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University Libraries Research and Instructional Services

Learn more about the Instructional Services department: our services, policies, and long-term goals and plans.

Introduction

Research & Instructional Services Mission Statement

The University Libraries Research & Instructional Services Department is committed to promoting information literate knowledge practices and dispositions: understanding information and its changing and flexible dynamics, using and interpreting information, data, and scholarship ethically, and creating and disseminating new knowledge. We welcome collaborative opportunities with faculty, instructors, academic departments, and other campus communities in such initiatives.

 

Research & Instructional Services Department Goals

  1. Prepare University of Memphis students to become independent users of information, to think critically about the appropriateness of different types of information sources for a variety of purposes and audiences, and be ethical users and creators of information.
  2. Provide instruction through a variety of formats, from face-to-face instruction to online learning modules to digital learning objects, to ensure that all students have access to foundational information literacy instruction.
  3. Promote instructional services program and seek new instructional relationships through face-to-face and online interactions, through Libraries liaisons with their University departmental counterparts, through orientation sessions for new faculty and graduate assistants, and in cooperation with the Community Engagement Librarian and Marketing, through the University webpage and other venues (University Libraries 2013-2018 Strategic Plan).
  4. Develop, promote, and deliver instructional services and resources to meet changing user needs.

 

Instructional Plan Scope and Purpose

The Instructional Plan guides both individual librarians and the Libraries as a whole in furthering the Libraries’ instructional program. The Instructional Plan:

  1. Provides guidance for Libraries faculty as we expand our understanding of information literacy and incorporate it into our instruction;

  2. Outlines priorities for the instructional program;

  3. Sets standards for Library faculty as teachers;

  4. Establishes guidelines for instructional contributions of individual librarians;

  5. Lists resources for the support and development of library faculty as teachers;

  6. Provides clarity and purpose to the mission and goals of the Instructional Services Department for the University of Memphis as a whole.

 

Supporting Documents

  1. Mission/Vision/Statement of Values
  2. 2013 - 2018 University Libraries Strategic Plan
  3. ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
  4. University of Memphis Strategic Plan/Mission/Values