We've done self-guided tours/treasure hunts (seconding the idea of chocolate prizes!), online self-guided tours (using eg Powerpoint or video) with Moodle quizzes afterwards - the self-guiding element can reduce staff time, or at least shift the staff time to the tour preparation in the summer when it tends to be quieter (and having prepared the tour you can use it for as many groups as you need to...) How well it works probably depends on the nature of your student bodies and whether they will participate, whether academic staff are prepared to make it compulsory for them to do the quizzes, etc.

I increasingly feel with inductions that "less is more" - most students probably don't remember, at the very beginning, much more than "there's a library, it's got cool stuff, and there are friendly helpful staff". Any more detail than that and they're overloaded and will have to come back later and ask again anyway - so probably the single most important message we want ours to take away from induction is "ALWAYS ASK FOR HELP"- whether that's in person, on our social media, by email, or via our increasingly-popular live chat. Students will only remember most information at the point they need to know it, which probably isn't when we give it to them! So the other advantage of virtual tours/presentations is that they are always there to be revisited - if you put them on your VLE or Web site then students who've forgotten, missed the session, are international students and didn't grasp it all the first time, etc, can get themselves a recap...

All the best,

Hazel

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Hazel Rothera MA, PCTHE
Academic Development Team Leader & Academic Liaison Librarian, Education

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

OBU Learning & Teaching Fellow

Oxford Brookes University Library

Monday & Friday: Headington Campus, Oxford OX3 0BP, tel: 01865 485072

Tuesday-Thursday: Harcourt Hill Campus, Oxford OX2 9AT, tel: 01865 488220

Rothera, H (2015) Picking up the cool tools: Working with strategic students to get bite-sized information literacy tutorials created, promoted, embedded, remembered and used. Journal of Information Literacy 9(2), 37-61.

On Thu, 7 Mar 2019 at 13:16, Zena Ali <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello again,

We are in the process of re-evaluating how we run library inductions, and would be so grateful to have your input.

We currently run 1 hour sessions in which we cover the basics and do a quiz to orientate the students around the library website. The sessions are very labour-intensive, so one aim is reduce the pressure on staff WHILE giving the students what they need to get started AND without overloading them. Is it possible??

Previously, inductions have taken place in computer rooms away from the library, but we are thinking of bringing them back to the library and potentially doing a short tour with some computer-based element (e.g., instructional/promotional video with quiz).

What wonderful things do you do?

Best wishes,

Zena

Zena Ali | Liaison Librarian (Medicine and Biomedical Sciences)
Information Services
St George’s, University of London
Cranmer Terrace | Tooting | London | SW18 0RE
+44 (0)20 8725 0854 |

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