The purpose of the Libraries’ instruction program is to help students learn information literacy concepts and skills tied to the research process, as reflected in the ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Through instruction from faculty librarians, students gain information literacy knowledge and critical thinking skills that help them succeed in their coursework at West Chester University. Additionally, we hope that they will continue to be knowledgeable and critical information users beyond the college setting. See the documents below for a full description of the program's goals and the full ACRL Framework.
WCU librarians can offer discipline and topic-specific introductions to library research to your classes. Although librarians provide instruction for many writing and speaking (WRT and SPK) courses, we encourage faculty from all disciplines to bring their classes for more specialized or advanced instruction in library resources and services.
Contact your subject specialist librarian directly to schedule a class or book the classroom for a research day. For First Year Writing classes, contact Amy Pajewski. You can view the library's instruction calendar to see if the classroom is free during your desired dates/times.
The FHG Library has two classrooms for providing library instruction. FHG 309 and 409. Both are equipped with displays for projection and hybrid meeting technology.
Room 309 is equipped with traditional seating and 10 desktop computers. Room 409 is equipped with flexible seating to facilitate group work.
We encourage you to ask a librarian to participate in research days.
Librarians can also visit your classroom, present synchronously over Zoom, or create videos for asynchronous learning.
The following guidelines have been established for the use of Library classrooms 309 and 409:
In addition to classroom instruction, we can also create a course-specific research guide to lead your students to the best resources for their research topics. These guides can be embedded into D2L, providing easy access for your students. Check out our Research Guides page to see examples of course guides.
We have created videos to support asynchronous learning on a variety of topics, ranging from how to use library search tools to more conceptual videos about the research process. You can find them on our Tutorials page. We also have a separate page for videos targeted to the First Year Writing program.
If you want a research guide or videos for one or more courses, contact your subject specialist librarian.