1. Working with what you’ve got: using limited resources and staff
to build an information literacy program
Robyn Patterson, Nazarbayev University Library, rpatterson@nu.edu.kz
First opened to students in Fall 2010 in Astana, Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev University
is a new university modeled on the British and American systems of higher
education. The library has been providing information literacy training since opening
at that time but only formally organized its Reference Department in Fall 2012.
At the beginning of the Fall 2012 semester, the Reference Department, in charge of
information literacy for the Library, was tasked by the library director to provide
increased information literacy instruction for users. This meant sessions in addition to
regularly held orientation and basic research sessions for new students and more
advanced subject-specific sessions held for upper-level students. The department
decided to focus on once-weekly instruction sessions on specific topics for small
groups. With only 8 computers on the third floor where the Reference Department is
centered, it was decided to keep these sessions smaller, more personal, and more
user-focused. In this way each session could be tailored to the specific needs of
participants, whether students, faculty, or university and partner institution
researchers. Instructors would focus on bridging the gap between formalized, class-
room learning and one-on-one consultations.
Two main objectives were identified for these sessions. The first was to improve the
basic and advanced research skills of students and teaching assistants. The second
was to promote the awareness and use of databases, while reaching out to patrons
who were underutilizing library resources. The department scheduled nine sessions
for the Fall Semester, including a mixture of general research skills classes and
database-focused classes, relatively evenly divided between the two objectives.
This presentation will focus on experiences working with a multi-lingual audience,
marketing library services to a new group of users, and the decision-making process
for the types of sessions offered.