Gearing Up for College

1. Gearing Up for College Library Support for Outreach and Early Recruitment for Middle School Students Samantha Godbey, Sue Wainscott, Nancy Fawley, & Xan Goodman Lied Library, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • “Is there a curfew?” “Will someone do my laundry?” • “You can eat in the library?!” • PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION • Need for age-appropriate activity that would introduce students to the academic library experience • Desire to scaffold across potential visits over multiple years • Engagement with student library workers and library faculty about college and career path • Active learning engagement using ethnography activity ETHNOGRAPHER FOR A DAY NOT A TOUR OBSERVATION OF LIBRARY SPACE AND ITS USE “He’s watching the Walking Dead!” How would you use this space? What do you observe about the library on this floor? What do you observe about the people on this floor? • DESIRED OUTCOMES • Increase college readiness, enrollment, and success • Decrease library anxiety • Introduce idea of independence and freedom of university experience • THE STUDENTS • 7th and 8th graders • Participants in Nevada State GEAR-UP Program, a 7-year grant to help increase the likelihood of college enrollment and success for students in low-income schools • 200 students from 7 middle schools in 2013-14 • Intro: Draw on students’ prior experience with school and public libraries (5-10 min) • Observe: Groups of 4-8 students explore two floors of the library with library guide, record observational notes (20-30 min) • Share: Report out, Q&A opportunity (10 min) “Your library has more than one floor?” • “The only thing that would make this place better is churros.” • “All the books look old.”