Eastern's First Year Program

Council of Connecticut Academic Library Directors, October 2004
New England Library Instruction Group, August 2005
New England Library Association, October 2005

The First Year Program (FYP) Library class is an active learning lesson plan customized
for each FYP cluster. Clusters are learning communities consisting of two General Education
Requirement (GER) classes plus a one credit FYR class.

During the Library class, students receive a brief introduction to finding different formats
of library materials, via the Library web site, or using the Library of Congress Classification
System. Students are divided into five groups, and each group is given a different assignment,
requiring them to find and collect two-four Library items relevant to their cluster (i.e. when we
teach the Art/Music cluster, students are asked to find an Oversized art book and a music CD,
while other clusters may find a video and/or DVD relevant to their two GER classes).

When students return to the User Education Room with their Library materials, each group
shows their peers what they found, how their material may be used, and how/where they found
it. Sample cluster assignments are provided below, along with handouts for the Library of
Congress Classification System and the Top 10 Things Every Freshman Should Know About
the J. Eugene Smith Library.

First Year Program Resources include links to The National Resource Center for The First-Year
Experience and Students in Transition as well as their listservs. “The National Resource Center
for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition has as its mission to build and sustain
a vibrant campus-based and international educational community committed to the success of
first-year college students and all students in transition. We achieve this mission by providing
opportunities for the exchange of practical, theory-based information and ideas through the
convening of conferences, teleconferences, institutes, and workshops; publishing monographs,
a peer-reviewed journal, a newsletter, guides, and books; generating and supporting research
and scholarship; hosting visiting scholars; and administering a web site and electronic listservs."

The link, First-Year Program: Plagiarism & Cheating, leads to an active learning exercise which
may be lead by Peer Mentors, FYP faculty or librarians (by request). Students are led through a
series of discussions which help them understand the implications of plagiarism, cheating and
copyright.

Top 10 Things Every Freshman Should Know About the J. Eugene Smith Library

Library Of Congress Classification System

FYP #1: English & Education*

FYP #2: Business & Sociology*

FYP #3: Chemistry & Poli Sci*

FYP #4: Art & Music*

FYP #5-Economics & Biology*

First Year Program Resources

First-Year Program: Plagiarism & Cheating

Peer Mentor Resources

Contact Information:

E-mail Susan Herzog or Janice Wilson.

Call Susan (x54470) or Janice (x55550)

Page created and maintained by Susan Herzog
J. Eugene Smith Library
Eastern Connecticut State University
Template designed by Lynn Lampert

Last Update: September 29, 2005.

* Adapted from Gradowski G. (1998). Crime and punishment. In Gradowski G., Snavely, L. & Dempsey, P. (Eds.). Designs for active learning: A sourcebook of classroom strategies for information education (p. 10). Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries and Prorak, D. (1998) Focus on Skills: Using the Classification System and Finding Periodicals. In Gradowski G., Snavely, L. & Dempsey, P. (Eds.). Designs for active learning: A sourcebook of classroom strategies for information education (p. 19-22). Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries.