The University Library provides a range of support options for your online classes, including instruction led by a librarian, teaching materials, and one-on-on research consultations for students. We also offer supplemental teaching materials, including library guides and both text- and video-based tutorials, to support your students' research skills development.

Options for class instruction support include: 

• In-class instruction, with a librarian delivering workshop or custom session to your students during a scheduled class time.

• Creating guides, videos, tutorials, and other online support to introduce research methodologies and tools in your discipline. 

• Obtaining materials for teaching, such as copies of textbooks to help aid access and affordability. 

• Research consultation support for students.

For general library instruction, please visit Teaching, Learning, and Academic Support's Instructional Services page. For advanced, discipline-specific library instruction, please contact your department's subject specialist. 

Librarians can attend one of your scheduled class sessions to provide instruction in research practices, tools, methods, and expectations relevant to your discipline and class assignments.  Library sessions range from teaching core concepts for new students, such as how to find, evaluate, and cite information in your field, to more advanced workshops utilizing specialized collections, tools, or disciplinary methods for accessing research literature. Example topics include:

• Database searching and introducing students to subject-specific databases
• Finding and using primary sources
• Literature reviews
• Evaluating sources
• Citation managers such as Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote

Our instruction sessions can be customized for your specific course. If you don't see your instructional needs listed above, we encourage you to reach out to a librarian to discuss how we can plan an instruction session around your assignments or course content.

Who should you contact to arrange or discuss library instruction? 

• If you require subject-specific library instruction, contact your subject specialist from the list on this site.
• For general education or introductory courses, contact Teaching, Learning, and Academic Support.
• To bring a Savvy Researcher workshop to your class, request an on-demand workshop. Savvy Researcher Workshops cover a broad range of topics related to research and information management, including citation management, tools for collecting and analyzing qualitative data, scoping reviews, Artificial Intelligence, and more. A full list of workshops and descriptions is available for review. 

The Library offers a range of learning materials - both text- and video-based - that introduce students to library resources and help them develop research skills. These resources can be integrated into your course materials or Canvas site to supplement in-class instruction or provide support for asynchronous courses. 

Video Tutorials

Short video tutorials created by the Teaching, Learning, and Academic Support team cover a variety of topics such as searching the catalog, requesting materials, and using databases. You can find all of the video tutorials on MediaSpace. 

Feel free to link these videos in your course materials. Instructions for how to embed videos in your Canvas pages are available in our Library Research Tutorials guide.

Popular Guides & Tools to Share with Students

Here are a few of our most widely used instructional resources:

Your students can receive personalized research support for their class assignments through one-on-one research consultations. Zoom appointments our available. Our services include:  

Students who aren't sure what type of research consultation is best for needs can also contact the Information Desk at reflib@library.illinois.edu or via the Ask a Librarian live online chat service for direction.