles & More searches 80 databases at once, producing a set of results which can be narrowed to scholarly journal articles or books, and contains  an overview Research Starter for many topics. It also provides  APA or MLA citations for sources. 

With the help of instructors and librarians, students will learn how to:

·         search library databases and Google Scholar

·         read abstracts of journal articles

·         evaluate sources

·         conduct independent research

·         refocus topics

·         dig deeper & persevere

·         cite sources

In 2014, our librarians were embedded in 90 courses, reaching 2,000 students to deliver information literacy instruction and link to academic resources for students enrolled in online, hybrid, and traditional courses.  The embedded librarian service is entering its seventh year in 2015.  We would like to collaborate with you in developing students’ understanding of the research process, related to your discipline!

Please contact any of the Gardner-Harvey Librarians for customized solutions to your course-related research assignments.  We are happy to help with assignment reviews, links to authoritative databases and electronic collections, as well as tutorials and citation tools.  See these sample pages to get a better idea of embedded librarianship.

John Burke, Director, burkejj@miamioh.edu
Jessie Long, Public Services Librarian, longjh@miamioh.edu
Beth Tumbleson, Assistant Director, tumbleb@miamioh.edu

Congratulations to our embedded librarian survey winners!

Did you take a class that had an embedded librarian? If so, you probably received an email a few weeks ago asking you to fill out our online survey. The class who had the highest percentage of completed surveys would receive either breakfast or lunch on us. 

With almost 33% completing our survey, EDT 190 MA were the winners and received breakfast from the library during their final class this week.

Congratulations once again to our survey winning class and thank you to all of you who completed our survey. Your responses help us to keep growing and improving our embedded librarian program.

Congratulations to ENG 109 our Embedded Librarian Survey Winners!

Did you take a class that had an embedded librarian? If so, you probably received an email a few weeks ago asking you to fill out our online survey. The class who had the most completed surveys would receive either breakfast or lunch on us. With almost 60% completing our survey, ENG 109 were the winners and received lunch from the library during their final class last week.

Congratulations once again to our survey winning class and thank you to all of you who completed our survey. Your responses help us to keep growing and improving our embedded librarian program.

Add an embedded librarian to Niihka for Winter Term or Spring Semester

Would you like, in one of more of your classes, to participate in the Embedded Librarian service in Niihka in Winter Term or Spring Semester 2014?  Whether you are teaching face to face, hybrid, or online courses, you may collaborate with a learning management system (LMS) embedded librarian:

•          To strengthen your students’ online research skills
•          To enlarge their understanding of the resources and services available through Miami University Libraries
•          To provide learning objects like screencasts or planning and citation tools to aid students at various stages of the research process

As you know, students feel overwhelmed with research which entails so many starting points and long lists of results.  They struggle getting started as well as knowing how to navigate a complex university library system.  As one economics student working on a group project admitted:

"This assignment was very difficult for us as a group. I had a hard time finding state specific research so for the first time I utilized the online librarian through Niihka. What a great service. The librarian helped to find me more specific and updated information, as I had found some data but felt it wasn’t recent enough to use. "

Students appreciate working with an accessible librarian who “gets” the assignment and research landscape, offers help in framing a research question as well as suggesting databases and search terms. After an email exchange, one relieved family studies and social work student shared:

“This is beyond excellent! I thank you so much for your help.”

The Gardner-Harvey embedded librarians were embedded in 42 course sections in Fall Semester 2013, collaborating with 22 instructors, reaching 1,000 students.  To see what embedded librarianship looks like, visit http://tinyurl.com/embeddedsandwich to watch brief video introductions by the librarians and view sample pages of resources placed in Niihka courses.

These partnerships also lead to:

•          information literacy sessions in the classroom
•          individual research consultations
•         creating customized learning objects for the class
•          keeping current with the libraries’ latest databases, acquisitions, and discovery service

To get started with an embedded librarian in 2014, please reply to this email with the following information:

•          Name
•          Course Section(s)
•          Research Assignment Described/Attached
•         Concepts/Skills to Teach:  (See suggestions from the Information Literacy Menu)
•         Time:  Startup Only, Research Period, Full Semester

Your embedded librarian will be in touch to talk with you about creating requested content and interacting with your students.

John Burke burkejj@miamioh.edu

Jessie Long longjh@miamioh.edu

Beth Tumbleson tumbleb@miamioh.edu

The Gardner-Harvey Embedded Librarians Invite You

Embedded Librarian Service, 2013-2014

A student said this about the service:  “I found the link in our class page helpful, especially the APA guides and databases of nursing journals.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to access this terrific resource.”

One instructor said:  “…but the students who reached out were met with a quick response, direct answers and a supportive ‘go team’ tone.  invaluable!!”

