The California State University system’s definition of student success focuses mainly on degree completion (https://www2.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/student-success). While degree completion is critically important, I think that the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) (https://www.aacu.org/resources/student-success) view of student success with its emphasis on “highly engaged, high-impact educational practices that advance liberal education outcome” is more holistic and also more on target in providing an education that will impact students for life..
As a library dean, I have seen mixed reactions on various campuses as to the role of the library in student success. Where most librarians and library staff are confident/adamant that they have a role in student success, many upper level administrators appear to be unsure at best of what the library really does in terms of student success.
I think the academic library profession sees student success much more in line with the AAUC, namely that success goes beyond degree completion to include a variety of ways that a library has an impact on students. The Association of College and Research Libraries has done significant work in this area (http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2017/05/new-acrl-report-highlights-library-contributions-student-learning-and-success). While this important research focuses on the impact of information literacy instruction, research consultations, etc., I want to look briefly at other things that I believe also contribute to student success.
How then does the academic library contribute to student success?
Making Them Feel Welcome: Many students grow up with little or no library experience. They may or may not have used the public library in their community, and for many, school libraries were unheard of. Students coming to college or university are immediately confronted with libraries that are large and complex and on many university campuses the libraries may appear to be legion in number. Many students suffer from “library anxiety” which is basically "feeling that one’s research skills are inadequate and that those shortcomings should be hidden. In some students it is manifested as an outright fear of libraries and the librarians who work there." (Nunes, Alex (2016-04-13). "Do You Suffer from Library Anxiety?”JSTOR Daily.)
The Library can play a pivotal role in relieving a student’s anxiety about the library and by extension the research process by socializing students to the library and making the library’s spaces, collections, and people non-threatening. This may be through library peer mentors/ambassadors that can help new students navigate the building, help with basic research/reference questions, and when appropriate, introduce students to librarians or other learning professionals for more advanced help.
Students who are first generation, or from a different country where libraries may be different, may feel an extra level of anxiety. Helping students very early in their university career to conquer their library anxiety will help them be more confident in their studies and lead to better learning outcomes. It will also help them understand that libraries and librarians and staff are available in their community libraries, other public university libraries when they leave the university and start their careers.
Space: Students are nomads in terms of their use of and appreciation for space. They move across campus by themselves or in twos or threes and make use of any and all spaces that meet their needs. The need for space to work, study, write, create, eat, nap, or socialize with friends, cannot be underestimated. There has been significant research over the past 10 years or so regarding learning spaces and what has been learned has, in many libraries, led to new spaces, furniture, technologies, and other accouterments that meet student needs. It should be noted that coffee shops like Starbucks and bookstores like Barnes & Noble led the way in rethinking the use of their spaces as socially engaging space as well as quiet contemplative space.
In my 30 plus years of academic libraries, I have paid significant attention to how students use library space. Providing the right type of space not only helps ensure that the library is full but it helps students as they navigate a very busy world where studying, writing, creating is only part of their task for the day. Research also has shown that the aesthetics of the space – color, light, windows, art, etc. also have an impact on student learning. Libraries that don’t provide the type of spaces students need to be productive will find that these students will go elsewhere to places that provide the type of space they need.
Good learning spaces are a critical component of the way that libraries contribute to student learning.
Collections: There has been much written and also much hand wringing about the role of collections in libraries. Collections certainly have changed and students’ use of them have changed due to Google, changes in pedagogy, the availability of information outside of traditional library channels, etc. That said, libraries provide collections that they purchase, license, curate, as well as facilitate access to, in order to provide appropriate materials for student assignments. While there is not a cause and effect from students’ use of collections and student success, there certainly is a high correlation between the use of relevant academic content and faculty satisfaction with student work.
Technology: Students live and work in a technologically rich world. Smartphones, apps, Wi-Fi, Google, social media, etc. all play a daily part of most students’ lives. Libraries are usually a center for campus technology with ubiquitous Wi-Fi, and computer labs. Many libraries also check out laptops, iPads, digital cameras and other equipment for students to use in their assignments and creative projects. Increasingly libraries are providing makerspaces with 3D printers, virtual and augmented reality, as well as large scale visualization studios, along with the necessary expertise to help students incorporate these technologies into their assignments, projects, and portfolios.
Skills: Many students encounter librarians in a class where they are given some basic or perhaps discipline specific instruction designed to help them with finding appropriate information resources for assignments and in developing basic information seeking skills that will help them long-term. If students pay attention to the skills that are taught and capitalize on them they will find that with some practice their ability to find information for assignments will become second nature. This ability to use Google effectively as well as to use relevant library databases and to critical assess and ethically use information are skills that will serve them in every aspect of their future life.
Expertise: Librarians and library staff can have a profound impact on student success for those students who interact with them. People who work in libraries (librarians and staff) are intellectually curious as well as committed to helping students be successful. Students who consult with librarians regarding a research question benefit from years of training as well as discipline specific knowledge but they also can help a student clarify their research needs and effectively narrow a topic to one that will allow a student to be successful. Library staff can also be very helpful in helping students navigate the building, locate materials in the collection, and obtain materials from other libraries. They are also very interested in hearing from students on ways to improve the student experience.
High Impact Practices: Many libraries are developing High Impact Practices (HIPs) that are making a difference for students. This might be in the form of internships, or learning communities, or first year experiences, or developing exhibitions, or any number of other learning practices that the American Association of Colleges and Universities have shown have a positive impact on student success (https://www.aacu.org/resources/high-impact-practices). Typically these high impact practices are provided for library student workers, often in areas of library marketing, exhibits and programming, special collections, and occasionally in more technical areas. We are also seeing HIPs being developed in collaboration with classroom faculty as humanities labs or archival labs for students in the arts and humanities. These intense experiences provide impactful learning that not only enrich the students overall university experience but can affect a student’s career trajectory.
Programs, Exhibits, Art & Culture: If libraries fulfill their function as being intellectual and cultural hubs on their respective campuses, then they must move beyond being just physical and digital warehouses to also to engage students intellectually, culturally, and aesthetically/kinesthetically. The library can and should be the intellectual center of campus; that place on campus where intellectual curiosity runs rampant and students and faculty engage in conversation with each other and with ideas ranging from Plato to astrophysics, race relations to aesthetics, queer theory to economics, presidential politics to poetry. Today, more than ever, library as place plays a critical role in the educational process. Libraries are not mere study halls but laboratories of scholarship, creativity and innovation where people interact with information, ideas, technology, and expertise. One way to encourage this type of interaction is through art, exhibits, and programs that the library sponsors or facilitates.
Measuring the impact of libraries on student success must not be reduced to a simple formula – e.g. two library instruction sessions, 50 books checked out, and 200 articles downloaded. It must also not be simply showing that students who received library instruction have better grades, as important as that may be. If we take such a reductionist approach, it will hamper the library’s ability to truly be a hub of intellectual engagement on campus and in turn in the lives of students. We must take a holistic approach that looks at the total impact of the library on a student’s life – study skills, understanding and use of collections, critical thinking, information literacy skills, technology skills, intellectual engagement through displays and events, mentorship by librarians, library staff, and peer mentors, and friendships with other students that they have met in the library. Faculty as well as student affairs professionals all know that much of what is learned in university is learned outside of the classroom, and the library is one of those places that expands and contributes to the learning experience.
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