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Presentation
Collaborative Strategies to Meet the Challenges of Serving Graduate Students
Association of College and Research Libraries (2007)
  • Michele D Behr, Western Michigan University
  • Barbara J Cockrell, Western Michigan University
Abstract
Recent LibQual+ (2004) and Off-campus Satisfaction (2002, 2006) surveys at Western Michigan University revealed that graduate students had information needs that were not being met. Many lack awareness of resources and the necessary research skills for performing graduate level research, yet instructors are reluctant to relinquish class time for library sessions and the students themselves are reluctant to seek the individual help they need. In 2005-6 we collaborated with the Graduate College to offer new graduate workshops that were not class related but were instead part of a Strategies for Success series that was already in place. These workshop topics were 1) Managing citations using RefWorks software and 2) Literature review searching. These active learning workshops were offered directly to the graduate students and marketed via a graduate student electronic distribution list, the Graduate College and Library web sites, and via faculty advisors. Library instruction data showed that in 2005-6 we taught 10 fewer faculty-requested, class-related graduate library sessions than in 2002-3. However, in 2005-6 we taught 21 graduate workshops (153 students). In conjunction with this program we saw a 27% increase in graduate student individual research consultations with librarians (from 91 in 2002-3 to 115 in 2005-6).
Keywords
  • Graduate students,
  • higher education,
  • library,
  • research
Publication Date
March, 2007
Citation Information
Michele D Behr and Barbara J Cockrell. "Collaborative Strategies to Meet the Challenges of Serving Graduate Students" Association of College and Research Libraries (2007)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/michele_behr/2/