As Fall 2013 draws closer, please consider collaborating with an embedded librarian to deepen student learning.  Just let us know of your interest to begin the process.

First you and your embedded librarian will discuss your research assignment(s) and priority information literacy skills you want students to develop.  After you add the embedded librarian to your Niikha courses, he/she will place course-specific content in them.

In this way, Miami University Libraries’ resources and services become readily visible and accessible to students learning to conduct scholarly research.  Students begin to expand upon the few sources they typically rely on (course readings and Google).  Your Niihka librarian might help your students by:

·         explaining how to navigate a complex university library system, including OhioLINK

·         troubleshooting technology issues like authentication when off-campus

·         minimizing frustration by explaining research jargon like Peer Review

·         guiding undergraduate researchers to discovery tools like OneSearch

·         linking discipline-specific databases, demonstrating how to apply various limiters as well as use the cite tool.

·         providing credible collections for background research

·         suggesting getting-started Websites like http://www.wordnik.com/ and topic brainstorming charts

·         locating time management tools like project calculators and citing help

·         teaching techniques to evaluate Google results

·         describing how to prevent plagiarism

Given sufficient time, your embedded librarian is also able:

·         to create custom tutorials/screencasts to demonstrate searching

·         to build a LibGuide or interactive subject guide for your course

·         to assist in redesigning research assignments to improve information literacy learning outcomes

The Gardner-Harvey librarians hope you choose to collaborate with us in 2013-2014!  We want your students to develop information fluency which aids academic achievement and is expected by employers.  Email us today:

Beth Tumbleson, tumbleb@miamioh.edu

Jessie Long, longjh@miamioh.edu

John Burke, burkejj@miamioh.edu

Embedded Librarians @ Miami Middletown

Dear Miami University Middletown Faculty:

Why should you have an LMS embedded librarian in your Niihka courses next semester?  Would your students really benefit?

Collaborating faculty have this to say:

“They (students) did appreciate having the resources laid out for them in an organized manner.  You did a lot of the ‘leg work’ for them!”

“…but the students who reached out were met with a quick response, direct answers and a supportive ‘go team’ tone.  invaluable!!”

“The embedded librarian offered many needed skills that the students did not avail themselves of.  I will rework my assignments to encourage them to use the resources available next semester.”

Students interacting with a LMS embedded librarian in Niihka said:

“I would love to see this service in a lot more other classes than what there is! I really found this service very useful!”

“I found the link in our class page helpful, especially the APA guides and databases of nursing journals.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to access this terrific resource.”

Embedded librarianship is a Gardner-Harvey Library service that has been offered 7 semesters, connecting us with 176 course sections and over 3900 students!  In Spring 2012 three librarians, collaborated with 19 instructors and embedded in 33 courses, reaching about 850 students.  Library resources, services, and information literacy instruction are customized to specific course research assignments and made readily available to students in the LMS. 

When the instructor and subject expert collaborates with an information specialist, good things happen for students in terms of online, scholarly research.  When a professor directs students to contact their named embedded librarian, already familiar with the course research assignment, rather than direct them to visit the library, it makes a world of difference.

Embedded librarians can teach your students to:

·         Search research databases

·         Format bibliographies and in-text citations

·         Conduct literature reviews and create annotated bibliographies

·         Use the online catalog and the new discovery layer

·         Evaluate online sources

·         Distinguish scholarly journals from popular periodicals

·         Find custom library content relevant to their research assignments

·         Use brainstorming charts, presentation software, project calculators, RSS alerts, etc.

If you would like to join the LMS Embedded Librarian program in Summer or Fall 2012, please provide the information below and an embedded librarian will contact you this summer.  The program is flexible enough to provide research support in ways that align with your learning outcomes.

Name:

Email:

Phone:

Courses:

Please provide a copy of the research assignments.

Emphasize information literacy instruction in these areas (see list above):

I wish my students’ research skills were stronger in these areas:

I would like the services of an embedded librarian for (Mark one.)

Beginning of the semester          A research period            Entire semester

Reply by August 15, 2012 to
John Burke burkejj@muohio.edu
Jessie Long longjh@muohio.edu
Beth Tumbleson tumbleb@muohio.edu

Embedded Librarians Want To Collaborate with You in Fall 2011!

The on-going Embedded Librarian Program is entering its 6th semester. It is an online solution to improving students’ research assignment outcomes. Last spring 2011, 15 instructors teaching 32 sections to more than 630 students in 100 to 400 level courses in ATH, BIS, CHM, CSE, ENG, HST, MUS, NSG, and PSY collaborated with an embedded librarian.

Would you like the Gardner-Harvey Library to deliver information literacy resources and skills to your Niihka course(s) to strengthen your students’ course-related research efforts?

Email Beth Tumbleson (tumbleb@muohio.edu) if interested. Preferably before August 8, 2011!

