Information literacy and mathematics education students

Abstract

Prior to 2016 library instruction for mathematics courses was nonexistent at Shippensburg University. The hiring of the STEM librarian in August 2016 led to an initiative to engage the mathematics faculty and students in using resources and services offered by the Ezra Lehman Memorial Library. This outreach resulted in two sessions of the Fundamentals of Mathematics course coming into the library for instruction in the fall semester. These first sessions found that detailed instruction in how to search and identify articles related to key concepts from the desired journal type was particularly useful to the students; however, these sessions also demonstrated a greater need for citation-focused instruction. Adapting the instruction session spring 2017toinclude a more in-depth discussion about the necessityof citations showed a greater understanding of the concept by students in the course. Ultimately, this successful instruction improved the course instructor’s perception of the student work and led to the scheduling of future library instruction sessions by other members of the mathematics department.

Keywords

• information literacy for mathematics
• mathematics education
• library instruction
• STEM