The Personal Librarian Program: Meeting the Information Needs of International Students Qing Meade Reference Librarian Main Library Lettinga Campus

DU International Student Fall Enrollment (undergraduate) From DU databook:

International Enrollment by Country of Origin From DU databook:

Review of Library Literature  Definition of “International Student”  The problems, difficulties and challenges:  Language barrier  Culture shock  Difficulty adjusting to a Western academic environment, including the library  Shyness, loneliness, social and personal uncertainties  Plagiarism

The Initiative – Personal Librarian Program for International Students Current library services to international students:  Library tour/presentation during International Student Orientation  One-shot library instruction in classroom Our Mission:  Devise a way to encourage more personal contact with individual students Focus Group:  First year international students at the Lettinga campus  All international students at the Lettinga campus Campus Partnership:  The International Programs Office

Implementation and Timeline September 2011:  Welcome message  Program kick-off: lunch and learn meeting Throughout the academic year of :  Periodic and non-intrusive messages form the PL  In-person appointment and individual research consultation  Other types of questions asked November 2011:  APA Citation Workshop February 2012:  Library Catalog & Database Workshop April 2012:  Survey of Personal Librarian Program

My Personal Librarian Bookmark Special thanks to Rachel Zaagman for her design of this bookmark

Feedback – Library Catalog & Database Workshop 100% response rate (5 of 5 responded)  What did you find most valuable about today’s workshop?  How to find e-books  How to use the library’s website  Libguides  How to find a book from the library website  How to search for papers & articles in the catalog or databases

Feedback - Library Catalog & Database Workshop  What did you find least valuable about today’s workshop?  4 answers of N/A  Some tips  What did you hope to learn that was not covered in today’s workshop?  N/A  All have learned  Very good explanation  Citations  How to use word, excel, ppt if it’s possible

Feedback - Library Catalog & Database Workshop  How should the workshop to be improved in the future?  Keep having more of this kind of workshop  Should be organized such workshop regularly  Good  Teaching online  I want know if there have Mandarin or other language books

Feedback – Survey of Personal Librarian Program  25.7% of all international students at Lettinga campus use the service. Majority are first year international students  Survey Monkey was used to solicit feedback  Two identical surveys sent - in English and in Chinese  24% response rate (6 of 25 responded)

Survey: Question 1

Survey: Question 2

Survey: Question 3

Survey: Question 4

Survey: Question 5

Survey: Question 6  What is the one thing that we could do to make the personal librarian program better? (N=2)  Everything is already perfect  Introduce the Noodletools to every new international students because it is such a good tool to make references Survey questions are from Judy M. Spak & Janis G. Glover & AHIP (2007): The Personal Librarian Program: An Evaluation of a Cushing/Whitney Medical Library Outreach Initiative, Medical Reference Service Quarterly, 26:4, 15-25

Conclusion  Aligned with the University’s mission  Encourage campus partnerships  Developing an ongoing relationship between the Personal Librarian and the students  Positive feedback from the participants  Nominal effort on the part of the librarian, making it possible to expand the program to include other student groups

: Personal Librarian Program  Continuation of the Personal Librarian Program for International Students  Personal Librarian Program for First Year Davenport University (see next slide for the proposal)  Personal Librarian Program for the Capstone class at the Lansing campus

Thank you! Any questions or comments? Qing Meade ext