{"id":5488,"date":"2014-09-15T15:42:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T19:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/?p=5488"},"modified":"2014-09-15T15:44:40","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T19:44:40","slug":"from-gatekeeper-to-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/from-gatekeeper-to-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"From Gatekeeper to Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wyndham<\/h3>\n

From Gatekeeper to Guide<\/b><\/h3>\n

The staff of the Wyndham Robertson Library is deftly managing the challenges faced by students and faculty in the digital age by embracing customer service with a 21st-century sensibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. \u201911<\/em><\/p>\n

Three years ago, researchers from the University of Southern California determined that the average person receives five times more information than he or she did in 1986\u2014every single day.<\/p>\n

As this barrage of data from the Internet, smartphones, and other technological advances continues unabated, Wyndham Robertson Library is purposefully seizing upon the worldwide digital revolution as a 21st-century rallying call, shifting its focus as an academic library from gatekeeper to guide.<\/p>\n

\"Luke\u201cWhether they are going on to grad school or a career,\u201d says University Librarian Luke Vilelle, \u201cit is absolutely critical that we prepare our students to interpret, analyze, synthesize, and understand what information means for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Vilelle and his staff are committed to maintaining and growing the library\u2019s 240,000-volume print collection (\u201cThe print book is still a very valued piece in the Hollins community\u201d), information literacy is now a priority for them. \u201cSo much of what we do is teach, and we\u2019re a key part of our students\u2019 education. If you were at Hollins 15, 20 years ago, you probably would have had a much different experience in the library than students do now. Even going back 10 years, we were doing 25, maybe 30 instruction sessions each year where we\u2019d go into a class and talk for the period about the library resources available. Now we do about a hundred a year. We talk much more now about not just finding resources but also evaluating them: Is this something that will work for you? Is it authoritative? Is it relevant? We get beyond, \u2018Okay, I found this article, now how can I use it effectively?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For faculty members such as Professor of Classical Studies Christina Salowey and Associate Professor of Communication Studies Jill Weber, the library\u2019s transition from collection centered to student centered is a godsend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a continuum from the classroom to the library. You feel like the librarians are in the classroom with you and your class is in the library,\u201d Salowey explains. \u201cWith the rise of the digital age, students tend to think that they can get everything on their computer. I take my students over to the library because I want them to understand the digital experience is not the same as the library, yet they must work together. You can\u2019t have one without the other. Students need to have that modeled for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChristinaSalowey believes the key to students understanding how the library and the digital universe complement one another lies in the former\u2019s devotion to personal interaction. \u201cThat human connection, which has always been one of Hollins\u2019 hallmarks, is so important. There\u2019s nothing better than going over to a librarian and sitting down next to them and asking, \u2018Can you help me with this research?\u2019 We believe very much in being physically together in the same space as human beings. It\u2019s very funny at a university to have your own sort of personal librarian, but our students over time develop real relationships with the library staff. It goes beyond what they have with professors in some ways, which is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weber agrees with Salowey that \u201cstudents come in with the mindset of, \u2018I can get it all online. Why do I need to go to the library?\u2019 I don\u2019t think students really understand the value of the library until they get here and have to write a paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

She notes that many students experience a sort of academic culture shock when they go to college and realize they haven\u2019t learned how to perform effective scholarly writing and research. \u201cThey suddenly have all this information available to them and they don\u2019t know how to sort it, use it, or process it. It\u2019s intimidating and causes a lot of panic. Our librarians are doing a great job of responding to that need, equipping students with the skills to feel competent in handling this information. Helping people manage all that data is what\u2019s needed from libraries in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weber says the library has helped foster some remarkable student transformations. \u201cI had a student this semester who was an A student at a community college but was barely earning Cs here. This semester she had to do a literature review in my class and two others, and she said, \u2018Professor Weber, I\u2019ve never had to do this.\u2019 She got a lot of help from the library, and when I read her literature review for my class, I followed all the sources to make sure she didn\u2019t plagiarize anything. It was that good. She had her sources accurately cited and she paraphrased them properly, and the product she produced was amazing. If you look at the change in her ability to communicate as a scholar, it\u2019s tremendous. She couldn\u2019t have done that on her own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every academic department at Hollins has a designated liaison librarian who works personally with faculty and students to support their classes and research. Along with his duties as university librarian, Vilelle is the library\u2019s liaison to the communication studies department and is actively involved in working with Weber\u2019s classes throughout each semester. \u201cLuke knows what all my classes are doing and creates online library guides that are tailored to each,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe guide has articles, how to access them, tips and tricks, and available research databases. It really is a one-stop shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JillWeber\u2019s students then go to the library to meet the staff serving as contacts for her classes. \u201cStudents can make specific, one-on-one appointments with them. They like having that contact person they can trust. The librarians have expanded beyond the realm of, \u2018Let me get you your material and manage it,\u2019 to \u2018Here\u2019s how you cite it, how you use it, how you paraphrase it.\u2019 We have to break a lot of the habits students have developed from the digital age, and the library is doing a good job of responding to that and helping faculty members deal with it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each spring, the library celebrates exceptional student research projects completed in Hollins courses by presenting the Wyndham Robertson Library Undergraduate Research Awards. According to the awards\u2019 Web page, \u201cThese research projects showcase extensive and creative usage of the library\u2019s resources; the ability to synthesize those resources in completing the project; and growth in the student\u2019s research skills.\u201d This year\u2019s winner was Catherine Hensly \u201914 for her paper, \u201cHigher Education, Higher Costs: An Income-Contingent Approach\u201d (see photo).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to identify and recognize examples of the great student work being done here, things that other people would be interested in seeing,\u201d says Vilelle. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to look at the quality of the research our undergrads do here. We\u2019ve gotten submissions over the years from every division on campus and we\u2019ve had winners from a variety of different departments.\u201d<\/p>\n

