Approaching freshman library one-shots in an unconventional way: Using archival materials to connect students to the university and their major

Abstract

Instructional librarians are commonly asked to provide library instruction to freshman courses without an assignment that directly connects to the instruction. This type of request presents a quandary for librarians who do not think it is an effective way to teach library skills but still want to connect the library to incoming freshmen while building relationships with instructors. This article presents the way in which a social science librarian and a special collections librarian worked to include their library’s unique archival materials within a freshman psychology course in an unconventional way. Thinking about this type of instruction request in a different light provided us an opportunity to creatively use the library’s archival collections to connect psychology students to the rich history of their major and to the local community.