Although we give library instruction in graduate courses per request,
we reach a small number of students this way. Others will see us oneon-one,
but we’re still missing the majority. Nearly all Boot Campers
are unknown to us, which means they’ve had no formal graduate
library instruction prior to writing the biggest project of their academic
lives.
To this end, we offered two new strategy-based workshops, which
we propose to outline as one single-session presentation at USETDA
under the category of “Student Support and Training” (Impactful
ETD Processing).
In Boot Camp, Session One covers data management: physical and
virtual workspace organization, file structure, online data storage and
backups. The emphasis here is on where to put data and how to save
it. Online programs covered include free word processing software
such as Google Docs, Word Online, Shutterbug, and Zoho Docs and
cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Microsoft’s OneDrive,
Mac’s iCloud Storage, Amazon storage, Box and Dropbox.
Session Two of Boot Camp addresses research and citation management.
Revamped to include the Association of College and Research
Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Framework’s concepts, we
present systematic research as a transferable skill, not an isolated case
tied to one course or problem. This workshop incorporates critical
thinking into showing students how to construct a search; how to
keep on top of research through folders, feeds, and alerts; and how to
manage citations via Mendeley.
After the presentation and discussion, attendees should be able to
recognize the significant function librarians perform in a targeted
program such as Boot Camp convey the value of formal, timely
intervention for graduate students assess the benefits of linking our
overall methodology to the ACRL Framework replicate our offerings
to support their students at the point of need, and beyond.