Library Instruction and Research Help: Home

Library research instruction can orient your students not only to library resources but also to the nature and processes of research, critical inquiry, and creative practice. Each instruction session is tailored to the faculty member, course, and assignment. The art librarian can create comprehensive research guides for your classes or even visit your studios during critiques! Examples include:

• Research skills, such as developing a research topic appropriate for the anticipated output and timeframe, brainstorming keywords, and conducting searches using disciplinary sources.
• Source credibility, such as evaluating scholarly and popular forms of art writing.
• Using information responsibly, such as attributing ideas and citing sources in order to avoid plagiarism.
• Engaging with scholarship, such as distinguishing between primary and secondary sources.
• Art history, studio, and design-specific skills, such as understanding the difference between an exhibition catalog and a catalogue raisonné, or locating, analyzing, and integrating high-quality visual material into their research processes and outputs.
• Specialized workshops, such as investigating artists’ books for creative inspiration to editing Wikipedia articles as an alternative to the traditional research paper.
• Studio visits, such as attending critiques, in order to connect students with suggested artists, theories, and scholarship.

To schedule library instruction, please email Courtney Baron at courtney.baron@louisville.edu

If you don’t have time in your class schedule for a library session, consider requiring your students to make research consultations with the art librarian. Students can schedule a one-on-one research appointment for individualized help with topics such as, but not limited to:

• Building a search strategy
• Expanding or narrowing down a research topic
• Navigating art resources such as Art & Architecture Complete

Students can make research appointments online here: https://louisville.libcal.com/appointments/artlibrary