Andrew Yager Franklin Ofsthun Coordinator of Access Services Library Services Specialist & Acquisitions Universities at Shady Grove Universities at Shady Grove Laying foundations for growth: Student employment built on professional and personal development 1 Land Acknowledgement At the University of Maryland Libraries, we believe it is important to create dialogue to honor those that have been historically and systemically disenfranchised. We acknowledge the truth that is often buried: We are on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway People, who were among the first in the Western Hemisphere. We are on indigenous land that was stolen from the Piscataway People by European colonists. We pay respects to Piscataway elders and ancestors. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that bring us together here today. 2 Some bits about us Andrew Yager Franklin Ofsthun Head of access services at USG Library Services Specialist White, hetero, cis, man White trans man Former library student employee (4-year) Studied psychology and social work Supervised student employees in 4 Former Priddy Library student employee libraries Just-barely millennial, Star Trek Vintage millennial, long-time gamer enthusiast 3 Icon made by Nikita Golubev from FlatIcon.com Introduction to USG Founded in 2000 Rockville, MD 80 Programs from nine state schools Non-residential Diverse, non-traditional student body Introduction to Priddy Library Branch of University of Maryland Libraries 12,000 volumes 7,500 sqft 100,000 visitors/year 10-13 student assistants A novel architecture of student employment ?Person-Centered? 6 How is ?person-centered? read in psychology? - Person-centered therapy - Carl Rogers - Best used for people who ?would be better off gaining more self-confidence, a stronger sense of identity, and the ability to build healthy interpersonal relationships and to trust [their] own decisions? - Three principles: - Unconditional positive regard - Empathetic understanding - Congruence Person-Centered Therapy. (n.d.) Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/person-centered-therapy 7 How is ?person-centered? read in business? - Focus on employees as people - Care about all aspects of their lives - Design roles to suit the person in them - Change responsibilities to fit their strengths and interests - Provide opportunities to determine their own work - Help people develop in-role and for the long-term - Work with them to identify skills to learn or improve - Aid them in attaining their career goals - Even if unrelated to their current role 8 How is ?person-centered? read in student employment? - Work isn?t therapy! But psychology can teach us about how people learn - Integrates student and employee roles - Recontextualize person-centered principles: - Unconditional positive regard - Empathetic understanding - Congruence 9 A functional fixer-upper Our old model Icon made by Eucalyp from FlatIcon.com 10 Prefab management: a model of efficiency! Task-centric, procedural, training and workflow Minimized disruption in a high turnover environment Low likelihood of catastrophic failures Minimal investment, rapid & seemingly uniform implementation ? For a very specific plot and aesthetic 12 Selling low in a strong market We undersold our employees? - They were all juniors or higher in programs based on practical career applications - Most had prior work experience - They?re all capable of higher order thinking ? And underserved them as well - How could they apply their education in their roles? - What sort of careers were we preparing them for? - Why would they include this work on their r?sum?s? 13 Designed for whom? - Pushes students to adhere to models that are natural to us - Maximizes our time spent in non-management roles - Minimizes opportunity for failure and innovation 14 One-day remodeling tips! - Create a list of the choices/options your student employees have in determining their work - Ask your student employees how they?d describe their work on their resume - Draft a student employee job description that includes the non-monetary benefits to workers 15 Planning our renovation Planning a student- centered program Icon made by Nikita Golubev from FlatIcon.com 16 Framing a successful program - Prepare students for work after graduation - (Integrate with campus mission) - Create high-impact educational experiences - Leverage abilities of upper-level students - Increase engagement and interest in the job - Emphasize library as a learning environment - Prioritize holistic approach to development 17 Building theory into practice - Training and refresher program - Trust and freedom to select work - Engaging with professional development - More meaningful performance reviews - Including a self-review - Coaching, feedback, and iterative improvement 18 One-day remodeling tips! - Ask your students to list what they?ve learned in classes that they used at work - And what they learned at work that they used in a class! - Add mid-semester, 1-on-1 follow-up meetings for all student employees 19 Your turn at the drafting table! What do you do to develop your student employees that isn?t explicitly geared to being a better library employee? 