Listening to Students: Customer Journey Mapping at Birmingham City University Library and Learning Resources

Birmingham City University's Library and Learning Resources’ strategic aim is to improve student satisfaction. A key element is the achievement of the Customer Excellence Standard. An important component of the standard is the mapping of services to improve quality. Library and Learning Resources has developed a methodology to map these “customer journeys” with students. The article considers themes in the published literature and provides an overview of a pilot project and its outcomes. The project's aims are evaluated including an assessment of the effectiveness of the mapping methodology in engaging students, the staff resource implications, and the identification of service improvements.     

Student Assistant Training in a Small Academic Library

Abstract

At Valparaiso University's main library, the Christopher Center for Library and Information Resources (formerly the Moellering Library), student employees are an integral part of day-to-day operations. Students work at the reference desk and must be able to handle reference questions. Since the fall 2000 semester, the Reference Services Librarian has been creating a training program for the student assistants, consisting of an initial training period and a series of quizzes combined with review sessions. Student assistants are also indispensable in Instruction Services. These students are charged with library web site and instruction materials' updates. Methods, lessons learned throughout the process, and quiz questions are used to illustrate the development of the training program. Student performance evaluations and feedback are positive.     

The Out Loud Assignment: Articulating Library Contributions to First-year Student Success

As more and more libraries consider GPA and year-to-year retention as relevant and meaningful measures of interest, it is important to consider whether these measures are locally appropriate. Several limitations of broadly applying GPA and first-year retention as measures of student success were recently discovered while completing a large exploratory research project. The project assessed the impact of a library assignment offered to students during their first term on campus at a large public research university. Findings revealed the assignment had a greater impact on regional campus students in contrast to the larger central campus, where changes in admission requirements has created an increasingly high-performing cohort of first-year students. Other indicators which may better locally articulate library contributions to student success are needed.     

Retention of Adult and Traditional Learners: Library Strategies for Student Success

Nontraditional adult learners are often treated as separate and distinct in their needs and desires from more traditionally-aged college students. As retention continues to be a critical issue for colleges and universities, academic units and departments turn their focus to student success. This review article examines strategies that institutions have taken to increase students' self-efficacy and engagement, and compares their usefulness for both nontraditional and traditional learners. These strategies are viewed through the lens of the academic library with suggestions for how distance librarians can support the institution in its retention efforts and the students themselves in their own success.     

Differently Able: A Review of Academic Library Websites for People With Disabilities

ABSTRACT

As an interdisciplinary field, Gerontology shares with History, Literary Criticism, Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology the use of autobiography as a primary research tool. In addition, Gerontology, like Counseling, Social Work and Psychoanalysis, uses autobiography as a counseling technique. We believe that autobiography also has merit in orienting older, non-traditional students, and students in social work related fields, to the library and its resources. In this paper we describe a pilot project based on this theory.     

关于当前高校图书采购工作的思考

对当前高校图书采购工作的形势、任务、存在的问题进行了分析,提出了增加购书经费、加强图书数字化建设、提高图书质量和采购人员素质等建设性意见。     

A Survey of the Value of Library Employment to the Undergraduate Experience

When exploring the overall impact of the academic library on the undergraduate experience library student workers are a unique group to consider. As both direct users and providers of library services to their peers, student workers enable libraries to gain an understanding of the general undergraduate population. The objective of this article is to present the findings of a study of undergraduate students employed at a university research library. A questionnaire distributed to 350 student workers gathered information about who they are and how they engage with their communities. This article will look at the value working in an academic library brings to undergraduates' lives. It will consider whether working in the library promotes student success, builds community, and provides them with valuable opportunities to engage in peer networking.     

A Study of the Variables Influencing Academic Library Staff's Attitudes Toward Marketing

This article aims to present an insight into some of the factors influencing the attitudes of academic library staff in three UK university libraries toward marketing and how these factors could be incorporated into an existing model. An online questionnaire about attitudes to marketing and personality was completed by 54 academic library staff from three UK universities. Four academic library management staff were also selected for in-depth interviews. The results indicated that academic library staff have a positive attitude toward marketing and feel that it is vital in the current environment. The research found that personality factors such as extroversion and openness to change, experience and training influenced marketing attitudes. It also revealed that academic library staff were unclear of the definition of marketing, leading to a possible misunderstanding and mistrust of the terminology. The research discovered a gap in marketing knowledge and understanding that must be addressed for marketing success to be achieved. The findings supported the definition of marketing for individual academic libraries as a prerequisite to strategic marketing planning and the importance of considering the attitudes of staff when implementing marketing strategy.     

The Researcher's Journey: Scholarly Navigation of an Academic Library Web Site

A qualitative study of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library's Web site identified the ways in which students and faculty of the University of Montana used the site for research purposes. This study employed open-ended interview questions and observations to spontaneously capture a user's experience in researching topics in which they specialized. Four thematic recommendations emerged from nine study participants: increase the readability and consistency of the library's Web site, provide research guidance and ease of navigation, offer task-based services that maximize technology, and enable customization. The study led to Web site modifications and a formalized process by which the library will approach subsequent Web site design.     

Employability Skills,The Student Path,and The Role of The Academic Library and Partners

This case study explores the introduction of a university wide employability program by the World of Work Careers Centre (WOWCC) at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The article reports the background against which an employability program was implemented; the justification and growing demand for more emphasis on employability skills in graduates; references the changes in academic libraries and services delivered; and, how these changed enabled WOWCC to work in consultation with the libraries to ensure a seamless and successful mode of delivery.     

