This document summarizes the findings and recommendations from a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant program at the University of Arizona. Over two years, librarians partnered with faculty from various disciplines to develop primary source lessons and materials for undergraduate and graduate courses. They created a primary sources portal and engaged the campus community through workshops and a symposium. The partnerships helped increase faculty and student skills and confidence in searching, analyzing, and teaching with primary sources. Moving forward, the program aims to support additional collaborations, online resources, and workshops.

1. Information Literacy Lightbulbs:
Creating Instructional Resources and
Partnerships for Teaching with
Primary Sources
Mary Feeney
News Research Librarian and Liaison Librarian for
History, Journalism, and Gender & Women’s Studies
The University of Arizona Libraries
mfeeney@arizona.edu

2. Background

3. West Coast Art Co. University of Arizona. United States Tucson Arizona, ca. 1909.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2007661382/

4. Findings:
Course design & planning
Discovery & use of primary
sources
Pedagogy & Practice
Recommendations:
Collections & services
Primary sources in a digital
environment
Collaboration & outreach
“The Real ‘Aha!’ Moments”:
Teaching Undergraduate Students
with Primary Sources

5. Library of Congress
Teaching with Primary Sources
Grant Program

7.  Library of Congress digital
collections
 First year: 5 librarians + 6
disciplinary faculty
 Second year: 4 librarians + 4
disciplinary faculty
 Undergraduate & graduate
courses
“Fostering the ‘Aha!’
Moments of Learning with
Primary Sources through
Librarian-Faculty
Partnerships”

8. Disciplines/areas:
 Education
 English
 Gender & Women’s
Studies
 History
 General Education
 Honors College
 Italian Studies
 Middle East & North African
Studies
 Music

9.  Co-development of primary source sets &
associated teaching materials using LoC digital
primary sources
 Incorporation of sources & teaching materials in UA
 Creation of a TPS Portal on the UA Libraries’ website
 Formation of a UA campus-wide learning community
 Engagement through a Teaching with Primary
Sources symposium

10. Faculty workshop

11.  Round robin about teaching with primary sources
 Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy
 Review of Library of Congress digital collections
 Breakout rooms for faculty-librarian pairs

12. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Very familiar Moderately familiar Not very Familiar
How familiar are you with the content in
the Library of Congress digital
collections of primary sources?
Pre Post

13. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Very confident Moderately
confident
Somewhat
confident
Not very
confident
After this meeting, how confident are
you in searching and browsing for
Library of Congress digital primary
sources?

14. 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Very prepared Moderately
prepared
Somewhat
prepared
Not very
prepared
After this meeting, how prepared do
you feel to develop teaching materials
using
Library of Congress sources?

15.  Tell us about your course for which you’ll co-
develop lessons using Library of Congress digital
primary sources
 What are some ways you’ve used primary sources in
your teaching?
 What are some challenges and successes you’ve had
in engaging students with primary sources?

16. bit.ly/3FBj42g

17. The courses and lesson
plans

19.  Education seminar about biliteracy and multiliteracies (G)
 English seminar about U.S. Southwest literature (G)
 Gender & Women’s Studies course about sports, sex, & society
(UG Gen Ed)
 History course on the U.S. south Since the Civil War (UG)
 Honors course about the U.S. Southwest (UG Gen Ed)
 Intro to music literature (UG)
 Seminar on Gustav Mahler (G)
 History course on life in early modern Europe (UG Gen Ed)
 Honors course about health and human values (UG Gen Ed)
 Italian American folklore (UG Gen Ed)
 Middle East & North African Studies (UG/G)

20. Topaz Times. (Topaz, UT), Feb. 6 1943. From the Japanese-American
Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942-1946, Collection.

21. Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Kaminsky, David J, photographer. Lee Lung
Sing Market, 600 South Meyer Avenue, Tucson, Pima County, AZ. Pima County Tucson
Pima County Tucson Arizona, 1933. https://www.loc.gov/item/az0091/.

22. The San Francisco call. 20 Sept. 1896. Chronicling America:
Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
Julia Obear, messenger girl at the National
Women's i.e. Woman's Party headquarters.,
1922. Photograph.

23. Wells-Barnett, Ida B. Lynch law in Georgia...1899.
https://www.loc.gov/item/91898209/.
Address of Booker T. Washington, principal of the Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee,.. [1895]
https://www.loc.gov/item/90898322/.

24. Dix, George C., Marching from Lowell Ariz. Deportation
of I.W.W.'s. Arizona Bisbee, 1917.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2005688902/.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024827/1917-06-
27/ed-1/seq-1/

26. Abdullah Fréres, photographer. Students, middle school Eyüp Rüşdiyesi / Abdullah Frères,
photographes de S.M.I. le Sultan. Turkey Istanbul, [Between 1880 and 1893] Photograph.
1893] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2001696002/.
Phoenix weekly herald. [volume] (Phoenix, Maricopa County, Ariz.
Territory), 06 Oct. 1898. Chronicling America: Historic American
Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025460/1898-10-06/ed
1/seq-1/.

27. Student reflections

28.  How would you describe your experience
using primary sources?
 What do you think is most useful about
engaging with primary sources?
 Is there anything you found challenging
about using primary sources?
 Do you feel confident being able to find and
use primary sources in your future courses
or research?

30. Faculty learning
community

31. Johnston, Frances Benjamin, photographer. Group of young women reading in library
of normal school, Washington, D.C. Washington D.C, 1899. Photograph.

32. Kitchen at the railway station at Stryj (1915).
https://www.europeana.eu
People await the opening of a soup kitchen, Ukraine (1921).
https://www.europeana.eu

33. Arizona Sun. Chronicling America.
https://
¡Coraje! Historic Mexican and Mexican
American Press. https://
Adahooniłigii. Chronicling America.
https://

34. Students and teachers in training school of Fisk
University, Nashville, Tennessee. [Between 1890 and
1906] https://www.loc.gov/item/94513863/.

35. Children in Race Crossing Finish Line. [Between 1909 and
1923]. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016820394/.

36. TPS Portal

48.  TPS Portal
 TPS Symposium – online April 28
 Possible third year of grant:
 Additional collaborations + lesson plans
 Tutorial
 Workshops
Next steps

49. bit.ly/3m29W05

50. Questions/Discussion
Mary Feeney
The University of Arizona Libraries
mfeeney@arizona.edu