Integrating library instruction into the curriculum through freshman symposium Available to Purchase

Structuring a sound freshman‐year experience has become an important retention and orientation tool on many campuses, and there are many different approaches; having a program of instruction for the incoming first‐year class is not unique at top liberal arts universities. But Southwestern University chose in 1985 to begin providing its first‐year students with a common intellectual experience that goes beyond a three‐day or even semester‐long orientation to the university or college life. Southwestern chose rather to address a different scholarly topic each fall semester and to have all first‐year students attend the same lectures, do the same assignments, and break into smaller faculty‐led groups for discussion and class meetings. Library instruction has become an integral part of the university's Freshman Symposium, with library literacy a goal of the program and coordinated library involvement in at least one common assignment each year.