Using student questions to direct information literacy workshops

Abstract

Purpose – This article aims to discuss an innovative, student‐centered method for engaging students in one‐shot information literacy workshops. By using student‐generated questions to find out what students want to know about the library, the authors examine how the students' questions are used both as an ice breaker activity and as a means to orient the workshop's content. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review discusses various approaches to active learning activities in one‐shot information literacy workshops as well as methods for assessing students' library knowledge prior to workshops. The authors' own case study identifies best practices for implementing the activity. Finally, the authors discuss the types of student questions they collected from students over the course of two semesters. Findings – The activity outlined in this article provides an engaging method for interacting with students during one‐shot information literacy workshops. The activity acts as an effective method for obtaining a basic understanding of students' library knowledge. Analyses of the questions collected by the authors suggest that librarians should tailor their workshop content depending on the time of year in which their workshops take place. Originality/value – The activity described in this article is discussed sparingly in the literature. As such, this article outlines best practices for a student‐centered activity that librarians can add to their information literacy toolkit. This article is valuable to librarians with instruction responsibilities.