Faculty and Librarian Collaboration?

The grand failure of librarian/faculty collaboration in my institution has come to fruition at last! Of late, an English instructor has given out an assignment that requires students to cite at least three critical essays about an author's play in their paper. Of four given plays, my library and its extended resources can only provide information on three of them. Student's come to me day in and out seeking information about the one play for which there is no information, save one article. This is my lot...

If only the instructor had bothered to consult with us on the assignment, we could have avoided this dreadful situation. But alas, after years of repeated attempts to gain access to assignments before hand, we still have nothing. Students come to the library seeking information that cannot be provided for assignments that cannot be completed.

We are not sure what the problem is with faculty not wishing to share their assignments with us before they are given out. Is it that it will indicate their ignorance of what is actually available in the library? Perhaps, but it certainly would save them the trouble of having students say that they cannot find enough sources because there is nothing available!