Philosophy

Knowing that our students are and will continue to be active participants in their communities, we work to connect students to the racial, gender, accessibility, and economic justice issues inherent to the production and use of information through our teaching. Because of their big lives and keen intelligence, our students teach us as much about the realities of information issues as we teach them. This critical exchange and co-development of knowledge is at the heart of our study of information in the Seattle Central College Library.

To set them up for greater success, it is our goal that students who complete their degree or certificate at Seattle Central College have had library instruction that maps to these college wide learning outcomes:https://seattlecentral.edu/about/who-we-are/learning-outcomes

1. Think: Analyze, create, and reflect to address and appreciate challenges and opportunities
2. Connect: Apply knowledge and skills to solve problems
3. Continue Learning: Self-evaluate and act to improve knowledge and skills

We achieve the goal of every student receiving library instruction by targeting classes in each program that teaches these college-wide outcomes, and then by designing unique library instruction to meet the needs of the class, the students, and the assignment. The result is library instruction that is deeply connected to students’ lives and goals.

The mode of instruction ranges in each program and can include full credit classes, a series of workshops embedded in a class, canvas modules, individual research instruction appointments, and library pages with unique resources for a particular class.

Practice

Our philosophy builds from the following six threshold concepts which ground our information literacy framework for instruction. The librarian team identified general and specific learning outcomes that map to the framework's six concepts and form the basis of our practice.

Authority Is Constructed and Contextual

Evaluate information sources with openness and skepticism based on the context from which they come and the context in which they will be used.

Students will be able to: 

• Define the value of different types of authority (subject expertise, societal position, special experience, personal and community authority, etc.) in a specific context. 
• Identify indicators of a source’s credibility. 
• Deconstruct traditional systems of granting authority. 

Information Creation as a Process

Acknowledge the significance of how information is created by selecting information types (book, periodical, video, web page, etc.) and formats (print, electronic, audio, etc.) most relevant to an identified information need.

Students will be able to: 

• Distinguish the processes of creating different sources. 
• Explain information creation (or knowledge production) processes of a specific discipline. 
• Assess a source’s creation process in the context of an information need. 
• Compare uses and limitations of static and dynamic sources of information. 

Information Has Value

Recognize and articulate that information has social, cultural, and economic value by crediting sources appropriately and making informed choices about sharing personal information.

Students will be able to: 

• Credit the original ideas of others through attribution. 
• Recognize the value of personal information in order to make appropriate choices about sharing it. 
• Identify rights and responsibilities associated with copyrights, fair use, open access, or public domain in order to use others’ information and manage their own creative work. 
• Recognize systemic, personal, and community barriers to accessing needed information. 

Research as Inquiry

Formulate and pursue questions that reflect intellectual curiosity and flexibility and lead to new lines of possible inquiry.

Students will be able to: 

• Develop a question/topic that is personally meaningful and appropriate to the task. 
• Generate new and/or more complex questions based on information gathered during the research process. 
• Break complex questions into manageable ones in order to limit the scope of investigation. 
• Seek and be open to multiple perspectives. 
• Discover new resources and questions through an iterative research process. 

Scholarship as a Conversation

Take part in scholarly conversations by seeking and attending to relevant, diverse voices and by contributing responses, ideas, and analysis.

Students will be able to: 

• Interpret the ongoing nature of scholarly conversations. 
• Articulate where their voice fits in the conversation on a given topic. 
• Compare and contrast various ongoing conversations on a topic. 
• Detect gaps in a scholarly conversation and the reason why they exist. 
• Bring together diverse voices and perspectives in source material. 
• Identify the possible venues of credible conversations on a given topic. 
• Identify ways to get help in the library. 

Searching as Strategic Exploration

Develop and execute a research strategy that creatively employs search tools and processes most likely to reveal new knowledge or perspectives.

Students will be able to: 

• Articulate information needs based on a topic or problem. 
• Describe and translate information needs into search language appropriate to different search tools. 
• Identify and use search tools appropriate to information needs. 
• Identify creators and producers of information needed. 
• Differentiate types of available information. 
• Select appropriate search tools. 
• Discover useful resources through serendipity. 
• Construct and refine a search using appropriate strategies. 

Welcome!

We look forward to working with you and your students. Library faculty teach credit classes and course-integrated workshops on research and information literacy subjects like privacy, evaluation of sources, search techniques, and the politics of citation. View the full list of information literacy outcomes that library faculty teach at Critical Library Instruction: Philosophy and Practice.

