The purpose of this activity is to inspire students to adopt structured methods when they explore and retrieve information. It is based on lab notebooking methods and on managing and documenting the flow of references in Zotero, a reference management software.

This instructional session coincided with a project comparing data from two cities for an Urban Studies 1000 level (Freshmen) course. The session provided a basic overview of Simply Map as a web-based application, described the data available within and its origins (Census, American Community Survey, etc.), two activities for creating and visualizing the data, and supporting materials for understanding the data including a libguide and deliverable handout.

As people rely more and more on social media to get their news, the filter bubble becomes increasingly problematic. In this workshop, students learn how to evaluate whether a news site is reliable. This group activity takes about 30 minutes and can be used for many different audiences by adjusting the examples used.

Entering students all take MGT101 – Business Management Practice. Creation of a business plan for a unique product or service is the major project for this course. This Library assignment uses a workshop format to give student groups in Management 101 the task of exploring, evaluating, and reviewing a particular resource important in the business plan research process.