Abstract
Methodologies and capstone courses are usually the two required courses in any given curriculum that requires some combination of the research elements: formulation of a question, gathering of materials for the literature review, development of a proposal/plan, collection and analysis of materials, and oral / written presentation. Despite the emphasis on these components, faculty usually do not work closely with their subject librarian as they develop their course syllabus. The librarian, rather, tends to be an afterthought, making a guest appearance on a particular day to provide an overview of the resources available. Such overviews, however, are often tailored to professor requests to demonstrate basic search skills rather than focusing on course-specific methodology- or research-based skill-sets. They have less impact on the students than more in-depth and relevant engagement could.
Such has been our experience—and our frustration—with the History B.A. program at Florida Gulf Coast University. With the considerations outlined above at the forefront of our minds, we have begun to rethink the role a subject librarian can play in our methodology course (HIS 3064 Theories and Methods in History) and in our capstone course (HIS 4936 ProSeminar in History). With this presentation, we aim to outline a) strategies we are using to embed a librarian in the course, b) considerations we are giving to particular outcomes of a methodology versus capstone course, and c) how the role of the librarian can develop and grow with the students from one course to another.