Contacting the Faculty Member

The first step in planning your session is to contact the faculty member for whom you will be teaching. Begin by settling the logistics:

• What are preferred and alternate session times?
• Where will it be taught? (Their regular classroom? If so, is it a hands-on room? In one of the libraries? Is there another hands-on classroom available?)
• Will this be a required session for the students?
• How many students are in the class?
• Will the entire session be dedicated to the library?

You'll also want to know what skills your students already possess and in which areas they need instruction. Good communication with the faculty member will help you assess these details. Before speaking with or emailing him or her, it is helpful to create a checklist of questions you have. This checklist might include:

• Do you have a course syllabus online or that you can send me?
• What assignment will your students be working on? Will you send me a copy of it?
• What are the guidelines of that assignment? Is the topic predetermined? If they are able to choose their own topic, will they have chosen it by the time of the session?
• Are your students required to use a certain number and/or type of source (Web, scholarly, 3 articles, 1 book)?
• What are some skills that you hope your students will acquire?
• Have your students had any prior library training? What year are they? (freshman, grad students, etc.)
• Are there specific concepts, resources or databases you would like me to teach?
• Do your students have any special needs (eg., ESL students, visually or hearing impaired students, etc.)?

It is a good idea to email or call the faculty member at least a week before the class. This gives him or her time to reply to you and gives you time to plan the session.

See a Sample Email to a faculty member.