IntroductionSince 2011, medical librarians in our College have developed resources and services to facilitate active student learning of the scholarly research process. The College’s promotion of active learning instruction and new academic programs have provided opportunities for greatly increased library participation in the curriculum, and in 2017, the librarians began to formally evaluate their active-learning initiatives. ObjectiveEvaluating library instructional sessions provides feedback for program improvement and evidence of the medical library’s contribution to the curriculum goals of the College. We hope to answer the question “Will using an interactive teaching approach to library instruction lead to high levels of participant self-efficacy for initiating and conducting their own clinical and scholarly research?“ MethodsThe medical librarians began our formal evaluation process with undergraduate Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences (IMS) students in selected spring 2018 classes, and have continued with IMS and physician assistant students. Class learning objectives, such as formulating a research question, choosing appropriate databases, and using citation management tools, were correlated to class activities, which were designated as either passive or active. After library instructional sessions, students have had the opportunity to complete a brief online questionnaire. Each 10-point survey item states “Based on what you learned or recalled in this session, please rate your degree of confidence in doing the following.” ResultsPreliminary data review indicates a moderate to high level of student confidence in conducting various aspects of the research process after the library session. An in-depth analysis may also provide insight into active versus passive learning strategy effectiveness.
