INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SERVICES

Faculty Resources and Services

Library Instruction

Course-related Library Instruction
A UMUC library instruction session provides students with the confidence and skills to obtain and use quality research resources. UMUC librarians conduct sessions for courses via WebTycho or on-site (in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area).

Online and on-site sessions include:

• An instructional session tailored to meet your course's content needs
• Searching and database selection tips and techniques
• Critical evaluation of resources
• Citation assistance
• Optional: An active learning exercise to provide reinforcement of the materials covered and to help students explore relevant resources with a librarian available to answer questions

To schedule a library instruction session, please complete and submit the instruction request form. Please note that requests be submitted two weeks before the scheduled session. For on-site sessions, consult your academic director before scheduling to determine the availability of space. Online visits usually last for one week. Please see the Faculty Request for Library Instruction Guidelines for more information.

Information Literacy Resources
Assignments can be designed to promote critical thinking and higher order competencies in information literacy. The resources linked below outline UMUC's information literacy requirements and objectives, and offer suggestions for incorporating information literacy into courses.

• UMUC Information Literacy FAQ
• Tutorial for Developing and Evaluating Assignments

Library Workshops for Faculty
Under the auspices of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Information Library Services (ILS) occasionally offers workshops on a variety of topics. Past topics have included advanced database searching, citation, using e-reserves, Turnitin.com plagiarism detection service, e-books and more. Check with the UMUC Center for Teaching and Learning or the ILS homepage for current offerings.

Virtual Library Classroom (VLIB101)
The Virtual Library Classroom (VLIB101) is a WebTycho "classroom" or workspace where students, faculty and staff can practice their research skills with the help of librarians offering tips and guidance. The class is self-paced and librarians check in frequently to answer questions. You can use VLIB101 as a workspace for a librarian to provide instruction supporting a required research assignment. Students will self-roster into VLIB101 and join an instructional session customized to meet their research needs. E-mail us at library@umuc.edu for further details.

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E-Reserves and Other Library Services

E-Reserves
Posting articles and other materials in the WebTycho classroom without the permission of the copyright owner is a violation of copyright laws. The ILS E-Reserves service can acquire copyright clearance and post articles or book chapters directly in your WebTycho or WebTycho-enhanced classroom.

Get It Delivered

• Articles and Book Chapters
  UMUC faculty, students or staff can request articles not available in full-text in a UMUC library database, as well as book chapters and tables of contents to be delivered electronically via the library's DocumentExpress service.
  
  
• Books
  Faculty who do not live near UMUC may request books for delivery. The services available depend on your location. To find out what delivery services that are available to you, please see our guide called Get It Delivered or contact us using the contact options available on our Ask a Librarian page.

Reference and Research Help (Ask a Librarian)
Research help is available online and on-site to UMUC faculty, students and staff. Depending on your location, there are several options for contacting a librarian. Chat and email are available 24/7. Please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help.

• Chat in real-time
• Telephone
• E-mail
• Walk-in or set up an appointment for assistance in locating discipline-specific resources available through the UMUC library

Throughout the semester or term, reference librarians can help your students navigate particular databases and the library catalog for the best possible research materials. You may want to make students aware of this service when you give them a research assignment.

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Academic Integrity, Copyright, Turnitin.com

Copyright in the Classroom
You may be able to legally and ethically use new and innovative materials in your class to enhance your students' learning. The ILS guide linked below offers guidance on copyright issues for faculty and students, including fair use in the classroom. For more information, please see our guide to Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet and on the World Wide Web.

Center for Intellectual Property
The Center for Intellectual Property provides a wealth of information on current copyright issues, as well as tutorials and learning objects, workshops and seminars for a national and international audience, and an intellectual property resource specialist.The UMUC Center for Intellectual Property's Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory (VAIL) is a portal for both faculty and students on citation and how to prevent and detect plagiarism. You can use the VAIL Faculty and Administrator Resources for guides on preventing academic dishonesty and designing assignments, plagiarism alarms and signals, detection tools and methods, and more.

Turnitin.com
ILS provides a subscription to a service called Turnitin.com, which can help you identify plagiarism in your students' assignments. You can use Turnitin.com to review student assignments for plagiarism. You can also allow your students to check their own papers to get a better sense of how to avoid inadvertent plagiarism.

UMUC Effective Writing Center
UMUC's Effective Writing Center offers suggestions for Helping Students Avoid Plagiarism. You may want to refer your students to the Effective Writing Center's tutorial How to Avoid Plagiarism to stress the importance of doing original research and citing text properly.

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