Faculty Guide to the Baylor Libraries

Experiential Learning specifically emphasizes learning, teaching, and research opportunities in the areas of making, digital media, and academic audiovisual production. Each of these services is led by qualified staff, focused on helping faculty bring their research and teaching ideas to life and providing transformative learning opportunities for our community. Examples of the services we provide include:

• Media and Making instruction to support the library's Literacies Initiative, including on-demand and prepared learning opportunities.
• Development of creative assignments incorporating making and digital media, including selecting learning objectives, identifying competencies, developing rubrics and assessment strategies, and instructional design.
• Orientations and workshops.
• Project consultation, coaching, and review.
• Audiovisual and technology equipment loans.
• Studio spaces to enable media content creation, including video studios, audio studios, lightboard, and green screen.
• Digital fabrication and a range of shop tools for making.
• VR/AR exploration.
• Academic audiovisual production, including course video content, course trailers, faculty bios, and other select creative projects.

Learn more about our services at libguides.baylor.edu/experiential-learning-commons

The mission of the Learning Design Team is to cultivate a culture of innovation and curiosity through meaningful engagements with Baylor faculty that in the end will “…educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community – Baylor Mission Statement.” The Learning Design team strives to achieve this mission by: 

• Advocating for and applying modern and creative technology enhanced learning strategies across multiple learning environments.
• Providing exceptional service to the Baylor community through the caring power of “Wow.”
  • Getting to “Wow!” – John Nottingham – TEDxAsburyPark
  • The impact of “Wow!” – Bob Bouwer – TEDxCountyLineRoad
• Creatively connecting and collaborating with any and all members of the Baylor community.
• Exploring the literature to ensure that guidance is grounded in research and best practices.
• Pursuing our own professional development to keep abreast of modern teaching strategies and technologies.
• Delivering best in practice workshops, course designs, templates and eLearning experiences.
• Offering consultative course reviews and feedback as part of an iterative process of course development

Work through the Getting Started for Faculty Guide!

Leganto Reading Lists in Canvas

Baylor University Libraries supports Leganto, a system that enables instructors to build reading lists directly in their Canvas courses. Leganto allows instructors to add resources from the library collection such as articles, eBooks, print books, and more directly to their reading lists and submit them to the library for processing. Once a reading list has been processed and published, students can access their course readings directly from within the learning management system. For more information on setting up Leganto, see these step-by-step instructions or contact Jordan Popp (jordan_popp@baylor.edu).

Our priority is to provide reserve materials online, providing the greatest level of access for all students. Online reserves can include:

• digital content (e-journal articles, e-books, e-book chapters, streaming video, streaming music, etc.) to which the Baylor Libraries have subscribed access
• linking to openly accessible content, or
• linking to copied materials (within the fair use exception for copyright-protected materials).

Physical Reserves

Physical materials from circulating library collections and personal materials from instructors may be placed on reserve as a last resort if digital reserves are not possible. Physical reserves are limited to a maximum of 25 print items per course. To place a request for physical reserves, add the print titles to your Leganto reading list and submit it to the library for processing. For questions or more information, please contact Reserves Coordinator, Jordan Popp (reserves@baylor.edu 254.710.6785).

For recorded media (audio and video) or musical scores, please contact Jamie Duerksen (jamie_duerksen@baylor.edu or 254.710.6733).

Instructors may place personal materials on reserve such as books, videos, or audio recordings. Library personnel will label and barcode all personal materials. Although library personnel will take all reasonable precautions, personal materials on reserve are at some risk. Be sure your name is on your materials, and please do not place valuable or irreplaceable works on reserve.

Learn more about course reserves!

Baylor’s special collections support faculty research and teaching across disciplines with rare and archival materials. Key collections include:

• The Texas Collection & University Archives – Extensive resources on Texas history and Baylor’s institutional archives.

• Armstrong Browning Library – World’s largest collection of works by Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and related 19th-century materials.

• Arts & Special Collections Research Center – Rare books, music scores, manuscripts, and visual arts collections.

• Keston Center for Religion, Politics & Society – Archives focused on religious persecution and dissent in Communist and post-Communist countries.

• Poage Legislative Library – Collections related to politics, public policy, and congressional history, including papers of several U.S. legislators.

• Baylor Institute for Oral History – Support for faculty conducting oral history research, including training and grants.

• Special Collections Teaching Fellowships – Summer stipends to help faculty integrate rare materials into courses.

Faculty are encouraged to collaborate with the libraries to incorporate these materials into their curriculum or research.

Learn more: Research Libraries, Institutes and Centers

The Baylor Libraries Book Arts and Letterpress Lab was created in response to the university’s focus on transformative educational experiences of Baylor students. The vision for the lab is to

• Support the integration of literacies and active learning experiences in the technologies of communication, printing, and book history;
• Serve as a working model of historical printing practices that ushered in a pivotal chapter in the creation, documentation, and dissemination of knowledge and human expression;
• Provide a space where users can experiment and create their own expressions rooted in the rich heritage of the book and printed communication;
• Serve as an experiential studio in which to learn about the history and craft of book arts and letterpress printing; and 
• Inspire learning and creativity for the entire campus and students of all disciplines.

Location

The Book Arts & Letterpress Lab is located on the first floor of Jesse H. Jones Library, in rooms 105 and 107. Look for the entrance just to the left of the main entry to Jones, just beyond the stairs.

Curricular Integration

The lab partners with instructors across all disciplines to create engaging, haptic learning experiences in support of course curricula. For more information on planning a collaboration, visit: https://libguides.baylor.edu/letterpresslab

Open Hours

Our open hours are for all Baylor community members to come and learn about our space, work on projects, and be creative. We have implemented a passport system to help us keep track of progress, as we hope that each time you visit, you will learn something new. These hours are subject to change, as occasional class sessions and workshops will take priority.

Learn more about the Baylor Book Arts & Letterpress Lab!