Start Date

3-17-2020 9:00 AM

End Date

3-17-2020 10:00 AM

Author(s) Bio

Tim Dodge has been employed at the Ralph Brown Draughon Library, Auburn University, since 1992 and is currently serving as History and Political Science Librarian in the Research and Instruction Department. Prior to Auburn Tim worked for libraries at the University of New Hampshire (twice) and Barry University (Miami Shores, Florida). He has a Ph.D. and an M.A., both in History, from the University of New Hampshire, an M.L.S. from Columbia University, and a B.A. in History from Swarthmore College. Tim is currently serving as President of the Southeastern Library Association. Adelia Grabowsky serves as Auburn University Libraries’ liaison to the Harrison School of Pharmacy, the School of Nursing, and the Department of Communication Disorders. In addition to a Masters in Library and Information Science, Adelia holds a Post Masters Certificate of Advanced Study in Health Sciences Librarianship. Juliet Rumble (MSLS, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; PhD, Vanderbilt University) is the philosophy, religion, and women’s studies librarian at Auburn University Libraries in Auburn, Alabama. She is a member of the American Library Association (ALA) and has served on various committees in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section (IS). She has contributed articles to Technical Services Quarterly, Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserves, and Scandinavian Studies. Her research interests are in the areas of information literacy instruction, assessment, and collection development and management. Liza Weisbrod is the Music and Government Information Librarian at Auburn University, where her responsibilities include music collection management, instruction, and reference along with serving as depository coordinator for the government information collection.

Keywords

graduate students, international students, non-traditional students, graduate student success, graduate student professional development, boot camps, workshops, information literacy, academic libraries, library partners

Description of Proposal

In an effort to strengthen the academic and career preparedness of graduate students at their public land grant university, library faculty organized a one-day boot camp, featuring workshops focused on research and scholarly productivity skills. Organizers of the boot camp recognized that the needs of their graduate students extended beyond the discipline-specific curricula of graduate programs and the content of library orientations and one-shots. The workshop series they developed, informed by input from graduate students, focused on skills and strategies needed throughout the research lifecycle. Graduate student response to the weekend boot camp was overwhelmingly positive, and attendance has grown with each iteration, from 56 attendees at the inaugural boot camp in February 2019 to 117 graduate students at the most recent event in September 2019.

The panel presentation will be structured as follows. First, panel members will report on two research studies they conducted to understand the role of the boot camps in addressing the research needs of graduate students. The first study looked at feedback from students who attended the boot camps. Student responses were collected via paper forms and a follow-up Qualtrics survey. Panel presenters coded and analyzed responses to open-ended questions to develop themes that were unique to specific boot camps as well as themes that appeared across multiple boot camps. A second research study, conducted in fall 2019, featured one hour, in-depth interviews of five boot camp participants. The study explored the perspectives of two subgroups of interest: international graduate students (n=3) and non-traditional graduate students (n=2). The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed to develop themes and patterns in participants’ responses to semi-structured questions about (a) challenges the participants faced in conducting research, (b) skills they believed were needed to address these challenges, and (c) preferred methods or venues for acquiring these skills.

In the second part of the presentation, panel members will share strategies for implementing a workshop series based on lessons learned from their research and experiences with their own boot camps. The final part of the presentation will report on steps taken by boot camp organizers to establish partnerships with the library’s Media & Digital Resources Lab and the University’s Graduate School, Graduate Student Council, Office of University Writing, and Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. These campus partnerships were instrumental in extending the scope and content of the workshops offered.

What takeaways will attendees learn from your session?

1. Attendees will learn how to organize, promote, and implement a research skills boot camp for graduate students.

2. Attendees will learn about the research challenges and library needs of two subpopulations of interest: international and non-traditional graduate students.

3. Attendees will learn strategies for building partnerships with graduate student organizations and campus units focused on student success.

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Mar 17th, 9:00 AM Mar 17th, 10:00 AM

Tailoring Boot Camps to Graduate Student Needs

In an effort to strengthen the academic and career preparedness of graduate students at their public land grant university, library faculty organized a one-day boot camp, featuring workshops focused on research and scholarly productivity skills. Organizers of the boot camp recognized that the needs of their graduate students extended beyond the discipline-specific curricula of graduate programs and the content of library orientations and one-shots. The workshop series they developed, informed by input from graduate students, focused on skills and strategies needed throughout the research lifecycle. Graduate student response to the weekend boot camp was overwhelmingly positive, and attendance has grown with each iteration, from 56 attendees at the inaugural boot camp in February 2019 to 117 graduate students at the most recent event in September 2019.

The panel presentation will be structured as follows. First, panel members will report on two research studies they conducted to understand the role of the boot camps in addressing the research needs of graduate students. The first study looked at feedback from students who attended the boot camps. Student responses were collected via paper forms and a follow-up Qualtrics survey. Panel presenters coded and analyzed responses to open-ended questions to develop themes that were unique to specific boot camps as well as themes that appeared across multiple boot camps. A second research study, conducted in fall 2019, featured one hour, in-depth interviews of five boot camp participants. The study explored the perspectives of two subgroups of interest: international graduate students (n=3) and non-traditional graduate students (n=2). The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed to develop themes and patterns in participants’ responses to semi-structured questions about (a) challenges the participants faced in conducting research, (b) skills they believed were needed to address these challenges, and (c) preferred methods or venues for acquiring these skills.

In the second part of the presentation, panel members will share strategies for implementing a workshop series based on lessons learned from their research and experiences with their own boot camps. The final part of the presentation will report on steps taken by boot camp organizers to establish partnerships with the library’s Media & Digital Resources Lab and the University’s Graduate School, Graduate Student Council, Office of University Writing, and Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. These campus partnerships were instrumental in extending the scope and content of the workshops offered.