But We Don't Have an Instructional Designer: Designing online library instruction using ISD techniques

Abstract

Librarians offer a variety of library instruction utilizing multiple formats. Many struggle with the task of transferring instruction to the online environment. Principles of instructional design can be leveraged to effect quality change in the delivery of instruction to make teaching more effective, efficient, and appealing to learners. Although having an instructional designer on the staff of the library can be extremely beneficial in designing library instruction, for many libraries this is not a reality. Libraries can offer quality instruction without hiring an instructional designer. Instructional design is, in and of itself, a systematic way to approach learning. While it is impossible to share the breadth and scope of instructional design in a single paper, it is the goal of this paper to provide some overview of the design process and to point the reader to references and resources that serve to improve the quality of instruction given by librarians.