While remaining cognizant of the pitfalls of the digital age, Vilelle says the library is constantly exploring ways in which it can maximize some of the advantages of new technology. \u201cThe library website is never going to be Google, but we\u2019re trying to create as many easy \u2018ins\u2019 to our content as possible. We recently did a redesign of our homepage. We used to just have a catalog search. Now we\u2019ve got tabs at the top where you can not only do that but also search all the roughly 30 EBSCO online research databases we provide and all our JSTOR content [a digital library of academic books, journals, and primary sources]. We\u2019ve also had a chat box on our homepage for a number of years where students can talk with us and ask us questions.\u201d A text messaging service and an app that will allow people to access the library and even perform in-depth research from their mobile devices are forthcoming.<\/p>\n

\"Catherine<\/p>\n

Catherine Hensly \u201914, a double major in economics and business, won the library\u2019s top Undergraduate Research Award this year. \u201cHigher Education, Higher Cost: An Income-Contingent Approach\u201d also won the Virginia Social Science Association\u2019s Best 2014 Undergraduate Paper Award.<\/em><\/p>\n

The library is also focused on the development of a digital commons, which is intended to provide greater entr\u00e9e into the scholarly work done by both students and faculty. \u201cThe library is initiating discussions on campus about the value of making materials available to the scholarly world as a whole instead of saying, \u2018No, only people on this campus can view it,\u2019 or \u2018You must pay x dollars to read this article or get this journal.\u2019 Open access democratizes knowledge; that\u2019s the idea behind this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vilelle emphasizes that such an initiative must be approached carefully, keeping in mind copyright issues, privacy, format obsolescence, or other potential concerns involved in making materials available digitally. But he believes there is significant benefit to getting faculty and students alike \u201cthinking about what the scholarly conversation of tomorrow looks like, and where it takes place. Those are questions we hope our community can really start sinking their teeth into, along with what can we share as far as the work both faculty and students are doing that shows a good example of what\u2019s happening here, what\u2019s possible if you come to Hollins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weber recently interviewed 90 faculty, administrators, and staff on behalf of the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs about how Hollins is defining student academic success: What is the university doing well in that regard, and where is there room for improvement? She says faculty members identified intellectual curiosity as a key aspect of student success, and they insisted, \u201cWe cannot encourage and cultivate intellectual curiosity without an active physical library.\u201d After completing the interviews, Weber found that \u201cacross the board, one of the things that came up most frequently about what we are doing well is the library.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Salowey, the library \u201cfeels like the beating heart of the campus. I\u2019m positive we have the best librarians in the country. They help me in almost every aspect of my job here at Hollins. They\u2019re great people and they\u2019re irreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Hodges is director of public relations.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"divider\"<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your Source for Lifelong Learning<\/h3>\n

You may have graduated from Hollins, but you\u2019re still welcome to use many of the library\u2019s services as outlined below.<\/p>\n

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Databases<\/h4>\n

Alumnae\/i now have access to JSTOR and Project MUSE, two of the library\u2019s largest online collections of journals. To use these databases, you must have a user ID and password.\u00a0Contact the alumnae office (alumnae@hollins.edu or 800-TINKER1) to get your log-in information.<\/p>\n

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[fourcol_one]<\/p>\n

Borrowing Materials<\/h4>\n

All alumnae\/i are welcome to search the online catalog for books and films, and to use the periodicals and government documents within the library. A library card (free to alumnae\/i) is required to check out materials for use outside the building. Register for your card at the library\u2019s first-floor circulation desk.<\/p>\n

[\/fourcol_one]<\/p>\n

[fourcol_one]<\/p>\n

Get Help With Using the Library<\/h4>\n

Our reference staff members are ready to help you with quick questions or more extensive research consultations.<\/p>\n