Teaching & Learning

COLA 1500 courses present a great opportunity to introduce first-year students to what an academic library is and how the UVA Library can support them throughout their academic careers. We have several learning outcomes for students in COLA 1500 courses:

After completing a library session with their COLA class, students will be able to:

• Identify and differentiate between library spaces.
• Understand how to find and check out books.
• Navigate the library website including accessing databases.
• Explain ways to get help from the library, including Ask a Librarian and subject liaisons.

If your COLA 1500 class is meeting online, we will adjust these outcomes to fit the online environment; for example, focusing on access to electronic library resources rather than on checking out books in the physical library space.

In-person or synchronous online sessions with T&L librarians are customized for your class and incorporate active learning and critical thinking techniques to address one or more of the learning outcomes above. 

COLA 1500 library sessions usually involve bringing students to the library for a librarian-led session. If that does not work for you or you would like more extensive instruction, T&L staff will work with you to figure out how best to achieve your objectives and our learning outcomes.

Here are a few examples of activities we might do in a COLA 1500 library session:

• Tour of Shannon Library, Clemons Library, and/or Harrison/Small Special Collections Library
• Look up a book in the catalog and find in the stacks
• Four Databases activity to explore available online library resources
• Library website scavenger hunt
• Demonstrations of ways students can get help (subject liaison librarians, Ask A Librarian, etc.)

Below are some sample lesson plans used with past COLA 1500 courses:

There are a number of asynchronous online resources that can introduce students to library resources; the most relevant are listed below. These resources are customizable and we are in the process of developing new resources, so please ask if you don't see anything that might work for your class. You can see more asynchronous learning resources at this link. 

Many of these videos are in the process of being updated.