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An urgent topic of conversation among government documents librarians today is the need for training, in both the use of federal depository collections and the provision of reference services for these collections. Two trends that have pushed this issue to the forefront in recent years are the proliferation of electronic resources and the fact that, in many institutions, government documents reference services are being integrated into general reference service points. This selective bibliography focuses on recent articles that present a substantially detailed account of training and educational programs for everything from ongoing professional development training for staff to course‐integrated instruction for students, and will serve as a resource for librarians involved in these educational efforts.

The purpose of the paper is to share the types, uses, and students' recommendations about reusable digital learning objects at Northwest Missouri State University, which can be used or adapted by other libraries in both online and on‐ground information literacy instruction environments.

The rationale for incorporation of learning objects, their application, and uses is discussed. Examples of successful applications of learning objects in online and on‐ground instructional classes are provided. Models for developing one's own learning objects are included. A survey and analysis for soliciting students' opinions about the reuse of learning objects is included.

The paper provides suggestions for developing and evaluating learning objects. This includes successful applications of digital learning objects in traditional and online information literacy classes. It shares easy to incorporate learning objects that can be used in tutorials or on‐ground bibliographic sessions and includes a student survey about reuse of learning objects, analysis of survey results, and suggestions for survey improvement.

The survey population was small. The librarians plan to replicate the survey with a larger audience. The survey may be adapted for use by other academic libraries.

The paper provides links to libraries of digital learning objects that instruction librarians can immediately begin linking to and using in tutorials or information literacy sessions.

The paper illustrates that access to a library of learning objects enables use of learning objects and enhances ideas for locally created prototypes. The survey can be easily adapted to other library environments to gather suggestions for reuse of local learning objects.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the awareness of library research services, the top desires for new services and overall satisfaction of undergraduate students to plan outreach and marketing efforts.

Researchers developed a survey which was administered both on an iPad and in paper copies. To gather feedback from a wide-variety of students, surveys were distributed outside campus buildings at four locations.

This study demonstrates the need to survey undergraduate students about their use of research services, to effectively plan outreach and marketing efforts. The differences between high-users’ and low-users’ expectations of the library inform and impact potential outreach and marketing efforts. Reaching both groups of students requires that not only awareness of library services increase but also that the knowledge of the value of the library increases, to convert simple awareness of services into use.

Surveys were distributed at one institution, and results may be skewed based on local demographics.

While surveying undergraduate students is common, little research exists demonstrating how outreach and marketing can be informed by evaluating feedback from high and low-users of library services.

The purpose of this guest editorial is to provide an overview of the LOEX‐of‐the‐West 2008 Conference.

The paper is a review the conference, which was hosted by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and held from June 4‐6 on the UNLV campus.

The conference provided a forum for learning and thinking about gaming as it applies to information literacy instruction and for sharing ideas, techniques and concerns.

The paper gives an overview of the LOEX‐of‐the‐West 2008 Conference, and the issues raised there.

This paper aims to focus on the usefulness of a library version of the popular television show Jeopardy as an active learning technique for library instruction.

The review considers the effectiveness of Library Jeopardy as an active learning technique in one‐shot library instruction.

The benefits arising from the use of Library Jeopardy in the classroom are: it motivates students to actively participate in class and assume more responsibility for learning; it reinforces students' learning of information literacy concepts previously taught, and it adds variety to class sessions by providing a fun environment for instructor and students alike.

The focus on a game such as Library Jeopardy demonstrates that instruction librarians can reap the benefits of using this active learning technique as an additional mode of instruction.

This paper aids the discussion that educational games can be used as an active learning technique in library instruction.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how an academic library at one of the most diverse universities in the country responded to the 2016 election through the newly formed Inclusion and Equity Committee and through student outreach.

This paper details the context of the 2016 election and the role of social justice in librarianship. It offers ideas for how library diversity committees can address professional development, recruitment and retention efforts and cultural humility. It highlights student outreach efforts to support marginalized students, educate communities and promote student activism. Finally, it offers considerations and suggestions for librarians who want to engage in this work.

This paper shows that incorporating social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion requires individuals taking action. If institutions want to focus on any of these issues, they need to formally include them in their mission, vision and values as well as in department goals and individual job descriptions. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas University Libraries fully supports this work, but most of the labor is done by a small number of people. Unsustainable practices can cause employee burnout and turnover resulting in less internal and external efforts to support diversity.

