Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Homegrown Ingredients: Creating Tools When The Information Literacy Supermarket Fails You, Becky Canovan

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2012

When established sources change formats, switch platforms, or upgrade, they aren’t always user-friendly, especially for inexperienced researchers. After using ill-fitting and frustrating legal research tools for years, librarians and instructors at the University of Dubuque jumped in and created local homegrown tools. Instead of changing an effective assignment to bend to inadequate search tools, the course coordinator and library liaison created and adapted tools to fit the assignment. Capitalizing on the librarian’s research skills, the professor’s subject expertise, and the plethora of free tools, the learning experience students (and professors and librarians) have is now more rewarding.

Rather than lead …