1. First Year Students and Beyond
INTRODUCING STUDENTS TO LIBRARY RESOURCES THROUGH GOOGLE BOOKS AND SCHOLAR
DIANE FULKERSON
UNIVERSITY OF South Florida Polytechnic
Florida Library Association
April 18, 2012

2. Why use Google Scholar/Books?
Students start research at Google
Difficulty searching databases
Develop search terms
Easy to use interface
Better sources for projects
Help students to narrow focus of topic
Allows them to identify keywords/concepts and can search using natural language
Search interface is easy for them to use because it is simple with terms they understand
Overall goal is to move them beyond the basic search results of Google
Provides them the opportunity to discover more than Wikipedia articles
Some students currently use Google Scholar/Books but unaware of how to narrow search results or access articles located in USF databases.

3. USF Poly and Library Instruction
Increased number of instruction sessions
Added Google class to Open Door Sessions
Created handout/tutorial for Google Scholar
Incorporated Google Scholar/Books into instruction
Google Scholar/USF Database connection
Off-campus access
This academic year we increased our instruction sessions through outreach to faculty
We offer drop-in instruction sessions each semester and this semester we added one on Google Scholar/Books
Handout highlights how to find results in Google Scholar/Books
Include Google Scholar/Books information in each instruction session
Show students how to access articles in USF library databases on or off-campus

4. Google Books and Scholar Class
How to navigate library homepage
Set up scholar preferences
Default to USF Library
Google Scholar/Books exercise
Search strategies for Google Books and Scholar
Finding full text articles
Books at USF vs. another library
In the 50 minute session we covered the topics listed here
Exercise designed to help them find articles and books at USFP Library through Google Scholar and Books
Provided them with opportunity to learn basic search strategies
At the start of each class students appeared skeptical that we were encouraging them to use Google
Provided students with an opportunity to move beyond basic Google search
Introduced students to interlibrary loan and UBorrow or at a library near their home
Effectively using preview option for a book
Books they can download—no longer copyright protected

5. Connecting it to Information Literacy?
Beyond basic Google search screen
Non-librarian search interface
Develop better search strategies
Find scholarly materials
Better search results make better choices
Connects to course objective of identifying and utilizing academic resources
Easier search interface—students understood how and where to enter search terms—terminology they could understand
Allowed us to show them how to find additional keywords or subject terms once they found a database article
Easier search interface led to better search results—students were not frustrated by lack of results
Using Google Books/Scholar allowed them to make better choices for materials because they moved beyond the basic website they normally would select

6. Outcomes Colleagues include Google in instruction
Feedback from students and instructors
Used something familiar to students
Provided easy access to library materials
Used “one minute” paper for assessment
Building on this year’s results
The feedback from students and faculty so far has been positive
My colleagues include a segment on Google Scholar in their instruction sessions
All the instructors who participated said they learned new search techniques and strategies
Even if students could not remember how to find library homepage, link to databases or the catalog they would remember how to access Google Scholar or books
Handout provided them with an overview of how to search
Build on this year’s results through outreach with faculty and student advisement
Use comments from assessment to improve the course and learning outcomes

7. Additional Resources
National Resource Center First Year Experience and Students In Transition:
FYE: Connecting First-Year College Students with the Library:
Herrera, Gail. (2011). Google Scholar Users and User Behaviors: An Exploratory Study. College & Research Libraries, 72(4)
Howland, Jared L., Wright, Thomas C., Boughan, Rebecca A. and Roberts, Brian C. (2009). How Scholarly is Google Scholar? A Comparison to Library Databases. College & Research Libraries, 70(3)

8. Questions and Comments
Final Thoughts
Questions and Comments
Contact information