Most of the previous literature focuses either on internal activities, such as professional development and committees, or on student-focused activities, such as outreach events, displays and instruction. This paper is one comprehensive review of both kinds of activities.

To provide a case study focusing on efforts Lied Library has undertaken in collection development and management, space utilization, electronic access, web site revisions, and staff training in government publications.

The construction of and move into Lied Library have coincided with major developments in the production and dissemination of federal, state and local government publications and other information products. Among them is a trend away from print publications and toward “born‐digital”, electronic‐only publications. At the same time, space utilization issues have become even more critical in the new building. This article will explore the ways in which these developments and the new technologies available both within Lied Library and elsewhere are shaping the management and use of the print collections, collection development practices and bibliographic control of government information and public access.

This article highlights activities that have been undertaken over the past two years in Lied Library to make the government information collection more user‐friendly.

The article only highlights activities that have been undertaken at UNLV Libraries regarding government information resources, not on developments and challenges in other parts of the UNLV Libraries.

This article provides a useful case study focusing on one academic library's attempt to make government information resources more accessible to both library staff and users.

This article highlights and identifies Lied Library's experiences in making government information more accessible to both staff and patrons and discusses issues such as storage, evaluating the collection, cataloging, training staff and users, and revising the government information web site. Libraries may be able to use similar techniques in making their government resources more accessible to clientele.

The purpose of this conference report is to provide a perspective of the LOEX‐of‐the‐West (LOTW) biennial conference from a first time attendee.

Reviews the conference from the perspective of a first time attendee and highlights several sessions that especially reflected the conference themes of experimentation and innovation.

The paper finds the LOTW biennial conference to be a valuable resource to all librarians in general; and especially valuable to new librarians.

The paper shows that the conference is of high value for reference and information literacy practitioners.

One of the primary goals of the project was to create a supportive environment for experimentation to enhance classroom effectiveness.

A group of librarians, the enhancement team, scheduled brainstorming sessions with instructors interested in making changes in their classroom approaches. At the brainstorming plans for session objectives, activities, timing, roles and desired outcomes were made for a specific upcoming class. Most participating instructors chose to enhance their classes by trying either an active learning activity or a group work activity that was new to them. A member of the enhancement team attended each of the peer‐planned sessions to take notes and act as an observer, assistant or team teacher, as requested by the instructor. The instructors who participated also filled out brief assessment forms.

Although neither the non‐library faculty nor the students were formally surveyed, the active learning techniques used in the one‐shots received positive feedback. In particular, several teaching faculty told the library instructors at the end of the classes that the immediate hands‐on activities and the group activities aided the students’ comprehension of materials. In addition, a majority of the library instructors noted in their follow‐up surveys that the students were noticeably more engaged in the learning process during these classes.

The model of peer coaching at the planning stage, combined with team teaching, will be used to introduce new staff to teaching in the UNLV Libraries’ instruction department and continuing staff will be encouraged to open their classrooms to colleagues for ongoing professional development and constructive peer evaluation.

This paper seeks to present the findings of a series of experiments in embedding a librarian at a variety of levels into the undergraduate classroom. This study aimed to determine whether different levels of librarian embedment correlated with improvement in undergraduate students' information literacy (IL) skills.

Students from five undergraduate History courses and two undergraduate Women's Studies courses participated in the study. A librarian was embedded in each of the courses, at a variety of levels across courses. All student assignments were graded using a standardized rubric. Students' IL skills were assessed using the research component of the rubric, which measured their ability to locate, retrieve, evaluate, and incorporate sources into their assignments. Students' research and overall scores on their initial problem‐based learning (PBL) assignments and written assignments were compared to their final assignment scores in order to assess improvement over the course of the term.

There was significant improvement in students' scores when a librarian was conspicuously and obviously embedded in the academic classroom. Students' scores showed little improvement when the librarian was embedded but not explicitly identified as a specialist in information literacy, and when the researchers attempted to embed information literacy seamlessly in the classroom.

The research was conducted only in courses in the Humanities.

This study suggests that students' IL skills improve most when IL is identified in the classroom as a specialized subject taught by a highly trained specialist. The methodology used may be useful for others studying the impact of IL instruction.

Although embedding has been studied and reported on in the literature in a variety of contexts, the study of different levels of embedding, quantified using the same rubric is unique.