First-Year Library Experience Roundtable

Start Date

3-17-2020 1:00 PM

End Date

3-17-2020 3:30 PM

Author(s) Bio

Wendy Doucette is an assistant professor and the Graduate Research and Instruction Librarian at East Tennessee State University. She is the lead instructor and developer of the Sherrod Library Graduate-Level Academic Workshop series and an embedded librarian for the Graduate School’s Thesis and Dissertation Boot Camp. She holds an MS in Library and Information Science from Florida State University and a PhD from Stanford University. Her research interests center on 360-degree literacy, problem-based learning, visual literacy, and professional development and motivation.

Description of Proposal

American higher education institutions currently take as a given that student orientation and instruction programs help incoming students adjust to their new environment, provide familiarity with resources and services, and improve the likelihood of long-term student success and retention. While nearly all institutions provide some level of formal acclimation process for undergraduate students, fewer do so for graduate students. Reasons for this are understandable. Because graduate student programs are more costly and compressed, most programs are highly restricted to deliver the maximum amount of subject knowledge in the minimum amount of time. Having successfully completed undergraduate education, students in graduate programs are assumed to be masters of the research process. Those of us who interact with graduate students every day know—as do the students themselves—that this is not true.

The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the role of graduate librarianship in filling this information gap. Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students is possibly the only place where an in-depth conversation about onboarding for graduate students can occur among so many diverse, hands-on practitioners. Beyond the core services of individual or group, ad hoc or scheduled instruction and reference consultations, many of us direct or participate in graduate workshops, boot camps, and orientations with and without other campus partners at the library, graduate school, or university level. What we do, and how we do it varies according to resources, budget, staffing, and the composition of our programs and student body. There is, in other words, no “right” or “only” way to design a first-year library experience for graduate students. We will share what we do, learn from each other, and attempt to provide pathways for other graduate librarians and programs.

What takeaways will attendees learn from your session?

  • Collaboratively think and talk about what the FYLE for graduate students does or could look like.
  • Consider a suite of core concepts or services that would help situate graduate students in their new environment.
  • Frame these concepts and services in a way that provides guidance and guidelines for other graduate librarians to enact FYLE programs.

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Mar 17th, 1:00 PM Mar 17th, 3:30 PM

First-Year Library Experience Roundtable

American higher education institutions currently take as a given that student orientation and instruction programs help incoming students adjust to their new environment, provide familiarity with resources and services, and improve the likelihood of long-term student success and retention. While nearly all institutions provide some level of formal acclimation process for undergraduate students, fewer do so for graduate students. Reasons for this are understandable. Because graduate student programs are more costly and compressed, most programs are highly restricted to deliver the maximum amount of subject knowledge in the minimum amount of time. Having successfully completed undergraduate education, students in graduate programs are assumed to be masters of the research process. Those of us who interact with graduate students every day know—as do the students themselves—that this is not true.

The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the role of graduate librarianship in filling this information gap. Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students is possibly the only place where an in-depth conversation about onboarding for graduate students can occur among so many diverse, hands-on practitioners. Beyond the core services of individual or group, ad hoc or scheduled instruction and reference consultations, many of us direct or participate in graduate workshops, boot camps, and orientations with and without other campus partners at the library, graduate school, or university level. What we do, and how we do it varies according to resources, budget, staffing, and the composition of our programs and student body. There is, in other words, no “right” or “only” way to design a first-year library experience for graduate students. We will share what we do, learn from each other, and attempt to provide pathways for other graduate librarians and programs.