Soil sciences professor Jane Mt. Pleasant wasn't satisfied with her students' final research project in their first-year writing seminar, and she figured out why: She hadn't taught them all the skills they needed to do it.

"I was short-changing students' information literacy and how to use library resources," she said. "It just seemed like I couldn't do it myself."

Enter Cornell Library's Information Competency Initiative. A weeklong seminar with follow-up meetings throughout the year, the program aims to improve student research skills by helping faculty redesign their courses' research components. Faculty members pair up with specialized librarians and other academic support personnel from CIT and the Center for Teaching Excellence who participate in the classes throughout the semester as partners and often as co-teachers.

Mt. Pleasant signed up for this year's initiative. The seminar, held in Mann Library, June 1-5, officially kicked off the second yearlong institute.

"This is exactly what I need," Mt. Pleasant said. "Now that I've got a librarian colleague, we've got a plan, and I feel like it's possible to introduce better research techniques into my course. ... It can lay a foundation and be a model for how they can interact with the library for their whole careers."

Mt. Pleasant's class will now include an introduction to citation management and annotated bibliographies to help students build resources throughout the semester. Baseema Krkoska, the librarian paired with Mt. Pleasant, will lead students through multiple library sessions.

"Right from the start, I will be there," Krkoska said. "I'll repeatedly go in and give them very specific search strategies, and they'll get to know me as a resource."

Meanwhile, Professor Ronald Hoy heads a committee to redevelop the entire biology curriculum, in its first major overhaul since 1964. The change will affect up to 900 students each year.

"We're trying to train freshmen how research scientists think," Hoy said. "You have access to the whole world's information, so how do you learn to navigate it? Cornell has been forward-looking in this area; this institute proves that."

Pointing to Hoy's work in her introductory remarks to the seminar participants, Anne R. Kenney, the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, noted that information competency can change the scope and design of new curricula, adding that this year's institute "has drawn faculty from across the disciplines."

Funded by the library and the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education its initial year and this year by the library and the Center for Teaching Excellence, the program, which was greatly facilitated this year by Clare van den Blink and her team from Academic Technology Services and User Support, complements President David Skorton's focus on undergraduate education.

"We're trying to break down the dichotomy that it's either teaching or research, and help faculty understand that it's not a trade-off," said David Way, a member of the original planning team that created the initiative. "We've talked about the idea that institute fellows become change agents, and go out and spread the word, and engage with other faculty."

Two other participants in this year's initiative -- Kate McCullough, associate professor in English and the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, and graduate student Shade Gomez, who co-teaches a course on literacy and learning -- said that the emphasis on instructors learning more about information competency will have a significant impact on their teaching.

"It was the most meaningful learning experience I've had in the 10 years I've been here," McCullough said.

Gwen Glazer is a staff writer for Cornell University Library.