Submitted by Doreen Bradley
Health Sciences Libraries, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
As the information environment has become vastly more complex, faculty are challenged with integrating the best knowledge resources into their curriculum as well as keeping up with students who are using newer technologies. As a result, librarians have become a valuable resource for faculty. We provide them with instruction on new and evolving information resources to help expand their knowledge of these resources and to integrate them into their teaching. There was a general feeling among our staff that we were teaching more for faculty, and that our expertise is increasingly being recognized. It was not until we quantified what we were teaching that we realized how much instruction we were providing for faculty.
Librarians are teaching not only an increasing number of sessions for faculty but also in more diverse content and format. Recent sessions for faculty include: Information Resources for M1 & M2 Faculty Group Leaders (focusing on psychosocial resources), a Medical Education Scholars Program Lecture covering how to start a journal club and keep current with the literature, technology classes and specialized searching workshops through a week-long campus series called "Enriching Scholarship," librarian lectures in many departmental grand rounds, plus sponsoring a series on Intellectual Property which combined library and guest presenters. We've also provided countless small group and individual consultations.
Response to library sessions has been extremely positive. We've received comments such as "WOW!!! I never knew such technology existed and I am so excited!!!," "It was really nice to have someone help modify what I am already doing to improve my productivity," and "Your conference was a valuable update to reference resources. I guess that many of us are stunned regarding the huge volume of new information bombarding us every day." Much of our increasing demand results from word of mouth, and from faculty who may be in one session and then request a similar session in his or her own department. Support from our medical school has also been invaluable.
In the near future, we plan to offer future sessions for M1 & M2 Faculty Group Leaders, create online learning opportunities, including podcasts, to reach more faculty, increase participation in grand rounds, and offer workshops on topics of interest to faculty, such as intellectual property, scholarly publishing, keeping current with the literature, Web 2.0 technologies.