Start Date

3-22-2018 10:15 AM

End Date

3-22-2018 10:45 AM

Author(s) Bio

In the spring of 2015, the Pace academic leadership decided it was time for a university wide, administrative library position that specifically targeted graduate students for research support services. The outcome was the creation of my position: Assistant University Librarian for Graduate Services. For 17 years prior, I had been the Pace “Graduate Services Librarian” managing the Graduate Services Library on one of our smaller campuses that was closed and sold in July 2015 due to severe budget cuts. Before Pace, I managed a graduate library for international MBA’s in Tel Aviv, Israel and before that I worked at NYU as a clinical librarian for the NYU Medical School in Manhattan. I have devoted the past 25 years of my professional career to graduate education.

Description of Proposal

At Pace University and other master and doctoral universities and colleges, Graduate Students are not usually among the systematically targeted. In the fall of 2016, I undertook to specifically target Graduate Assistants (GA’s) working for faculty in research assistantships. Securing an academic assistantship is a coveted and competitive endeavor, but if the GA does not have the required research skills they can be out after only one semester. While being aware of university retention goals and the gap between GA research skills and faculty research demands, I started a pilot project of creating GA research workshops based on the specific needs of an academic department. My presentation will focus on the variety, number and content of GA research workshops taught, tips for partnering with academic assistant deans, staff and faculty and systems for creating measurable outcomes that make the role of the library indispensable in the minds of graduate students and faculty. This is just one example of a controlled targeted program to support graduate students AND faculty. Time permitting, this session could include a pair and share activity for participants to talk about the likelihood of instituting a similar program in their libraries and what they imagine the pitfalls or progress to be.

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Mar 22nd, 10:15 AM Mar 22nd, 10:45 AM

INDISPENSABLE: a library’s one stone strategy to improve graduate student research skills, meet faculty research demands and contribute to graduate student retention

RM 460

At Pace University and other master and doctoral universities and colleges, Graduate Students are not usually among the systematically targeted. In the fall of 2016, I undertook to specifically target Graduate Assistants (GA’s) working for faculty in research assistantships. Securing an academic assistantship is a coveted and competitive endeavor, but if the GA does not have the required research skills they can be out after only one semester. While being aware of university retention goals and the gap between GA research skills and faculty research demands, I started a pilot project of creating GA research workshops based on the specific needs of an academic department. My presentation will focus on the variety, number and content of GA research workshops taught, tips for partnering with academic assistant deans, staff and faculty and systems for creating measurable outcomes that make the role of the library indispensable in the minds of graduate students and faculty. This is just one example of a controlled targeted program to support graduate students AND faculty. Time permitting, this session could include a pair and share activity for participants to talk about the likelihood of instituting a similar program in their libraries and what they imagine the pitfalls or progress to be.