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Ideas for making engaging orientation sessions and incorporating information literacy concepts into basic orientations (or tours).
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:
Just like a regular class session, you'll need to hook the group's attention for an orientation or for a tour.
What other questions can you think of to focus the group?
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?
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?
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)
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.