20 Building from the blueprint Our current program Icon made by Smashicons from FlatIcon.com 21 Training & Refresher Day Training - Shifting focus from trainer disseminating knowledge to trainee practicing skills - ?I do, we do, you do? - Roleplaying Activities - Shadowing experienced employees - Refreshing work skills with returning student refresher day & video trainings during tele-work 23 Student training & refresher day Freedom & Trust Work as self-directed projects - Projects are as self-directed as possible - In person: students know what they need to work on during a regular shift - At home: students complete assigned project at their own pace Self Reporting and trust - Trusting their productivity - Trusting their judgement - Trusting their intentions - Course-correcting with respect Professional Development Professional development activities Articles Webinars Library workshops Engagement responses NACE Competencies Communication Professionalism Critical Thinking Research Customer Service Teamwork Intercultural Fluency Tech/Application Leadership Time Management Mental Health One-day remodeling tips! - Read over the NACE key competencies for career readiness: https://go.umd.edu/NACEplans - Make a list of how student employees? work develops them in each competency - Select 1 competency and ask students how their work reflects it - Find a short training on video and assign your students to view it during their shifts 31 Self-evaluation & Review Review Process Student fills out self evaluation Staff fills out evaluation Meeting to discuss previous semester Set goals for semester ahead Self-evaluation: focal point for development - Not just for introspection! - Reveals where you and students see things differently - Including what you don?t see at all - Reconciling self-eval with supervisor review necessitates trust 34 One-day remodeling tips! - Have student employees fill out a copy of a staff self-eval form - Add a ?planning for next semester? section to your performance review: - Include new/special work you?ll give a student due to their strengths - Include a single area where you will help them grow, and how 35 Feedback & Iteration Gathering feedback - Getting and using feedback from student employees is essential in building trust - Multiple forms of feedback - Feedback doesn?t always have to be formal Feedback drives changes in the work... - Strategic planning - Creating a course reserve inventory - Changing ILL tracking procedure - Rewriting opening and closing procedures 38 ...And the program IMPLEMENTING Making changes & maintaining program REVIEWING Observing and gathering student feedback DEVELOPING Modifying program based on feedback and goals Architectural Criticism Student perceptions of the program 40 Icon made by Flat Icons from FlatIcon.com Improvement suggestions & Negative feedback Students expressed general concerns with article requirements: length, subject, response format ?I?d prefer to find and pick our own articles.? ?[The workshops] can be difficult to schedule.? ?[It would be good to] be able to do some other activity instead if you can?t find one you like or is relevant.? Successes & Positive feedback ?The library job helped me in developing many skills like communication, customer service, teamwork, time management, etc and I am grateful to be to part of the Priddy Library? ?You also think critically in emergent situations. The job also encourages time management, professionalism, and growth.? ?One of the best jobs I've had thus far. Thank you to everyone for making it so!? Thanks for sticking with us! ANY QUESTIONS? Presentation template by SlidesCarnival 43 Some references & Further reading ? Arnold-Garza, S. & Tomlinson, C. (2017). Students Lead the Library: The Importance of Student Contributions to the Academic Library. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. ? Black, J. & La Venture, K. (2018). The Human Factor to Profitability: Leveraging People-Centered Cultures as Meaningful Organizations. Public Integrity, 20(5), 444-458. https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2017.1364949 ? King, R. (2019). People-Centered Leadership. Supervision, 80(2), 12-15. ? Melilli, A., Mitola, R., & Hunsaker, A. (2016). Contributing to the Library Student Employee Experience: Perceptions of a Student Development Program. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 42(4), 430?437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2016.04.005 ? Mitola, R.., Rinto, E., & Pattni, E. (2018). Student Employment as a High-Impact Practice in Academic Libraries: A Systematic Review. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44(3), 352?373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2018.03.005 ? National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2019). Career Readiness Defined. https://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/career-readiness-defined/