By Heather Snapp and Raymond Pun 

FYE Correspondent Raymond Pun recently interviewed Heather Snapp from Florida Gulf Coast University Library. Heather shared her role as the first year experience and outreach librarian, where she works with library student ambassadors to support FYE learning in the library. Heather also discussed her next project, creating research guides on integrating information literacy concepts and objectives for instructors’ curricula.

By Regina Gong and Raymond Pun

This week from March 5-9, it is Open Education Week! FYE Correspondent Ray Pun interviewed Regina Gong, OER Project Manager and Manager of Technical Services and Systems in Lansing Community College (LCC) on the role of OER in enhancing student learning on campus. Regina also shares her OER initiatives and upcoming projects, and how they support student success.

Did you know that selected regional accreditation programs may include information literacy as a core competency skill? Are you involved in the accreditation process for your school or library? Today, many academic libraries are tasked with providing students’ IL learning data for accreditation purposes.

Bryant University is known for its vigorous academic program, a design thinking experience for first year students, and a campuswide focus on student success. The culture at Bryant provides fertile ground for innovation at all levels of the university. The Douglas and Judith Krupp Library embraces this culture and the elements of flexibility, experimentation, and collaboration, offering library staff the opportunity to innovate within the library and with campus partners.

By Kevin Seeber and Raymond Pun

FYE Correspondent Raymond Pun recently interviewed Kevin Seeber from the Auraria Library, University of Colorado Denver. In addition to his work experiences and projects in FYE, Kevin shares his thoughts on student perceptions of, and experiences with, academic libraries.

The success of our information literacy program was achieved largely through continuous and collegial collaboration between the library and its campus partners. The Writing Center, faculty, and various committees have all participated in a productive give and take that helps ensure students pick up IL skills early and use them often.

By Katelyn Angell, Zena George, and Raymond Pun

2017 saw a growing interest on the part of librarians in fake news, open educational resources (OER), diversity, and accessibility. What will this year bring? Three academic librarians offered up the following conversation to explore potential FYE trends for 2018 and beyond.

By Tammy E. Ivins and Raymond Pun

FYE Correspondent Raymond Pun recently interviewed Tammy E. Ivins from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), Randall Library. From outreach to collaboration, they discussed the library’s role in providing transfer student services and activities on and off campus. For even more tips and ideas, see our recent post on helping transfer students succeed.

First Year Experience programs have been shown to improve student success—but what about the following year? After completing their first year, sophomores may still struggle (commonly refered to at "the sophomore slump"), but they won’t have the same FYE support structure. This is something to consider as many universities have focused on FYE programs, but have neglected to develop a strategy to retain students in their second year, another critical period in the academic journey.

Have you done outreach to your transfer students? If not, you may want to consider transfer students as another important student group to support. Building upon previous posts in this series covering orientations for first year students and international student events, in this post we’ll look at outreach services to transfer students.