Active Learning Techniques for Librarians

• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• About the authors
• Chapter 1: What is active learning?
• Introduction
• What is active learning?
• Importance of active learning in library teaching
• Chapter 2: Active learning tips
• Starting and finishing the session
• In the middle
• The model literature review
• Mobile phones and other gadgets
• Web 2.0
• Inductions
• Chapter 3: Lesson plans
• Citation searching and impact factors
• Current awareness made easy
• Evaluating web resources
• The information cycle
• Referencing and plagiarism
• Search smarter, search faster
• Types of information resources
• What can the library do for you?
• Index

A practical work outlining the theory and practice of using active learning techniques in library settings. It explains the theory of active learning and argues for its importance in our teaching and is illustrated using a large number of examples of techniques that can be easily transferred and used in teaching library and information skills to a range of learners within all library sectors. These practical examples recognise that for most of us involved in teaching library and information skills the one off session is the norm, so we need techniques that allow us to quickly grab and hold our learners’ attention. The examples are equally useful to those new to teaching, who wish to bring active learning into their sessions for the first time, as to those more experienced who want to refresh their teaching with some new ideas and to carry on their development as librarian teachers.

• Outlines the argument for more active learning techniques in our sessions
• Explains the theory of active learning
• Includes examples that can be used in teaching

Practitioners and students of Library and Information Science