February 1, 2022
In the Classroom with UW Libraries: Arts and Humanities
Picture yourself in class (or a Zoom room), being led through an immersive imagination exercise, using sense memory to explore questions related to the history and context of a particular object or place. Your instructor is an expert in history, humanities, information science and archiving. Your instructor is a UW Librarian!
Image: Librarian Deb Raftus at the Allen Library information desk is part of the Libraries’ arts and humanities teaching team.
While we may typically think of Librarians working behind a reference desk on campus or answering questions online, many UW Librarians are often found outside the Library, teaching in the classroom! Be it virtual or in person, librarians teach full quarter courses in the iSchool as well as dedicated instruction sessions in many other courses across disciplines. UW Librarians teach courses that not only prepare students for careers in information sciences, but also build core competencies around research skills and management that are essential for all students throughout their academic careers and beyond.
In Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) 491 Senior Thesis, arts and humanities librarians teach collaboratively with MLIS graduate student workers to help students build skills and a framework for their capstone projects. Students learn how to use critical research tools like Zotero citation manager, create search strategies like keyword mapping and learn about the many resources available at UW Libraries.
“Students regularly comment that the visual nature of keyword mapping helps them make new connections between concepts, and aids in brainstorming new terms,” says Librarian Deb Raftus.
The UW Librarian arts and humanities teaching team has been working consistently with CHID instructors Annie Dwyer and Nick Barr for several years, building on Librarian Theresa Mudrock‘s long-standing relationship with the department and creative co-teaching experience.
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“Working with the UW Librarians is an exhilarating opportunity for students to experience the intersection of a close-knit, undergraduate-focused department with the resources of a major research institution, says Barr. “In addition to UW’s vast holdings (physical and digital), students discover that the Librarians themselves provide invaluable guidance in navigating the sea of information effectively and in using research tools to further refine their nascent projects. The co-teaching work of our Librarians demonstrates how generative the research process itself can be, not only for students’ individual projects, but also for thinking about how interdisciplinary work contributes to academic and public conversations.”
“The co-teaching work of our Librarians demonstrates how generative the research process itself can be, not only for students’ individual projects, but also for thinking about how interdisciplinary work contributes to academic and public conversations.”
After the in-class workshops, Librarians continue to consult with students in subsequent quarters as they continue their work, culminating in a unique array of interdisciplinary final projects such as fine art compositions, crafted manifestos or public scholarship projects such as podcasts, websites, public health campaigns.
“UW Librarians, including UW Libraries graduate student staff, have gone above and beyond, creating online modules to help students delve deeply into all the libraries have to offer, and further, adapting their teaching adeptly during the Covid-19 pandemic to support students’ researching challenges during this time,” says instructor Annie Dwyer. In course evaluations, students regularly comment on how helpful the library workshop day has been to their research, and often relay that meeting with subject libraries outside of class played a critical role in project “breakthroughs” as well. I feel so lucky to be able to partner with UW librarians in this way.”
…”students regularly comment on how helpful the library workshop day has been to their research, and often relay that meeting with subject libraries outside of class played a critical role in project “breakthroughs” as well. I feel so lucky to be able to partner with UW librarians in this way.”
“They (CHID instructors) are such inspiring, innovative educators who not only get the students excited but also inspire us (the librarians) as well,” says Librarian Elliott Stevens of Dwyer and Barr. “With the benefit of time, we’ve been able to learn from our experience in the same class, adapt our lesson plans, and expand our teaching team to bring different perspectives and opportunities for collaboration within our team; it has been a very positive, mutually beneficial partnership,” says Stevens.
At UW Bothell, Research and Instruction Librarian Dani Rowland teaches Interdisciplinary Inquiry (BIS 300) in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, referenced in the beginning of this story. The first of two teaching sessions focus on archives– exploring different types, diversity of materials and identifying audiences, in support of a quarter-long assignment in which students build a “rapid response collection.” Rowland enjoys employing techniques like sense memory to engage students’ imaginations and to offer different perspectives on what archives can be.
“This is one of my favorite classes to work with because it’s all about asking and developing questions, which I love,” says Rowland. When students share their experiences with archives, they often learn things about their classmates’ personal histories and it helps build classroom community. Students are often surprised to learn about archives’ connections to libraries, having mostly experienced them in other contexts.”
Since March 2020, UW Librarians and staff have taught over 800 instruction sessions, including Libraries sessions for classes, workshops not affiliated with a particular course, and course credit classes.
For more information on how UW Libraries can support your classes now, or in spring quarter, visit Libraries Teaching and Learning Services and UW LibrariesFaculty Guidance.
Faculty and Students – share your story: If you have taken a class from a UW Librarian, or have engaged UW Librarians in helping to teach your class, we would love to hear about your experience and how it benefited your studies and/or teaching! Email us.
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