Study Population:
Conducted at Woodbury University, a private, non-profit institution with an annual enrollment of less than 1,500 full time students.
On average, the library employs 22 students each academic year.
The majority of these employees continue working at the library until graduation.
Almost all of the student employees have federal work-study funding.
A purposeful sample of students who worked at least 2 semesters in past 2 academic years participated in this study
Data Collection:
8 semi-structured in-depth interviewers were conducted with 8 students from the study population
During the interviews, students completed a structural activity of free-listing skills they developed while working at the library, then sorting them into academic, professional, and life skills (see the interview guide for more details)
Qualitative research methods were selected because of the exploratory nature of the study and the small population.
Ideal for collecting rich descriptive information about individual students’ experiences and perceptions as well as answering how student develop skills and why they are perceived as important to academics and future professional/life goals
Data Analysis:
applied thematic analysis of interview transcripts
