Subscribe to our newsletter by emailPersonal Librarian Pilot
In Fall 2017, UCI piloted a "Personal Librarian" program for all incoming first-year and transfer students. This program pairs students with a librarian who supports their major field of study and sends students timely messages about library services and resources.
Stacy Brinkman, Head, Education and Outreach, initiated this program at UCI after witnessing the success of a Personal Librarian program at her previous institution. According to Stacy, "a major goal of the program is to reduce barriers for students in engaging with an academic library. For many students, university libraries can be intimidating and difficult to navigate. By introducing students to a personal contact, we hope to make them feel comfortable knowing that they are welcome here and that they can ask us questions any time."
Personal Librarian programs have been adopted by many academic libraries over the past several years. Assessments of these programs suggest that students contacted proactively by librarians tend to use the library more frequently, check out more materials from the library and utilize library services when they need help.
In Fall quarter, the UCI Libraries sent seven messages to students, typically every other week. Through this program, students learned about services such as one-on-one research consultations, technology (laptops, iPads, video cameras, etc.) available for check-out and different types of study spaces in the library. The library was able to promote workshops, events and other initiatives such as student-curated book displays. Each message included the name, photo and contact information of their Personal Librarian so that students could become familiar with their librarian as a source of information and assistance.
So far, students have been very receptive to the program, opening over 64% of the messages sent during the quarter. Several subject librarians commented that they received "thank you" notes from students for the outreach, and the libraries also saw an increase in participation in library events such as the Paws B4 Finals pet therapy program that occurs during finals week. We will continue to assess the impact of this initiative in the upcoming year.
For more information please contact Stacy Brinkman, Head, Education & Outreach at brinkmas@uci.edu.