“The Real ‘Aha!’ Moments”: Teaching Undergraduate Students with Primary Sources

Abstract

In 2019-2020, the University of Arizona Libraries (UAL) participated in the Ithaka S+R “Teaching with Primary Sources” research project, along with twenty-five other public and private research universities and liberal arts colleges in the United States and the United Kingdom. Coordinated by Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit research and consulting organization that helps the academic, cultural, and publishing communities navigate change, the study investigated instructors’ experiences and challenges when teaching undergraduate students with primary sources. A local team of UAL librarians and archivists conducted interviews with instructors in the humanities and social sciences who teach undergraduate students with primary sources, and produced recommendations for the development of library resources and services to support instruction with primary sources.