A Microsoft Teams Case Study: Implementing a Collaborative Tool for Reference & Instruction

Abstract

Presented at STEM Librarians South 2020 Virtual Conference.

The University of Texas at Arlington has the largest not-for-profit nursing program in the United States, totaling 24,941 students. Many of these students are online learners who are not learning information literacy and database searching the way their on-campus peers are. To address this gap, librarians at UTA considered alternative methods for reference and instruction.

UTA Libraries chose Microsoft Teams for online instruction for multiple reasons. As a university-approved communication method, Teams replaces a hodgepodge of unapproved tools, thus creating a centralized space for collaborative work. In Teams, users may share files, chat, video conference, and work simultaneously on documents.

During this session, the presenters will highlight what they learned about using Teams in a STEM field for reference and instruction, as well as the technical challenges of being an early adopter in the academic library field. Additionally, the presenters will discuss the pros and cons of using Teams and what best practices were chosen for a librarians’ Teams LibGuide. The presenters will also discuss the synchronous and asynchronous methods for relaying information, including making recordings available to students after the fact. Finally, they will relate how they encouraged student engagement in this new adventure.