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Faculty & Staff Library Support: Liaisons

This is a quick guide for new and returning Faculty members to the services and resources offered by the Library

Purpose of Liaison Progam

The purpose of the Liaison Program is to develop collaborative relationships between librarians and instructors in order to provide appropriate services and resources to meet the information needs of the RCCC population.

Embedded Librarian

Embedded Librarian in Blackboard

Bring the Library directly into your Blackboard classroom environment with Embedded Librarians.  You choose how deep our services and resources exist in your course. Contact your Liaison for your subject area to see how we can help!

Level 1: Ask-a-Librarian Widget

Include the Ask-a-Librarian virtual librarian service widget in your course.

Level 2: Specialized Research Guide

Include a link to a Specialized Research Guide, also called LibGuides, that 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.

Level 3: 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 4: 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.

Level 5: 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.

Whom to Contact

Please contact Laurie Robb, Instruction Librarian, at 704-216-3683 or laurie.robb@rccc.edu to coordinate Library services in your Blackboard course.  You may also contact your department's Librarian Liaison to arrange instruction. 

Programs with Outside Accreditation

Creating Effective Research Assignments

The Librarians at Rowan-Cabarrus are ready to help your students. We are available to work with you to create effective research assignments that integrate Library resources into your course content. These assignments can foster critical thinking and promote information literacy for lifelong learning.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Before the new semester starts, make an appointment with a librarian.  We can work with you as you are developing your syllabi and assignments.  We will help you identify appropriate library resources, and let you know if the assignment is feasible given our collection strengths and weaknesses.
  • Request a Library Instruction Session to have a librarian demonstrate to your students how to use the library databases, build search strategies and evaluate sources. Please give us at least one week notice to prepare for your class.
  • Provide copies of your class assignments to us so that we are better prepared to assist your students when they need help.
  • If you limit the number of web sources students can use, please make sure your students understand the differences between web sites located via search engines (such as Google) and the information retrieved from our online library databases. The latter carries the same content, thus the authority, as the journals and books published in print. 
  • Consider putting required reading on reserve to ensure that all students will have access to it.
  • Encourage your students to visit the library early in their research.

Some common problems to avoid:

  • Waiting until a couple of days before the class to ask for a library instruction session. Your librarian may not have adequate time to prepare, and the appropriate resources and computer classroom space may not be available.
  • Asking everyone in the class to work on the same topic.  This may stretch the library resources too thin, especially when printed materials are involved.
  • Requiring students to use resources the library does not own or cannot obtain within a reasonable time frame. Consult a librarian to make sure we have the resources for your assignment.
  • Setting unreasonable requirements for types of sources to be used.  Not all topics are covered in every type of resource.  You can encourage a variety of sources, but be flexible!
  • Bringing an entire class to the library without notifying the librarian.  The library has a limited number of computers available for student use.  To make sure your students have access to the resources and services they need, please contact us in advance so that we can make arrangements for your class.

Liaison Assignments

The purpose of the Liaison Program is to develop collaborative relationships between librarians and instructors in order to provide appropriate services and resources to meet the information needs of the Rowan-Cabarrus population.

 

Rachael Sampson

Laurie Robb

Laura Silva

Kathryn Troyer

Zachary Housel

Lisa Shores

Tim Hunter

Chip Gobble

Collections

Collection Development

The primary goal of collection development is to ensure that information resources most needed to support the college’s instructional, research and service mission are available to the faculty, students and staff at RCCC.  Formats may be print, electronic or media. Increasingly, resources are not physically housed in the library, but are available in electronic format and accessible to college faculty, students and staff anywhere with a computer and Internet access.

Helpful Links

Available below are some helpful links: