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Outstanding Teaching Award: Reza Peigahi

Reza Peigahi exemplifies that librarians no longer fit the stereotype of people who sit at a desk among dusty book shelves answering questions about the Dewey Decimal System.

An instruction librarian, Peigahi was recognized for his classroom expertise with one of Sacramento State’s Outstanding Teaching Awards. He works with students to teach them research skills and information literacy skills. “That’s sort of a jargon term we use in teaching students how to find, evaluate and assess information,” Peigahi says. “And to think critically about that information.”

His instruction usually consists of one-time sessions of about an hour requested by another teacher. Much of the material is general information, covering catalogue systems and basic databases, but Peigahi also gets into specifics, explaining where information can be found for that teacher’s particular course.

Because students are now raised with access to plenty of information on the Internet, they may think they already know how to get around computer databases, but there’s more to doing actual research than typing three words in Google, Peigahi says. “I don’t think they understand the nature of scholarship.”

Students need to be critical consumers of what they find, evaluate the information and determine the author’s expertise in the subject.

Peigahi also guides the students through Sacramento State’s own databases, where students will find some of the best sources of scholarly, verified information. And perusing the library’s data banks is convenient. “They don’t even have to walk into the building,” Peigahi says. “Probably 85 percent of what they need to do they can do from home, in their pajamas.” All it takes is the student’s SacLink account.

Despite the world’s embrace of the computer and rush to the Internet, Peigahi believes there will always be room for university libraries, but they need to more aggressively position themselves as teachers and information educators. Once libraries become more actively involved in the students’ development, they become more important to the university. “They do directly affect retention, student learning and can potentially affect recruitment of both students and faculty members,” Peigahi says.

The award shows that Peigahi is doing his part to increase the role of libraries in delivering a college education. “It was such a privilege,” he says of the award. “It was great to be up on the stage with the other recipients.”