Reference and Instruction Services at
Howard Community College
Elizabeth Soergel; Supervisors: Alesia McManus, Gail Hollander
Information Literacy in the Classroom:
At HCC, instructors can request library
instruction for their courses. These classes can
happen in the library or in the course’s regular
classroom. Some HCC courses have a
required library instruction session, such as the
First Year Experience (FYEX) classes and
Fundamentals
of
Academic
Reading
(ENGL096).
James Clark Jr. Library Building
Information Literacy Session
What Makes a Successful Session
• Develop keywords and related
terms
• Introduce students to new
search strategies
• Familiarize students with library
resources
• Help students perform their own
research
• Students have a topic to research and
have done all pre-work
• Students have an assignment or
project
• Small class sizes (<25 students)
• Attentive professors that work with
library staff to develop course and
assignments
Instruction Classroom in the Library
Reference Services:
Library Reference Desk
Students from all disciplines come to the library or
HCC’s Learning Commons for research assistance.
Questions are taken by staff that are on the service desk
at the time. Most students come looking for help
clarifying research topics, looking for academic sources,
or for assistance with citations.