Cyborgs in the Academic Library: A Cyberfeminist Approach to Information Literacy Instruction

This article expands on the figure of the cyborg librarian (Yoder 2003), specifically addressing its overtly cyberfeminist intentions. Drawing on critical information literacy and feminist pedagogy, the cyborg is positioned within the discussion of academic library instruction. This article suggests cyberfeminist techniques for encouraging students to navigate complex and diasporic information resources while thinking critically about issues of diversity and inclusion. Also provided are examples of ways in which the cyborg can guide students to use digital technologies to subvert the narratives that are woven throughout dominant information and knowledge paradigms.     

Do-It-Yourself for Course Reserves: A Student-Driven Service in an Academic Library

Texas A&M University Libraries has been hard at work putting the power of course reserves in the hands of its users. Reserves services have traditionally been restrictive, granting only faculty the authority to place items on reserve or allowing students access to items only after they have been checked out. From faculty adding streaming content to their e-reserves to students having hands-on access to their course reserves, this article tells the story of how an academic library system is allowing its patrons to “do-it-themselves.”     

Services for Graduate Students: A Review of Academic Library Web Sites

A library's Web site is well recognized as the gateway to the library for the vast majority of users. Choosing the most user-friendly Web architecture to reflect the many services libraries offer is a complex process, and librarians are still experimenting to find what works best for their users. As part of a redesign of the Oregon State University Libraries’ Web site, entry points for specific user groups were created. One of these user groups was graduate students. The purpose of this study was to explore the ways other academic libraries design their Web sites for particular user groups, specifically graduate students, in order to determine how the Oregon State University Libraries Web site compared to peer institutions. This study analyzed 112 Association of Research Libraries’ Web sites and 26 Oregon academic libraries’ Web sites to determine the availability of resources and services specifically promoted to graduate students. Since graduate students may view the library Web site through the lens of new student, researcher, or instructor, Web sites were also examined to see if sites were created with any or all of these roles in mind. Nearly a quarter of Association of Research Libraries' Web sites that were examined contained a link on the homepage for graduate students, and another 20 percent provided graduate-student information at a lower level in their site hierarchy. A majority of sites had events, subject guides, or course guides for graduate students. Information for graduate students was typically framed in the context of graduate students as researchers. Ideas and examples are given for ways to improve Web site design to better serve this user group. In order to provide improved services to these students, future studies will explore what graduate students need from academic libraries and the ways these students conduct themselves in their various roles of researchers, instructors, and new students.     

人力资源开发与高校图书馆可持续发展研究

针对高校图书馆人力资源存在的问题，从人力资源开发的角度提出高校图书馆可持续发展的建议。     

Academic Library Collaboration in Supporting Students Pre-Induction: The Head Start Project

For higher education institutions in the United Kingdom there is a growing focus on improving student retention, encouraging academic engagement, and easing transition into university life. This article reports on the creation and outcomes of Head Start, a pre-induction online course created to provide students with a level of understanding of academic literacies including information literacy to aid preparation for university study. Information literacy librarians have reported that there has been a marked improvement in the confidence and information literacies of new starters taking the module. The article is of value for others wishing to support students at pre-entry.     

Meeting Evolving Research and Curriculum Needs: A Survey of Interlibrary Loan and OhioLINK Borrowing at an Academic Law Library

The research goal was to study the law faculty's interlibrary loan and OhioLINK borrowing activity to assess current subject gaps in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library's collection. The authors analyzed and collated faculty research interests. The results indicate that additional purchases are required to support international law and health law, two curriculum areas currently under development at Cleveland-Marshall.     

The Relevance of Academic Libraries in the Twenty-First Century

The biggest challenge facing the library profession in the twenty-first century is staying relevant to its users. It is often stated that the Internet and Google have changed librarianship. This challenge, while significant, does not mean that libraries will go away. It is causing us to re-evaluate what we do, how we do it, and what role libraries have in the academy and in our culture at large. This column addresses some of the ways in which academic libraries can stay relevant throughout the twenty-first century.     

Student Deep Participation in Library Work: A Chinese Academic Library's Experience

Student deep participation in library work allows students to actively participate in library operation and become deeply involved in library service and program development. There are usually two levels of deep participation: level I refers to the employment of student assistants in different areas of library routine work, ranging from shelving to IT support; and level II refers to the engagement of students as library partners or collaborators, working with librarians to complete independent project. Sharing Tsinghua University Library's experiences, we provide a holistic view of how the two levels of student deep participation are implemented at an academic library, with a focus on level II. We seek to generate a thorough understanding of the practices and benefits of student deep participation, and encourage academic libraries to create more opportunities to deeply involve students in library work, and to ultimately demonstrate the value and relevance of the library to the campus community.     

Student Employment as a High-Impact Practice in Academic Libraries: A Systematic Review

This study is a systematic literature review of student employment in academic libraries. The review aimed to identify the extent to which academic libraries treat student employment as a High-Impact Practice. Focusing on articles, books, and ACRL conference proceedings published from 1997 to 2017, 216 publications were reviewed. Utilizing the work of George Kuh as a framework, publications were coded so as to identify the characteristics of highly effective educational practices demonstrated in each publication's student employment program. Findings show that student employment programs consistently align with High-Impact Practices in regards to faculty and peer interaction, time, and effort; we also found gaps in the student employment literature regarding professional development and training, mentoring, diversity, and the transferability of work experiences to other contexts. Further research is needed to articulate the impact student employment has on student success.