Mary Anne Hansen, Professor & Research Services Librarian Montana State University-Bozeman

1. Tandem Training of student employees at the research center: learning from each other to provide service excellence! Mary Anne Hansen, Professor & Research Services Librarian Montana State University-Bozeman PNLA 2018, Kalispell, MT

2. THE MSU LIBRARY EXPERIENCE: “Breaking the fourth wall” in the provision of research services: Students at the front lines, doing more than checking out books, laptops, etc. Spring Semester 2018 Pilot Project: pairing student employees with Librarians & Research & Technology Assistants at the Research Center to gain new knowledge and skills --- from each other! Jessica Leach, Student Employee, Learning & Research Services, MSU Library

3. Why pair librarians with students during core hours, 10 am to 3 pm? • *Formally recognize that our students have been helping other students with their research needs since we’ve had student employees • *Hone students’ research assistance skills, knowledge, and understanding of the wide spectrum of information/research needs across the disciplines studied at MSU • *Give those of us working side by side with them the opportunity to learn from THEM (gain new student perspectives and insights) • *Give librarians an opportunity for mentoring (while remembering that we can learn from them, too!) • *Help the Library transition to a single-service desk • *Help us experiment first-hand what it might mean to potentially create a formal Peer Research Assistance program, such as some other academic libraries have been doing for many years

4. Expectations/best practices for students as “Research Center Partners”: -- Same as at Borrow Desk – strive for Service Excellence! *be attentive to patrons at the desk and in proximity from the Research Center *make eye contact when possible *greet patrons that walk by *ask those that come to the desk, “How Can I Help You?” *view yourself as a partner with the Librarian/Research & Technology Assistants/Borrow Staff to fulfill patrons’ information needs *ask questions when you don’t know something; ask your RC partner what their areas of expertise or focus are *share your expertise of your major/discipline with your RC partner during slow traffic times, including specific assignments you’ve had in your courses or which are coming up *be an Ambassador for the library while at work, as well as outside of the library – in classes, among friends, etc. Help us spread the word about what the library has to offer regarding academic resources and human resources! *as much as possible, keep a log of your research transactions and experiences in co-staffing the Research Center

5. The Basic Pilot Plan: • Week 1: • Introduce yourself and ask the student what their major is, their research needs, etc. • Describe your areas of expertise and subject librarian roles, functional specialties, etc. • ask students about their experiences helping other students with their research • Week 2: • Review week 1– how did it go? Thoughts? Suggestions? What do they think they need? • Continue reviewing your subject areas with them. • Weeks 3 forward through end of semester: • Continue reviewing your specialty areas as needed; review guides and subject database categories discipline by discipline, alphabetically A to Z • Assessment: formative and summative

6. Expectations/best practices for Librarians/Research & Technology Assistants/Borrow Staff as “Research partners” working with students: *Service excellence as always, with added intent of mentoring and learning alongside a student employee *Recognize that we can learn from the students: they have expertise in their disciplines, plus many have techie knowledge that we may not have *Walk through research inquiries together with your “RC Partner”, whether via chat or face to face; ask your student partner what they might know about the subject area from own experience or friends in that major *While working with a student, don’t expect to work on your own content such as your email, Gobi (unless you’re pulling students into a conversation about collections and content and why and how we purchase what we do); rather, consider “down” time or slow traffic time to be training time *Reflect on your own practice while seeing it through the “fresh eyes” of our student employees

7. What our students employees have said about their experiences at the Research Center: • “the staff configuration that we are using is facilitating a healthy working environment” • - “I’ve learned a lot working at RC – it’s fun to work with librarians!” • “I like the exercises to find articles -- has helped with my own research” • “I’ve learned a lot of the resources we have to offer that I didn’t know before.  I learned how to navigate the databases better.  More in depth questions have helped me learn more about how to help people.” • “Enjoying learning different ways to search things.  Like being able to focus on the research and not just tech checkouts.”