The library faculty’s teaching is integrated and contextualized in students’ real-life experiences and what they are learning in their courses. We can work with you to integrate research and information literacy outcomes into your courses through:

• in-class instruction,
• collaboration on the development of a research assignment,
• research guides,
• Research Help desk,
• and research appointments.

Contact your liaison librarian (by department) or contact us at the Research Help desk to begin the process of scheduling instruction. We love working with faculty quarter to quarter to develop, assess, and revise instruction over time -- so be in touch, even are just wondering what research instruction in your course might look like!

Additional information literacy resources for your teaching:

• Find the library’s modules in Canvas Commons by searching for “Seattle Central College Library” or following the downloadable directions at the bottom of this page.
• Visit our Open Education Resources (OER) page to search for materials to use in your classes, or contact your liaison librarian
• Integrate these short tutorials into your classes to help students with specific research skills

Guidelines to keep in mind:

• Every workshop is a collaboration between us. Not only will we prepare together ahead of the workshop, but even in the class session itself; Students learn best when they see us working together in real time.
• To ensure time for planning, we require one week’s notice for workshops
• If you contact a librarian during quarter breaks, you may not hear back until the new quarter begins (but we will respond if we can and requests will be taken in the order received)
• Librarians are available to teach workshops starting the second week of each quarter
• Call or Email us to make a request

Textbooks and course materials are placed on reserve by instructors and/or library staff. The collection is located behind the circulation desk. For textbook information, contact the bookstore or contact your library liaison for purchasing an item/s to support curriculum.

Reserve items may include:

• textbook
• item from the library collection, (search the catalog)
• faculty-owned resource
• answer key
• solution manuals
• sample student research paper
• film

How to place items on Reserve

If the reserve item isn't in the library catalog, bring item/s to the circulation desk with a completed course reserve request form. Complete one request form for each course. It is best to request an item no later than a week before it's needed.

• Course Reserves Request Form

What to Place on Reserve

Library Books - Library staff will retrieve library materials for you and place them on reserve. Please include author, title, and call number using online form.

Personally Owned Books -We will affix a barcode, reserve labels, and theft detection devices to personal copies provided to us for reserve. Personal materials are returned to you through campus mail unless otherwise indicated. Although we make every effort to account for all materials, the library is not responsible for the loss of, or damage to, personal copies.

Individual Chapters - Chapters or selections from a single book or monograph may be placed on course reserve. Copyright guidelines limit copying to one chapter or not more than 10% of work.

Books and periodicals, DVDs and CDs, photocopies and maps, are the most common materials placed on reserve to support classroom instruction. Library materials will not be held on reserve indefinitely and materials not used in the current quarter will be returned to the stacks.

Online copyright and fair use resources:

• Fair Use Checklist
• Copyright on Campus
• Obtaining Copyright Permissions
• Copyright (topic guide by our library team)

​Select Loan Periods

There are two categories: In-Library and Out of Library use. Available loan periods are 1-day or 3-day, 1-week, and 2-4 hours. Generally, loan periods are chosen by the instructor.

Processing Time

All requests are processed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Reserve requests are usually processed within three days of their submission date. Processing time may take longer during the beginning of the quarter.

Removal of Materials

Instructors need to contact the library about future use of reserve material.

Course Reserves contact information, Email or 206.934.4051

We know that many of our faculty colleagues include a variety of film options (documentaries, biopics, performances, and yes, even feature films) in course curriculum.  And the reality is that libraries are assessed a higher price when purchasing them for our collections.  Your liaison librarians remain committed to supporting you and your students needs for streaming media titles.  Here are some instructions to get you started:

Step 1: Search and browse film titles within our existing streaming subscriptions and rental services: Academic Video Online (AVOn), Films on Demand, Kanopy, and Swank Digital Campus.  We’ve listed all the links, along with a few open access resources (free!) that may be helpful.

Tutorial: How to search SCC library catalog: https://youtu.be/-sAsGITGlmE  Can't find the film you want in any of those collections?

Step 2: Fill out this 2-question Film Request form and we will track it down for you. The caveat: because of our limited budget and the rental model, the frequency and duration of use of your requests will come into play on adding it to the annual rotation of titles.

Requests will be evaluated for several criteria, including supporting curriculum, cost, timeliness, etc. (See full list of Selection Criteria in our Collection Development Policy, p5. https://libguides.seattlecentral.edu/ld.php?content_id=3761698) Priority will go to films that are required for class use and requested in advance of quarter needed.

Requests will go to Alyssa Jocson Porter (faculty librarian & collection development coordinator), who will review request details with your subject librarian. We will be in touch within 48 hours (Mon-Fri, not including breaks between quarters).

Questions? Email Alyssa.JocsonPorter@seattlecolleges.edu