Name:

Course(s):

Description of Research Assignment(s):

This starts a conversation that leads to your embedded librarian designing customized content within your Niihka courses to the extent you designate:

· with a start-up research guide

· assistance during the research project period

· research service throughout the semester

We are prepared to:

· explain the research process in plain English

· identify tools to simplify tasks such as managing time, narrowing topics, identifying search terms, citing sources

· suggest a few relevant research databases from among the hundreds Miami University Libraries offers

· save you time. How? As publishers continue to upgrade their electronic resources’ content and interfaces, librarians stay current by attending webinars and reading the professional literature. Then you may focus on developments in your discipline.

Whether you teach online, hybrid, or traditional courses – lower or upper division courses, consider requesting the embedded librarian service for your students this Fall 2011.

Embedded librarians are already building content in Niihka, creating screencasts, and building subject specific LibGuides for the LMS.

How was the library used in 2009-2010?

As an update to our earlier post on library use through January 2010, here are the full annual stats for several library services. I hope you will find them useful to see how people use the library. How do you compare to the average user of the Gardner-Harvey Library (GHL)?

These stats reflect what's happened this year, running from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. Some stats we keep locally, others we pull from university-wide or OhioLINK-wide systems, and some are provided by database vendors.

Both a Borrower and a Lender Be
- GHL patrons checked out 4,583 books, DVDs, and videos from us (2,262 from our local collection, 1,475 ordered from other MU libraries, and 846 items ordered from OhioLINK - that means that more than half of the items used by campus patrons came from libraries beyond GHL).  We also received 64 articles and 10 books and audiovisual items from libraries worldwide.

- The GHL collection registered 5,925 checkouts (that's the 2,262 items checked out by Middletown patrons above, plus 2,076 items sent to OhioLINK users, 1,418 sent to other MU libraries, and 169 items sent to libraries around the world - that means that more than 60% of the uses of our materials came from libraries beyond GHL).  We also sent 76 periodical articles to libraries worldwide.

- GHL patrons checked out 3,851 reserve items from us (this includes faculty-placed course reserves, textbooks on reserve, laptops, Wii games, and other equipment).

- In addition to the printed or physical materials above, Middletown patrons have downloaded 6,894 e-books from the OhioLINK E-Book Center.

- In terms of building up our collection, Middletown faculty and staff ordered 1,665 items to add to our collection this year.

The Quest for Information
- Middletown patrons have performed 52,931 searches in databases provided to us by Ebsco and those hosted by OhioLINK. Statewide, 52% of database searches are done in Academic Search Complete, and our results are right on that average.

- Middletown patrons downloaded 20,332 full-text articles from the Electronic Journal Center. This is in addition to full-text articles found right within Ebsco or other databases.

- As part of getting to these databases, 54 people visit our web site every day. That's a total of 19,965 visits for the year, by 5,717 unique individuals.

A Place for Work, Study, and Remove from the World
- GHL is open 65 hours per week.

- We average 260 visitors per day, for a total of 75,350 visits this year.

- We regularly schedule the library learning lab (GRD 111) for occasional class sessions. We also had 12 classes meet there weekly during fall semester and 9 met there during this spring. In March 2009 we began scheduling COMPASS placement testing sessions in the lab on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays for incoming Middletown students.

- Our two STAR Lounges have been checked out 338 times this year. STAR Lounge 2 was used weekly by a class for its class meetings in the spring semester.

Helping You Find What You Need
- Inside and outside of the library, we gave library instruction presentations in 80 classes this year, reaching 1435 students.  The courses represented were from 19 different departments.

- Our Blackboard Embedded Librarian program reached students in 43 course sections during the academic year. We have reached over 750 students through the program and helped them with their information needs.

- During calendar year 2009, we did our best to keep track of the questions you asked us at our InfoDesk. Here's what we learned from that tallying:

• You asked us 5245 questions during the year.
  
  
• That averages out to 19.5 questions per day. This is in addition to more routine, but essential, activities that we didn't count, like checking books out and back in.
  
  
• 19% of those questions came by phone, and 2% through instant-messaging, with the rest in-person (we also get a lot of questions in email, but we did not track those).
  
  
• The topics of those questions were fairly evenly divided, with nearly 20% in each of the categories of research (where to look for articles on X, etc.), technology (how to double space in Word, etc.), circulation (when will the book I requested arrive, etc.), and the ever-popular "other" category.
  
  
• 90% of the questions came between 8:00am and 5:00pm.

What don't we know about how the library is used?
- One key part missing from these figures is off-campus use of library resources: all off-campus use is tallied as MU-wide use, so we do not know how many patrons are using databases from home.

 - We don't have stats for all database searches - we're missing uses of Lexis-Nexis and other databases.