8. More Student Employee comments: • “I like helping people with research.  I like being able to be one on one with librarians, because I don’t always get that at the Borrow Desk.” • “I’m learning a lot – ask more questions so I can learn more” • - “it does take a little getting used to but really enjoying it -- even when I feel out of my depth there is the librarian support that eases that issue” • “it’s fun and engaging to explore more in depth questions and learning the database sources has helped me beyond my Borrow Desk shifts” • “I feel confident I can help; I like the perspective of the desk and the change, plus I like learning new things from librarians”

9. Comments from Librarians about Tandem Training at the Research Center: • *I am happy to have the desk contact with our students but I regret that I am generally working with them when there are very few interactions for us to work on together.  If you are with a student who has a natural curiosity and is able to make intellectual associations, this is ok.  But some of the students are less mature or are more quiet and don't seem to want to engage.   • *For either type, I think I need more "canned" questions or research problems. By the time I get to the desk in the afternoon I am often pretty drained by the endless meetings I attend so I’m not that able to pull research rabbits out of my head.  • *more strategic training plan/resources (don’t really like winging it) –-- when the desk is busy, it can be difficult to mentor. When it’s not busy, it can be difficult coming up with enough ‘content’ to fill the time. It would also help to standardize the experience and the content. There are things all of the students need to know but how do we ensure that happens? Another observation is again that the students don’t know what they don’t know – it could be helpful to start compiling examples (for ex., my finding out last week that a student thought community borrowers could get off-campus access to e-resources) and posting somewhere so other students can benefit? • *I would agree that it’s going well.  The students are able to answer many of the questions that come in and it has been helpful to have someone with better knowledge of the Borrow desk procedures standing there when those types of questions come in. • *I really enjoy getting to know our Library students and chatting with them about their studies and goals. They also bring valuable knowledge based on their experiences at the Borrow Desk, shelving, etc.

10. Moving Forward to a Single Service Desk: How do we continue ongoing training when librarians will no longer be working side by side with students? *make opportunities to work side by side with them – during on-call shifts, spend time at Single Service Desk *collaborate with Student Supervisors to create targeted training sessions for students *pre-semester training “boot camp” or similar activity *compile a set of questions that all student employees work through, preferably in tandem with their student supervisor as they have questions, and ideally with a librarian as librarians are available during on-call shifts *encourage students to keep their own Research Log of questions to discuss with supervisors *conduct formative assessment with student employees throughout the year – “pulse checks” *create individualized learning plans (subsequent slide) *other ideas?

13. Discussion: • Who uses student employees, staff and/or volunteers in the provision of research services OR in non-traditional ways – beyond circulation and other traditional library roles for non-librarians? – perhaps this always been a reality in rural areas and smaller libraries • What are some specific training strategies that you’ve used to get students, staff and/or volunteers better prepared to provide research and technology services, etc.? • What challenges do you face in training new employees or volunteers? Time? Enough people to do the training? Etc.? • What are some training success stories or surprises that you’ve encountered? • What else is on your mind about training library employees or volunteers?

14. Resources for Further Exploration: • Baugess, C.K., Jallas, M.R., & Smith, M.D. (2017). Peer research mentors at Gettysburg College: Transforming student library jobs into high-impact learning experiences. The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College, http://cupola.Gettysburg.edu/librarypubs • Benjamin, M. & McCevitt, T. (2018). The benefits and challenges of working in an academic library: A study of student library assistant experience, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44, 256-262. • Grand Valley State University Resources: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_presentations/58/ • Mestre, L.S. & LeCrone, J.M. (2015). Elevating the student assistant: An integrated Development Program for student library assistants. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 22 pp. 1-20. • Reference Excellence (ORE) Online: http://oreonline.olc.org/

15. Thank you! Mary Anne Hansen Professor/Research Commons Librarian Montana State University Library 406/994-3162 mhansen@montana.edu