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Leveraging student expertise for niche services

Leveraging student expertise for niche services PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate using student employees with expertise in niche areas to provide library services outside the traditional scope of full-time library employees. It examines a case study where an academic library employed undergraduate students to assist users in makerspace-related work and, more recently, graduate students to assist users in data analysis. This paper will determine whether such students can provide satisfactory service to users.Design/methodology/approachThis paper includes a background of the services, including hiring, training and assessment. The methodology for assessment includes analyzing user-created booking data, student employee consultation data and user feedback surveys to determine user and student employee satisfaction with the services.FindingsThe findings report high usage numbers and overall high user and student employee satisfaction with the two services, suggesting that student employees can be used effectively in such a way.Originality/valueAlthough libraries often use student employees for lower-level library tasks, these results suggest libraries with limited resources and full-time staff should consider using student employees to provide specialized consultations, especially pertaining to software and other technologies. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Reference Services Review Emerald Publishing

Leveraging student expertise for niche services

Reference Services Review , Volume 48 (2): 20 – Mar 30, 2020

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0090-7324
DOI
10.1108/RSR-11-2019-0083
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate using student employees with expertise in niche areas to provide library services outside the traditional scope of full-time library employees. It examines a case study where an academic library employed undergraduate students to assist users in makerspace-related work and, more recently, graduate students to assist users in data analysis. This paper will determine whether such students can provide satisfactory service to users.Design/methodology/approachThis paper includes a background of the services, including hiring, training and assessment. The methodology for assessment includes analyzing user-created booking data, student employee consultation data and user feedback surveys to determine user and student employee satisfaction with the services.FindingsThe findings report high usage numbers and overall high user and student employee satisfaction with the two services, suggesting that student employees can be used effectively in such a way.Originality/valueAlthough libraries often use student employees for lower-level library tasks, these results suggest libraries with limited resources and full-time staff should consider using student employees to provide specialized consultations, especially pertaining to software and other technologies.

Journal

Reference Services ReviewEmerald Publishing

Published: Mar 30, 2020

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