Library Instruction Program

What We Offer

The Library Instruction Program at San Diego State University offers instruction sessions to support student research and critical inquiry. Our interactive and hands-on instruction sessions help students to leverage their existing skills, develop critical thinking and information literacy, and take full advantage of the library’s vast services and print & digital resources.

To request first-year and general instruction, follow the link for your preferred instruction type for a request form. Once submitted, a librarian will contact you to confirm the details.

For specialized and upper division instruction contact a subject specialist or library center directly.

First-Year & General Instruction

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Introduction to Library Research

A hands-on introduction to library services and research
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Customized Library Session

An interactive introduction to library research. We will customize this session to match your research assignment
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Drop-in Research Workshops & Library Tours

Research workshops on a variety of topics that students can attend outside of class time, and tours of the library 

Subject Specialists

Online Learning Librarian Rebecca Nowicki leads a library instructional session on misinformation.

Subject Librarians

Librarians offer research consultations and various modalities of instruction. For more information about what is available, reach out to these librarians directly.

Librarians and staff of Special Collections and University Archives

Special Collections & University Archives

Library faculty in Special Collections offer a variety of instructional experiences including simple "show-and-tell" sessions, basic research orientations, and specialized sessions that incorporate course- or assignment-based resources and activities.

Library Centers

Digital Humanities Librarian Pamella Lach leads an instruction session with a group of students in the DH Center.

Digital Humanities Center

Home of the SDSU's interdisciplinary Digital Humanities Initiative, which takes a critical stance towards digital technology and focuses its work on equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice.

Two students work on a project in the build IT Makerspace.

build IT Makerspace

A student-run makerspace designed to foster creativity and innovation by providing an infrastructure for the DIY learning of technology, build IT assists anyone in their mission of bringing their ideas to life.

Lead time:

To allow for enough time to prepare for the session and ensure a room is available please submit your instruction requests at least two weeks prior to the session. 

Help your students to get the most out of library instruction:

We have found that there are a couple of things that help students to benefit most from a library instruction session:  
  • Students are familiar with the assignment before the session
  • Students have chosen a research topic, or few topics they are exploring  

If you have any questions contact our Instruction Librarian, Suzanne Maguire at [email protected] or 619-594-0193.