Using Electronic Course Reserves to Promote Information Literacy of First-Year Students in a University Writing Program

Abstract

The University of Florida is a large research institution with a freshman class of more than seven thousand students out of a total enrollment of about fifty thousand.Although a partnership with the University Writing Program has allowed the Libraries to reach almost four thousand students this past academic year, certain barriers still exist. There are just too many students to reach and the content is too vast to cover in only a single fifty-minute class period.Furthermore, problems encountered while working with students, as well as with their graduate writing instructors who run the classes, have reduced the effectiveness of the current library sessions.To solve these problems, our instruction team created targeted information literacy activities online, so writing instructors could have students complete them outside of class. This article covers some of the challenges in coordinating a first-year information literacyprogram in a large university setting and how electronic course reserves can be used creatively to deliver the desired content.