Improving Our Reference Data, or How We Killed the Hash Mark

All responsible academic libraries record their reference transactions. It is good practice to know how many patrons have been helped at your service points. For years we have participated in this record keeping with hash marks on paper, painstaking tallying, and manual spreadsheet entry for the purpose of saying, “we helped X patrons during Y month”. But, like most things academic, reference runs on its own calendar and requires more sophisticated tools to truly investigate and evaluate. To generate more useful reference statistics, we created a simple, online tool for recording reference interactions. The tool is accessible anywhere reference is taking place, generating normalized data in a centralized, backed up database. This design allows for more nuanced and granular analysis, in addition to streamlining the reporting process at a later date. Development of the tool has been iterative, soliciting feedback from primary users, including graduate students and librarians. A key part of this process was our decision to build a tool as opposed to purchasing a pre-made one. Our need to better understand our reference staffing needs was key, and a variety of commercial tools tout this ability. However, the barriers to developing such a tool in-house have dramatically lowered, making the creation of web-based tools more common. Similarly, the tool itself uses existing library infrastructure, as it is a simple web form and hooks into an existing database, so infrastructure changes were nil. With a custom-built tool, we have total control over its functionality and reporting. This presentation will discuss the full development and implementation of the new reference statistics tool, along with the data we have collected and the trends we have observed from the first six months of its use

Crossroads for Success: University Mission, Community Partnerships and Information Literacy

Urban-based higher educational institutions often embrace an outreach mission that not only “gives back” to the community supporting the university but also fosters a relationship that may lead to recruiting local talent. This presentation examines what happens when that community engagement mission intersects with the library, and traditional and non-traditional partnerships are formed, offering information literacy a role in the goal of helping high school and middle school students prepare to succeed in college

Transforming Student Assistants to Student Assets

Many libraries, traditionally one of the biggest employers of students on our campuses, have embraced recent trends to expand the roles and voices of student employees in our daily work. Our university is no different, but rather than focusing simply on building job responsibilities, we have adopted a more multi-dimensional approach when it comes to these opportunities. Recognizing that our student employees are diverse in their academic, professional and personal interests, our program is based on identifying their unique talents and providing them with an avenue to develop through meaningful work on library teams and projects. In addition, we are placing special emphasis on their personal leadership growth so that they may demonstrate team leadership, creative thinking, and influencing to future employers. With our student assets as partners, we have the ability to be more responsive to our broader student community needs. During this session, we will be sharing the story of how we developed and implemented our student experiential learning program while engaging attendees in activities to identify opportunities to build programs that include library student employees in meaningful professional experiences

1. The Research and Scholarly Communication Peer Associate Program; 2. Graduate Student Assistants and the Library

PRESENTATION 1 ABSTRACT: The Research & Scholarly Communication Peer Associate Program: Medical Students Take the Lead - Gina Schlesselman-Tarango, Des Moines University. Medical students are hungry for research experience that can help them stand out, but there is often limited opportunity to work alongside faculty. The Des Moines University Library’s RSC Peer Associate Program provides students a paid opportunity to participate in an intensive institute that not only connects and expands upon their coursework, but also provides them with library research and evidence-based medicine training they can list on their resumes. After completing the institute, associates work together to develop, promote, and assess an outreach or educational project meant to support their peers. This presentation will outline the application process, design and implementation of the institute curriculum, communication of the program to the campus community, challenges, and more. We hope to have one or more student presenters share their perspective(s) to give them an opportunity to contribute to the scholarly communication ecosystem firsthand.PRESENTATION 2 ABSTRACT: Graduate Student Assistants and the Library – A Symbiotic Relationship - Tricia Venzke, Wayne State University. At Wayne State University, graduate student assistants play an integral role in the success of the university libraries. GSAs learn about librarianship and gain practical experience that will help in their future careers. In addition, GSAs work with librarians across the organization to craft diverse projects and experiences that cater to their specific areas of expertise while benefiting the larger organization. Examples of GSA projects include creating library resources, helping with marketing initiatives, and assisting with archival and library assessment projects. The temporary nature of this role creates a constantly diversifying group and a rapidly evolving team culture. GSAs can also influence team growth by collaborating with management, helping hire and train new team members, and leading team meetings. This program produces well-rounded librarians that are ready for the challenges that await them. Join two GSAs as we share our experiences working in the WSU libraries