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Instructional Services: Home

Instructional Services

Library Instruction

Faculty and staff may call upon the Library to help them with their instructional endeavors. The Library is here to support the coursework and success of MSU students, faculty, and staff by providing instruction in research and library use. Our primary goal is to foster independent use of library materials and information resources.

Schedule an Instruction Session


Check the Library's Instruction Calendar to confirm whether your request has been scheduled.

Instruction Options -- click on the tabs above for detailed treatments of each

  • Library Orientations and Tours - These sessions are great for any entry-level course. We have a Virtual Tour available but are happy to also offer in-person tours for various groups.
  • Research Instruction Sessions - These sessions are great for higher level courses with course-specific and/or assignment-specific research needs.
  • Online Research Guides (LibGuides) - Collaborate with a librarian in creating a specialized research guide to your courses and assignments.
  • Embedded Library Services - Bring Library services and resources into your Blackboard courses.
  • Library Science and Instructional Media (LSIM) Courses - Learn how to fully utilize the MSU Library and other information resources to answer your research needs.

Learning Technology Lab

Get one-on-one instruction and assistance with instructional technology or ask LTL staff for technology-based instruction for classes and groups. 

Learning Resource Center

Get instruction and assistance with the Learning Resource Center Collection. 

Contact Us

  • For general questions or to schedule group instruction at the Morehead campus, contact Tom Kmetz, Head of Research and Instructional Services, at 606-783-5111.
  • To schedule instruction at a distance, contact Lucinda Ward, Instructional Library for Distance and Online Learning, at (606) 783-5287.

 

Program Overview

The purpose of library research instruction is to develop and strengthen the information literacy of the students, faculty, and staff at Morehead State University and, when appropriate, the community at large.

Our goals are:

  • to provide library users (students, faculty, and staff) with research assistance and training;
  • to assist students in defining their information need (both academic as well as nonacademic) and selecting appropriate resources (both print and electronic) to meet that need;
  • to orient library users to the location of materials within the library;
  • to help library users develop the skills necessary for using various technologies to find information;
  • to increase library users’ familiarity with and use of electronic information sources, including library databases and the Web;
  • to help students learn to critically analyze and evaluate the information they find in print and especially on the Web;
  • to support faculty by developing strategies for incorporating library instruction and use into their assignments; and
  • to foster the understanding that learning is a lifelong endeavor.

What is Information Literacy?

According to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), an information literate individual is one who has grasped the following threshold concepts:

  • Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
  • Information Creation as a Process
  • Information Has Value
  • Research as Inquiry
  • Scholarship as Conversation
  • Searching as Strategic Exploration

- Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)  Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, 2016. 

Library Orientations & Tours

There are several types of Library orientation courses to choose from: First Year Seminar, English 099-200, Speech/CMSP 108 or a Standard Tour.

First Year Seminar

FYS employs a Goose Chase game to accomplish the library facility orientation.

Student Outcomes

As a result of library orientation (FYS), students will:

  • be familiar with the physical layout of the library
  • know where to seek help
  • be more comfortable asking library staff for help
  • know some of the services that are available through the library
  • be able to evaluate information sources to determine purpose, point-of-view, bias, audience, authority, and currency
  • understand the pitfalls of plagiarism, both intentional and unintentional

English 090-200

Student Outcomes

As a result of basic library research instruction, students will:

  • be able to find materials on a particular topic through the catalog using either the basic or combination search screens
  • understand the difference between the online catalog and article databases and when to use each
  • be able to choose appropriate tools to meet an information need
  • know when to use search engines (i.e. Google) and when to use databases
  • understand the difference between types of information (popular vs. scholarly)
  • know how to refine search strategies to focus a results list
  • be able to evaluate information sources to determine purpose, point-of-view, bias, audience, authority, and currency
  • know how to read a citation and where to find citation formatting (i.e., MLA, APA, etc.) information
  • understand that research is a process that requires persistence and dedication

Speech/COMS 108

Student Outcomes

As a result of basic library research instruction (CMSP108), students will:

  • be able to find materials on a particular topic through the catalog using either the basic or combination search screens
  • understand the difference between the online catalog and article databases and when to use each
  • be able to choose appropriate tool(s) to meet an information need
  • know when to use search engines (i.e. Google) and when to use databases
  • understand the difference between types of information (popular vs. scholarly)
  • know how to refine search strategies to focus a results list
  • be familiar with using microfilm formats
  • know how to read a citation and where to find citation formatting (i.e., MLA, APA, etc.) information
  • understand that research is a process that requires persistence and dedication

Standard Tours

Tours can be arranged for any type of group. We offer specialized tours of the Special Collections through the Special Collections department. First Year Seminar and English classes that request tours along with their instruction sessions will receive condensed tours to accommodate for the size of our building, the amount of instruction needed, and the length of the class. If you would like to schedule a full tour of the Camden-Carroll Library, contact Tom Kmetz at 606-783-5111.

