Prioritising 1st Year Engagement and Success at the University of Limerick Library

Aoife GeraghtyHead of Information Services

Glucksman Library30th April 2015

In the beginning …

Library Submission for Strategic Funding 2006-7Employ student peer-advisors in the library to assist new students in their first semester by providing them with support and guidance on how to use the library

UL strategic direction

UL Strategy Pioneering & Connected 2011-2015

We had in place

Orientation

Classes … e.g. Find it Fast lunch-time drop ins

Approval for peer advisor pilot

Student Peer Advisors are undergraduate and postgraduate students with excellent customerservice and communication skills, trainedto answer general enquiries about finding information and using the library.

• Formal interviews• 2 days training incl Orientation Guide training

(they in turn act as library guides for Orientation guides)

• Approx €12,000 p.a. incl pay, t-shirts, hoodies, documentation, ipad ….

Peer advisors …

Assist new students in their first semester by providing them with support and guidance on how to use the library

Are available on library floors from Week 0 to 5 of semester 1

Assist new students with basic library usage: how to find and borrow books, use the library catalogue, use the photocopying facilities and use basic online services

Assist new students with basic IT functions: how to log in, register for modules, use email, print documents, access the Learning Management System etc.

Provide directional assistance to new students in the library

Advise new students on library code of conduct and use behaviour relating to noise, mobile phone usage, eating in the library, etc.

Assist in maintaining an environment conducive to study

Provide feedback to library staff regarding development of student support including signage, documentation and peer support

Refer students to other support services such as ITD, Writing Centre, Maths Centre, Careers, Students Union, etc.

Module registration, email set-up and VLE access peak in Week 2 – students don’t differentiate between library and ITD.

Improvements each year• Provided roving support on upper floors at peak times, end of lectures• Distributed faculty librarian appointment cards from their desk• Created a UL passwords document for Peer Advisors to distribute• Used an iPad for resolving student queries• Had a large campus map printed and permanently available at their desk• Tweeted on behalf of the library during the day in response to common student

queries• Online timetable visible by supervisor where they were encouraged to arrange

timetable swaps between themselves• Surveys e.g. use of mobile technologies• Assisted with Meet your Librarian events• Assisted with Open Days tours• Train Orientation guides• Make-up and focus of team tweaked each year based on stats and feedback

Maybe it’s the vacant, scared look on my face, although I like to think it’s the attentiveness of the support guides … but

whenever I as much as stall in my tracks a guy in a red T-shirt comes up to me asking if he can help. It’s not that you can’t go

wrong, it’s that the system is set up not to let you go wrong. (Celia Larkin, Irish Independent, 12.9. 10)

They were so nice, extremely helpful and they didn’t mind answering my questions. They weren’t rude or anything even though I was a first year. It was great that they were there or I

would never have figured the library out! They were always very helpful and enthusiastic about their

work. A great service.

I am a second year (graduate-entry) medical student and this is going to sound really melodramatic but I really think I would have lost my life this time last year only for their help! … I was completely overwhelmed … taking out a book, logging onto a computer, opening files … I cannot express in words what it meant to be able to go to someone who totally understood, did not make me feel bad for not knowing whatever it was I

was trying to do and always, always solved my problem.

UL strategic direction

Engaged Learning: Teaching, Learning and Assessment Strategy 2014-2018

Supporting transition and Encouraging retentionA coherent and integrated supportive framework around all aspects of the first-year experienceDedicated resources/interventions to support transitions from second to third level

At the heart of Engaged Learning is the aspiration that each UL student will succeed.

Trends in HEStudent voice including National Student Survey

Democratisation of education – more 1st generation students in university

Technology enhanced learning

Joined up thinking – institutional, professional and national collaborations

UK’s Higher Education Academy http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/retention-and-success

Peer AdvisorsOpen DaysOrientationFirst Seven WeeksFirst year module pilotedSpecial Collections classesClasses with Faculty LibrariansResearch Librarian

Our coverage is good, but patchy

AL Student engagement and success

New post Summer 2015Assistant Librarian Student Engagement & Success• Develop and implement programmes and

initiatives aimed at improving undergraduate student transition, retention and success.

• Focus on early-stage undergraduates, on undergraduate student groups new to the university, and on modules with high attrition rates.

Working across the university

Working across the university

Committees:• T&L • First Seven Weeks• Orientation• Open Days• Technology Enhanced

Learning Unit• Education Technology

Forum• Communities of

Practice

New posts:• Centre for Teaching &

Learning – Retention Officer

• Student Affairs - New Entrant Experience and Retention Coordinator

Graduate Attributes – developing the Articulate Student[draft – working with the Centre for T&L and the Writing Centre]

Working nationally e.g. National Forum projects

All Aboard! Digital Skills in HE Project

Communication within, between and beyond Project Partners

Thank you for Listening

Questions?

Aoife GeraghtyHead of Information Services, University of Limerick

Email: aoife.geraghty@ul.ie