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First Year Experience Toolkit

Library Orientations

Ideas for making engaging orientation sessions and incorporating information literacy concepts into basic orientations (or tours).

Mission of orientations/tours:

  • Address library anxiety
  • Increase familiarity with services and staff
  • Give them the “Why?” - Why should they use the library?

Backwards Design

You can use backwards design for orientations and tours as well as for teaching. 

As you plan your orientation session or your tour for first year students, consider these questions:

  • What do you want students to get out of the orientation? 
  • What can you expect them to remember?
    • Facts vs. feelings- people are more likely to remember how they felt about an interaction, orientation, or tour than specific facts like hours or what can be found on which floor

Focus the Group

Just like a regular class session, you'll need to hook the group's attention for an orientation or for a tour.

  • Where do you study?
  • Do you do your best work in the morning or late at night? What about your roommate? Do you know?
  • How long do you typically struggle with something before asking for help?
  • Poll: What would you rather do than ask for help?

What other questions can you think of to focus the group?

Polls for Engagement

Suggested Interactive Polls- use these polls, tailor them, make them your own. These can be inspiration for building interactive engagement into your orientations or tours.

Spread these interactive elements throughout your orientation or tour. Consider offering library swag for participants. 

1) Where do you like to do homework? 

  • Someplace with people around and background noise
  • Someplace mostly quiet
  • Someplace with complete quiet

Use this question to prompt talking about study spaces, quiet floors, etc.

2) What does a (research, public service, reference, instruction- use whatever descriptor your library uses for the professional staff who answer research questions) librarian do?

  • Shush people all day
  • Answer questions and work with students on their library research
  • Check out the books people want to borrow
  • Sit and read all day

Use this question before sharing help students can get in the library. This question could also lead to talking about student workers.

3) What part of the library can you access any time of day? (if not applicable, make this question about your online resources that are available 24/7)

  • No part is available all day
  • The third floor computer lab
  • The basement

Use this question to prompt discussion about any 24 hour space you have. If you have none, talk about how much of your collection and your resources are available online 24/7/365. Even if you do have a 24 hour physical space, this would be a time to talk about online resources too.