For the Spring 2024 semester, Northwest Vista College librarians continue their mission to connect with Dual credit students. A central component of preparing dual credit students for postsecondary expectations is having library support.
Librarian Angela Bilbe, and our newest NVC librarian dual credit liaison, Rebecca Gonzalez, are visiting every school district and campus that partners with NVC.
The goal is to share the librarian’s expertise, information, and experiences critical to developing best research practices. A majority of students are unfamiliar with academic research and it can be very overwhelming. In person library sessions offer guidance and hands-on experience to students as they move through the various stages of their research. By providing direct in-person instruction, librarians are bringing the “authentic college experience” to them.
While the high school library may meet some of the student’s research needs, the NVC library resources give access to college research materials allowing them to use the widest range of possible sources.
When visiting the high schools the librarians are able to design and deliver fun programs that ensure students are acquiring the knowledge to know both “when” and “why” information is needed. Students learn various information literacy skills – how to search for books and videos, how to utilize library databases, identify peer-reviewed articles, evaluate resources, the importance of crediting the creators, and more. Students play information literacy themed versions of Bingo and Jeopardy. They participate in scavenger hunts. They learn about citations in the “Sugar and Spice and How to Cite Nice” game. The whole goal of all these activities is to make sure students know that research doesn’t have to be scary and that throughout their college journey the library is always there to help!
“When the librarian comes to help with our essay, it’s like we have home field advantage,” said one of the Sotomayor High School Dual Credit students.
