By Beth Black and Amy Pajewski

I met Amy at the Students in Transitions Conference in October 2018 when I attended a session she led on giving student employees in the library leadership roles. Similar to how we build upon the lessons of the FYE to continue students’ momentum in their second year, elevating student employment beyond the basics is a great way to increase engagement and cultivate valuable skills. In this two-part interview, we discuss her library's leadership program and the challenges she's overcome in transitioning the student employee experience.

Credo recently sponsored a Charleston Conference webinar, “Teach the Teachers: Instilling Instructional Design Principles in Faculty.” The webinar, broadcast live on July 24, featured Zachariah Claybaugh (above left), OER &  Digital Learning Librarian at Sacred Heart University, Ula (Urszula) Lechtenberg (above center), Instructional Design Librarian at the same institution, and Henrietta Verma (above right), a librarian who is Credo’s Customer Success Manager.

This blog series provides easy, free access to open web resources and content that support affordable learning opportunities. A wide variety of resources published by government entities, think tanks, and more are curated to demonstrate what may be relatively unknown or ‘buried’ in the internet. Resources reflect issues happening today for the use of librarians, students, and all audiences.

Sometimes the best program ideas come from a spark in a casual conversation. Recently, a colleague made an offhand suggestion that we offer adulting workshops because her student staff stressed about responsibilities like filing taxes and understanding their credit reports. At first we laughed, then we realized there were a number of “adulting” responsibilities that students might find more manageable if they understood how information literacy skills could be used outside the classroom.​ From that staff meeting Adulting 101 was born.

Looking to up your library's social media game? One of the best ways to engage followers to is to provide a consistent stream of fun/useful content. Understanding that libraries don't always have the time to generate all of the content they'd like, we're here to help! 

Previously we discussed the ways in which student employment can be viewed as a High-Impact Practice, and how libraries can take advantage of this opportunity to deepen relationships with student workers and teach them even more valuable skills. Now I’d like to highlight a program that’s done this particularly well. 

As libraries look for more opportunities to increase our impact on institutional goals like retention and student success, we can’t overlook the student employees shelving books and working behind the circ desk. I remember a presentation at the 2015 ACRL conference on this topic that had a major impact on me. Jill Markgraf, a librarian from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, delivered a contributed paper titled, “Unleash Your Library’s HIPster: Transforming Student Library Jobs into High-Impact Practices.” 

You likely know, as much from your own experience as from research in our field, that students find the library intimidating. From first-generation college students to older learners who are nervous about digital resources, those who are expected to use the library may be reluctant to do so for one reason or another. And it’s hard for librarians to address this problem given time constraints and other challenges.

Many colleges and universities bring incoming students to campus a few weeks or days prior to the start of the fall semester. These programs take several forms to address the needs of different individuals. Most have the common goal of helping students acclimate to campus and connect with key resources for a strong start to their college careers. Libraries and librarians have a lot to offer these initiatives. One example is the engagement University Libraries has with the Young Scholars Program (YSP) at Ohio State University. 

Looking to up your library's social media game? One of the best ways to engage followers to is to provide a consistent stream of fun/useful content. Understanding that libraries don't always have the time to generate all of the content they'd like, we're here to help!