In collaboration with course instructors, librarians in the Teaching & Learning Department at the UCR Library tailor library instruction sessions to best meet the research and information needs of students for specific courses.

Through library instruction sessions, students are introduced to a variety of information sources, effective strategies for conducting research, and the ethical use of information.

To schedule a library instruction session, please complete our Library Instruction Request form. Experience has shown that students get the most out of a library instructions session when they have a research assignment to work on, so please schedule a date after students have been introduced to their assignment. In addition, for general sessions, we request at least two weeks’ notice before your preferred session date. Requests made less than 14 days before the preferred session date may not be accommodated.

Confirmation of requested dates and times depends on staff and space availability.

Once a date for a session is scheduled and assigned to a librarian, they will reach out to instructors to coordinate and customize a session according to the instructor’s needs; we have found that such collaborations result in effective sessions for students and instructors alike. Teaching and Learning also requires that instructors attend library instruction sessions with their students to increase classroom engagement and ensure that students have clarity about course and assignment expectations.

For sessions using physical collections (including Special Collections and University Archives materials and collections), we require instructors to work with the teaching librarian to agree upon a class agenda at least three weeks ahead of the scheduled instruction session. Please submit requests more than three weeks in advance of the preferred session date to have this in-person or phone meeting.

In-person library instruction sessions may take place in Library classrooms (Rivera 138, 140, or 403; Orbach 122, 240, or G73); they also may be delivered in instructor’s classrooms, either in-person or via Zoom (necessary equipment permitting).

We are able to accommodate a small number of K-12 classes at this time for instruction, please read more details here.

If you have specific questions about your course, please reach out to libteaching@ucr.edu.