6 Ways We Can Help Faculty Prepare for Spring Semester

Posted December 4, 2025 in Educational Technology News, Featured News, General Collections News, Instructional Design News, JMU Libraries News, Open Education News

Looking ahead to spring? We’re here to help you start strong. Here are six ways we can help you get ready for next semester:

1. Improve the accessibility of your Canvas courses: We can help you optimize student access to your course with JMU’s digital accessibility goals in mind. Explore our Digital Accessibility (Title II) Support page to get started.

2. Get the research materials you need. Whether you need a scholarly article or a rare manuscript from our collections, we’ve got you covered! You can request circulating library items for pickup or delivery to your campus mailbox. This includes books in storage during the Carrier renovation and materials from Interlibrary Loan. To access our archives, manuscripts, and unique collections, plan a visit to Special Collections or view selected digital collections.

3. Help your students develop essential skills: Invite us into your classroom—online or in person. In addition to instruction sessions on research, information literacy, media production, and technology, we also offer sessions on copyright and intellectual property and data and AI literacy.

4. Make your course materials more affordable: Explore free or low-cost online textbook options or place readings on course reserves.

5. Advance your research: We can consult on avoiding predatory publishers, creating data management plans, increasing the visibility of your work through our open-access institutional repository, and more. Learn more about advancing your research.

6. Fit professional learning into your schedule: From open textbook creation to digital pedagogy and universal design, try one or more of our six self-paced learning opportunities to support your teaching and course development.

Visit our Faculty Services page to learn more about how we can help you gear up for spring!