Personal Librarians Form Early Connection with Freshmen at SIUE
An initiative at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is fostering academic achievement as faculty librarians in Library and Information Services (LIS) connect with freshmen students to provide information resources and personal assistance.
The goal of the Personal Librarians program is to aid in the retention of students by starting the collegiate career of freshmen off with a strong foundation of support and training in information literacy. This fall nearly 2,000 freshmen and transfer students are being offered the personalized attention.
“Each librarian is assigned specific freshmen,” explained Lydia Jackson, director of research commons and outreach services at SIUE’s Lovejoy Library. “They contact the students, help them with research, follow up through email and help them by referral to different departments, among other things.”
Now in its second year, librarians volunteer to participate in the initiative. Those who choose to become a personal librarian do so because they are passionate about students’ academic success and their educational experiences.
“How many of us have gone a certain direction in life because a teacher or faculty member has inspired us?” remarked Regina McBride, dean of LIS. “You never know what that trigger is, and that is the exciting point.”
Librarian Sarah Park specializes in engineering, technology and computer science in LIS. In the program’s first year, Park was assigned 187 freshman students. She considered herself their academic coach.
“It was a great opportunity for me to build personal relationships with our incoming freshmen,” Park said. “In my observation, many young students are too shy or intimidated to ask for help. Through such personable connections, I was able to share with them the University’s many services and resources and help them achieve academic success.”
One of Park’s students, Elisha Evans, a sophomore majoring in speech pathology, reached out for help when an essay assignment required book sources.
“Her assistance helped significantly with the writing process,” Evan said. “She helped me find relevant books and learned about the topic herself as we went, which helped me organize my paper much more quickly.”
Evans, a native of Winchester, says her experience with her personal librarian helped her get a firm grasp on how to write and what to include in an academic paper.
“Working with my personal librarian will be beneficial throughout my career at SIUE,” Evans added. “I now have a better feel for the way the library works.”
Park notes that the benefits of such an initiative are not easily measured, but the experiences she and the other personal librarians have prove their efforts are impactful.
“It will take time for students to process our input and understand our efforts and goals,” Park explained. “I will be their personal librarian when they need me. I am sure they will understand the benefits when they are close to graduation and know that we are here to listen to them and answer their questions and encourage their success.”
Photo: Personal Librarian Sarah Park (L) works with student Elisha Evans.