Student Outcomes

As a result of a library tour, students will:

  • be familiar with the physical layout of the library
  • know where to seek help
  • be more comfortable asking library staff for help
  • know some of the services that are available through the library

Research Instruction Sessions

Librarians are available to consult with you on a tailored instruction session for your class.

We have several pre-planned modules that we offer to lower level courses.  To see what these are, please visit the tab for Orientations and Tours.

In addition to those pre-planned modules, we can also teach specific databases or resources, or any combination that best suits the needs of your class and your students. We can easily adapt our instruction to meet the needs of your course and assignments. We normally are happy to teach these sessions in our classroom, Library 201, or in your classroom (even if you teach at a Regional Campus). 

 

Schedule an Instruction Session

Online Guides Created Upon Request

Our online resource guides (also called LibGuides or Research Guides) are just one of the many tools we have available to help assist faculty in teaching students. You can consult with a librarian in building a research guide tailored for your courses and assignments. These online guides include appropriate databases to which the library subscribes and may also include pages created for particular courses or particular assignments. Talk to your Library Liaison about the possibility of creating specifically-tailored pages for your courses or research needs.

What is a LibGuide?

Librarians build these research guides using the LibGuide platform. You can find all of our LibGuides at https://research.moreheadstate.edu/.

LibGuide Features

These are some of the great features we can include in LibGuides.

  • Embedded links to specific e-books (that work both on and off campus)
  • Links to specific articles from our online subscriptions (that work both on and off campus) 
  • Embedded videos (that work both on and off campus)
  • Tutorials on whichever citation style the instructor favors.
  • Tutorials on Peer Review, Literature Reviews, Specific Research Methodologies, and any other research-related topic important to the instructor.
  • Embedded search boxes for selected databases (including pre-filtered searches of the library's catalog)
  • Links to items in our catalog showing their shelf location and availability

Example Course Research Guides

Governor's Scholars Guide

HON 200 - The Ancient World

View the full list of Course Guides online. Click By Type at the top, then select Course Guides.

Contact

Consult your Library Liaison.

Embedded Services in Blackboard

Bring the Library directly into your Blackboard classroom environment with Embedded Library Services. You choose how deep our services and resources exist in your course.

Contact

Contact Tom Kmetz at (606) 783-5111 to coordinate Library services in your Blackboard course. You may also contact your department's Librarian Liaison to arrange instruction.

 

Levels 1 - 2

Level One: The MSU Library Button

Every new Blackboard course shell includes the "MSU Library" course menu button, which you can choose to delete.  This button shows you library resources and services specific to your course.  We are making use of a metadata standard called Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) to more carefully intergrate library resources with your Blackboard course shell.
 

Level Two: Course Menu Button to a Specialized Research Guide

Specialized research guides, also called LibGuides, can assist students' research by focusing on the unique topics and resources your research assignments demand. A simple link on your Blackboard course menu can direct students to the specialized LibGuide.  Ask us about options for collaboration on building such a LibGuide for your assignments.
 

Levels 3 - 5

Level Three: Library Tutorials in Course Content

The Library is currently working on new online research tutorials. Check back in the future or contact Sherry Kelley at 606-783-2819 for more details.
 

Level Four: Discussion Board Thread for Questions

If you use your Blackboard discussion board threads for students' questions, a designated research help thread may be just what you need. Simply add one of our Research Services staff members or Librarians to your course as a TA, and we will monitor the discussion thread and answer questions as they arise.
 

Level Five: Full Discussion Board Monitoring

If you have multiple discussion board threads filled with students' questions, you can also add a Librarian to your course as a TA to monitor multiple threads and answer students' research questions as they arise.
 

Levels 6 - 7

Level Six: Live/Recorded Instruction Sessions in Blackboard

If you are interested in bringing in a Librarian to speak directly to your students about research, you can set up a live or prerecorded Blackboard Collaborate session with your Librarian Liaison and/or the Distance Instruction Librarian. We do accommodate other video conferencing tools, if you do not prefer Collaborate.
 

Level Seven: Assignments in Partnership with Librarians

Many in-depth research assignments require multiple steps to create that final product. You can collaborate with a Librarian to develop relevant, foundational assignments to assist students in the research process. You can also add a Librarian to your course as a TA, and we will grade these assignments and provide feedback for students as they progress through the research process.

Library Science and Instructional Media (LSIM) Courses

Librarians teach two for-credit courses.

LSIM 101 Use of Libraries

(2-0-1) Introduction to the resources and services of Camden-Carroll Library including the online catalog, electronic databases, periodical literature, specialized reference sources and the Internet. Emphasis on skills and tools needed for research projects. Designed for college freshmen. Taught on a pass/fail basis (K-credit).

Credits 1

LSIM 201 Living in an Information Society
 

(3-0-3) A practical introduction to how information is created, organized, retrieved and evaluated in both electronic and print environments. Uses a concept-based approach and hands-on exercises to teach information retrieval, critical thinking and lifelong learning skills needed to live in a rapidly changing and technologically sophisticated society.

Credits 3