Instruction at Belk Library

Instruction, classes, tours

Library instruction is available for Elon University students, faculty, and staff through course-related sessions, tours, and individual research assistance.

A. Course-related sessions

Course-related sessions focus on information literacy skills valuable to a course or related to a class assignment. Most sessions include lecture and active-learning exercises, and can include time for students to begin their research with librarian assistance. Faculty can schedule a course-related session by emailing their library liaison or by using the instruction session request form. Please contact the library’s Coordinator of Teaching and Learning (jgoforth@elon.edu) with any questions.

B. Individual Research Assistance

Librarians offer individual research assistance for faculty, staff, and students. Schedule a research consultation by contacting one of the subject liaison librarians.

Library instruction team

Librarian Email Phone
Jesse Akman jakman2 336.278.6584
Shaunta Alvarez salvarez 336.278.6576
Vicki Blocker vblocker 336.278.6592
Randall Bowman rbowman 336.278.6571
Ellen Cline ecline5 336.278.6586
Jennie Goforth jgoforth 336.278.6573
Emma Powell epowell14 336.278.6681
Ben Spanier bspanier 336.278.6581
Jasmine Spitler jspitler2 336.278.5015
Shannon Tennant stennant 336.278.6585
Alison Van Norman avannorman 336.278.6587

Instruction program mission/objectives

Mission

The Belk Library Instruction Program supports the education mission of Elon University by fostering information literacy skills. Library instruction teaches students to conduct effective research, with an emphasis on how to access, evaluate, and use information.

Objectives

Through library instruction, Elon University students should be able to:

  1. Access and use information in a variety of formats.
    • Know how to use the online catalog, indexes, databases, Internet, and the reference collection.
    • Know how to use Journal Finder to determine a periodical’s availability.
    • Know how to request books and articles through interlibrary loan.
  2. Focus or refine a research question and create search strategies.
    • Know how to develop a research question.
    • Be familiar with the concepts of keyword searching and Boolean logic.
    • Be able to alter research topics and search strategies if necessary.
    • Recognize librarians as a resource in the research and information seeking process.
  3. Recognize discipline specific information structures and scholarly communication.
    • Use the online, print, and multimedia resources appropriate to their academic discipline.
    • Be aware of the network of scholarly communication within their discipline.
    • Locate and recognize the citation style used for a particular discipline.
    • Understand the importance of using bibliographies to further research.
  4. Discriminate among different kinds of information and critically assess information quality and relevance.
    • Understand the difference between information found in books, periodicals, and on the Internet.
    • Be able to evaluate information based on criteria such as authority, objectivity, and currency, regardless of source.
    • Understand the peer-review process involved in scholarly publication.