 - We haven't surveyed the campus population at large about their use of our resources and their perception of the quality of our service for some time. We are hoping to offer such a survey in the next academic year, but we hope in the meantime you'll let us know what you think about the library, what you need from us, and what materials we should order for the collection.

On Average
Taking these numbers and guesstimating a total Middletown community of 2500 students, faculty and staff members (and including community patrons), here's what can be said about the average person on campus. She:

- visits the library every nine days.
- checks three items out from the library in a year (reserves and local/MU/OhioLINK collection items)
- performs 21 database searches per year.
- accesses the library web site eight times per year.
- views 2.75 e-books each year.
- participates in a library instruction session at least every other year (if she is a student).

Thanks to everyone for making the library and its resources a vital part of your academic lives!

How is the library being used?

We have a lot of statistics available to us on how our patrons (you!) are using the library, and we tend to share them only at the end of the year with a few people (if at all). We thought it would be interesting to you to see some of these stats in the midst of the academic year. How is the library building used? How many database searches happen in a year? How many books and DVDs and whatnot are checked out? Who else is using the library's collections? What is the reach of the library's services? We can't fill in the entire picture with the stats we have, but we can give you some idea on how we are utilized.

These stats reflect what's happened so far this year, running from July 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010. Some stats we keep locally, others we pull from university-wide or OhioLINK-wide systems, and some are provided by database vendors.

Both a Borrower and a Lender Be
- GHL patrons checked out 2,756 books, DVDs, videos from us (1,300 from our local collection, 915 ordered from other MU libraries, and 541 items ordered from OhioLINK - that means that over half of the items used by campus patrons came from libraries beyond GHL).

- The GHL collection registered 3504 checkouts (that's the 1300 items checked out by Middletown patrons above, plus 1,259 items sent to OhioLINK users, 851 sent to other MU libraries, and 94 items sent to libraries around the world - that means that more than 60% of the uses of our materials came from libraries beyond GHL).

- GHL patrons checked out 2,122 course reserve items from us (this includes faculty-placed course reserves, textbooks on reserve, laptops, Wii games, and other equipment).

- In addition to the printed or physical materials above, Middletown patrons have downloaded 3,610 e-books from the OhioLINK E-Book Center.

- In terms of building up our collection, Middletown faculty and staff have ordered 619 items to add to our collection so far this year.

The Quest for Information
- Middletown patrons have performed 29,635 searches in databases provided to us by Ebsco and those hosted by OhioLINK. Statewide, 52% of database searches are done in Academic Search Complete, and our results are right on that average.

- Middletown patrons downloaded 11,757 full-text articles from the Electronic Journal Center. This is in addition to full-text articles found right within Ebsco or other databases.

- As part of getting to these databases, 74 people visit our web site every day. That's a total of 11,445 visits for the year, by 3,397 unique individuals.

A Place for Work, Study, and Remove from the World
- GHL is open 65 hours per week.

- We average 288 visitors per day, for a total of 43,333 vistors this year.

- We regularly schedule the library learning lab (GRD 111) for occasional class sessions. We also had 12 classes meeting in there weekly during fall semester and have 9 meeting in there during this spring.

- Our two STAR Lounges have been checked out 200 times this year, or roughly 1.25 times per day. STAR Lounge 2 is used weekly by a class for its class meetings in this semester.

Helping You Find What You Need
- Inside and outside of the library, we've given library instruction presentations in 51 classes this year, reaching 987 students.

- Our Blackboard Embedded Librarian program reached students in 19 course sections in fall semester and we're working with 21 sections this semester. We expect to reach a total of 700+ students and help them with their information needs.

What don't we know about how the library is used?
- One key part missing from these figures is off-campus use of library resources: all off-campus use is tallied as MU-wide use, so we do not know how many patrons are using databases from home.

- We don't have stats for all database searches - we're missing uses of Lexis-Nexis and other databases.

- We don't know (yet) how many questions we field in a day at our InfoDesk (whether in person or by phone or email or text). We completed a year-long tally of questions in December 2009, but haven't finished analyzing the results yet.

- We haven't surveyed the campus population at large about their use of our resources and their perception of the quality of our service for some time. We are hoping to offer such a survey in the next academic year, but we hope in the meantime you'll let us know what you think about the library, what you need from us, and what materials we should order for the collection.

On Average
Taking these numbers and guessing at a total Middletown community of 2500 students, faculty and staff members, and community patrons, here's what can be said about the average library patron. She:

- visits the library every nine days.
- checks four items out from the library in a year (reserves and local/MU/OhioLINK collection items)
- performs 22 database searches per year.
- accesses the library web site eight times per year.
- views 2.5 e-books each year.
- participates in a library instruction session every other year (if she is a student).

With a little over half a year in, we're interested to see how the rest of the year comes together. Thanks to everyone for making the library and its resources a vital part of your academic lives!