Project title: Student involvement in developing library skills

Project partners: Lisa Redlinski (Library Manager, St Peters House Library) and Ellie Saunders (BA (Hons) Media Studies, School of Art and Media)

Behaviour change interventions are a fantastic approach to student learning from a library perspective. This is a novel project that allows the libraries to see what students bring to our public voice, and make sure we amplify students who are demonstrating excellent information finding skills, to other students.

Ellie and Lisa ran a student survey, asking participants about their experiences of library workshops, using citation guides, subject guides, and finding and citing primary source materials. Participants said there was consistency for each topic area, except citations.

Project outcome 1: changes to the navigation on library Sharepoint site will now link right to the citethemright landing page so students can log in and use the citation guidance. Enhanced signposting to students to log into citethemright.

Project outcome 2: present a ‘critical thinking’ page in reading lists or another portal, as a skill necessary before reading.

From conversations with students, suggested improvements to web presence of libraries:

• Modules about group work should include guidance on how to take a lead and organise group work.
  • Outcome: suggest 1^st year resources to lecturers on Leading and Organising Group Projects
• Very helpful for students to get to know the online terrain of the libraries, as well as the physical locations of the libraries and computer suites with associated software.
  • Outcome: videos, maps, signage for physical locations with URL for hours of opening and further information embedded
• Everyone googles ‘University of Brighton library’ to get opening hours and info, make as much of the library pages publicly viewable as possible.
  • Outcomes: hours location on all publicly viewable information. Include tv studies and editing suites. Edward street especially.
• Everyone googles ‘University of Brighton library’ to get the catalogue and online library. Often use OA resources like ‘pubmed’ to do research.
  • Outcomes: make the online library landing page a portal that links out to academic skills support videos on Boolean search. Need a place to talk to other students about researching their subject, investigate integrating SM discussion boards to host these conversations between students.
• Students have difficulty with their emotional health and many fellow students are doing worse in their studies because their emotional health is not considered in the primary motivation of pedagogical approach. Libraries also need to consider this.
  • Outcomes: students need to know there is a consequence for their choices to skip lessons, disengage from discussions, and generally under-perform in their assignments.
• Students are reluctant to advance their software skills and click around complex web pages. This should be encouraged from the start, to get students used to handling the unknown.
  • Outcomes: students given lessons in Boolean operators and advance search skills in year 1; students invited into mystery software activities, just to get them to do small-scale functions across multiple interfaces in computing.

For more information about this project, please contact Catherine McConnell, C.McConnell@brighton.ac.uk, Learning & Teaching Hub.