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LIBRARY OUTREACH AT RIT: BRINGING THE LIBRARY AND WRITING CENTER TO STUDENTS

LIBRARY OUTREACH AT RIT: BRINGING THE LIBRARY AND WRITING CENTER TO STUDENTS. Daniel Trout Sheryl Kron Rhodes 2011 SUNYLA Conference June 16, 2011. ABOUT THE ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (RIT). Founded in 1829 Private university located in Rochester, NY Nine colleges & institutes

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LIBRARY OUTREACH AT RIT: BRINGING THE LIBRARY AND WRITING CENTER TO STUDENTS

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  1. LIBRARY OUTREACH AT RIT: BRINGING THE LIBRARY AND WRITING CENTER TO STUDENTS Daniel Trout Sheryl Kron Rhodes 2011 SUNYLA Conference June 16, 2011

  2. ABOUT THE ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (RIT) • Founded in 1829 • Private university located in Rochester, NY • Nine colleges & institutes • 17,000+ students (Fall 2010) • RIT emphasizes career education & experiential learning

  3. ABOUT THE WALLACE LIBRARY AT RIT • Hub for research & information exchange • Four floors of books, periodicals, help desks, computers & other electronic media, individual study carrels & small group rooms • Collections within Wallace Library include the Cary Collection, a renowned library on printing history, the RIT Archive Collections, & the VIA Lab, with access to workstations, printing, image scanning, & an array of software as well as networked resources • Online access to catalog, electronic class reserves, 180+ electronic research databases, digital art collections, & librarian-selected Internet resources • Wireless access to electronic databases & full-text electronic journals • Wallace Library received 2006 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from the Association of College & Research Libraries • “The first place to go when you need to know”

  4. ABOUT RIT’S ACADEMIC SUPPORT CENTER’S WRITING CENTER • Mission: To make students confident, creative, & independent writers • Free service to all RIT students • No appointments necessary • Instructional center: Goal is to support students’ efforts to become better writers

  5. ABOUT RIT’S SOL STUDY CENTER • Learning space open to all RIT students • Focused on academic needs of first-year students • Located in residence hall area to bring academic services, including the library, to students’ doorstep • Services include math, physics, & writing tutors, & library assistants

  6. PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN RIT & UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO’S (UB) DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION STUDIES (LIS) • Practicum requesting LIS students listed on the LIS department’s Practicum Website • Practicum request for two students per quarter, covering four nights per week (Monday–Thursday), two hours per evening    • Practicum students received training on services offered at library from subject librarians    • Practicum students worked at the reference desk with subject librarians as part of the practicum

  7. HOW THE PRACTICUM WORKED • Practicum students were given name tags to identify themselves to students as representatives of the Wallace Library • A laptop was provided by the library for practicum students to use in assisting students with reference & research queries • Hard copies of reference material handouts (e.g., how to cite in APA & MLA style; maps of the library layout; how to structure research) were provided to give to students

  8. SERVICES PROVIDED BY LIS PRACTICUM STUDENTS • Research assistance using library’s online resources (e.g., databases, catalog): Using information literacy theories & methodologies, practicum students demonstrated best practices in finding & evaluating information needed by students using the Sol Center • Assistance in finding LibGuides: RIT subject librarians began developing LibGuides to aid students in finding the best sources on a wide variety of subjects; there is both a Sol Study Center LibGuide & an APA/MLA usage LibGuide • Assignment calculator: A program to help students budget out time to write a paper; reprogrammed calculator to incorporate LibGuides & up-to-date information as part of the practicum learning experience

  9. WORKING WITH THE SOL CENTER’S TUTORS • The math, physics, & writing tutors in the Sol Center are RIT students & thus potential links to RIT’s student body to increase outreach & knowledge of the library services in the Sol Center • Often tutors’ friends would stop by the Center, providing opportunities for practicum students to introduce ourselves & the library-related services provided

  10. WORKING WITH NATIONAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF (NTID) STUDENTS • NTID was the world’s first & largest technological college for deaf & hearing-impaired students; one of RIT’s eight colleges • Different learning and teaching styles • Reference interviews are conducted through an interpreter, often one of the math, physics, or writing tutors in the Sol Center • Two preferred methods of saving information: • E-mail • Screenshots with cell phones

  11. PROMOTION OF LIBRARY SERVICES IN THE SOL STUDY CENTER • Subject librarians promoted the new services to faculty & students • Library staff distributed print flyers to faculty in the College of Liberal Arts each quarter • Advertisement within the library were done via flyers & a plasma screen ad in the library’s entrance • Library staff distributed flyers to first-year students’ mailboxes via student senators

  12. METHODS OF FEEDBACK FOR LIBRARY SERVICES PROVIDED • A very short paper survey requesting feedback is given to each student seeking assistance • Anecdotal evidence is gathered through conversing with students & explaining what we do

  13. CHALLENGES • Majority of the students at RIT are not liberal arts students and do not write research papers • No marketing budget for this program; advertising must be cost neutral   • No Facebook or Twitter accounts for the library         as methods to interact with students • RIT runs on the quarter system, so classwork is compressed into a 50% shorter period of time as compared with semesters, resulting in a rush of work at the end of each quarter; if students are not versed in planning ahead, it can be difficult to find the time required to research & write a good paper

  14. SUCCESSES • Fall Quarter: One student • Winter Quarter: Three students • Spring Quarter: Three students • Staffing was expanded in the Winter and Spring quarters from two nights a week to four nights a week

  15. FUTURE PLANS • Promote the services provided by the library in the Sol Center through the First Year Experience staff, who teach all first-year RIT students • Need to remember that this program will likely follow a similar path to that of the Math & Physics Tutoring program: initially coverage was limited to only one or two nights per week & had poor attendance, but the program now employs three tutors each evening (Monday–Thursday) for three hours each night—the program started out small & grew

  16. FUTURE PLANS (CONTINUED) • Changes in RIT’s core curriculum will require more writing in the future, meaning an increased need to learn how to effectively search, find, & evaluate information to produce quality research papers • Continued staffing of the Sol Study Center • New study center within the Global Village during the Fall Quarter: • Also sponsored by AIM (Academic Intervention& Mentoring) • Larger population of upperclass students • Math/science tutors • Peer writing tutors • Library staffing

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