Thank you for participating in this study. I’m Amanda Woodward, the User Engagement Librarian at Woodbury University. Today we are going to be talking about the skills and experiences you gained while working as a student employee at the library. Please feel free to share about all aspects of your work, whether they are positive, negative, or lie somewhere in-between. Everything you share during this interview is confidential and your personal identity will not be disclosed in the findings of this study. This is an exploratory study with an aim to better understand how you perceive your library employment as a part of your larger educational experience on campus.
Let’s get started with some general questions about your job at the library.
How did you come to work at the library?
Think back to when you were first hired. What types of training did you receive?
Have you received any follow-up training as your employment continued? If so,
please describe.
Describe a typical work shift at the library.
Keeping in mind the types of training you just described and your regular job tasks, we are going to make a list of the skills and attitudes you developed during your work at the library. Think about skills and attitudes broadly as any type of ability or perspective you developed while working. Use the sticky notes to list as many things as you can think of.
Probes during list building:
What types of systems do use during your library work?
How do you interact with library users?
Have you worked on any special projects? If so, with who?
What is your relationship like with your supervisor? Librarians? Peer colleagues?
How do you use the library collections? Services? Space?
Now that we have a sticky note for each of skills/attitudes you described, let’s sort them into three categories: academic, professional, and life. It’s okay if some of the stickies fit in two categories, we can make a duplicates. Let’s start with academic.
Group together all the skills and attitudes that relate to education and scholarship. Think about this as anything you might use during your courses to help you complete assignments and get good grades.
Think back to your most recent research assignment for a class. Describe the
assignment.
Did you use these skills while completing the assignment? If so, how?
What do you do when you are not sure how to complete an assignment?
Describe a time you felt academically challenged?
How did you overcome the challenge?
Did you use any of these skills? If so, how?
(If student mentions specific library resources) How have you helped others used these skills? On job? Off job?
Group together all the skills and attitudes that relate to career preparedness. Think about this as anything that might be helpful as you look for a job after graduation.
What career to you plan to pursue after graduation?
Do you think you will use these professional skills during your future career? If so, how?
Ask for specific examples related to skills listed.
In what other capacities have you practiced these professional skills while in college?
Group together all the skills and attitudes that influence your quality of life. This category may be more attitude/value based. Think of this as anything that might inform your world view or daily life.
How would you go about finding information to inform a life choice (ex: buying a car, medical info, etc.)? Would any of these skills be helpful in that task?
What types of pleasure reading do you do?
Is it important that you live in a community with a well-supported library?
Now I’m going to ask you a few more questions about the relationships you developed while working at the library. If any new skills/attitudes come up while we are talking, we can add them to the list.
Describe your relationship with student co-workers.
Describe a recent interaction.
Do you spend time with co-workers outside of your working hours? Doing what?
What other student groups or activities are you involved in? (On-campus or off)
How does your job at the library affect your participation in these groups?
Probes: Time available, awareness of groups, recruiting to groups
Describe your relationship with your supervisor.
How do you interact with librarians during your job?
Describe a recent interaction.
Do you get help from librarians with your research assignments?
Do you talk to your supervisor or librarians about your academic performance? Career plans?
Lastly, I have a few questions about the library environment. Again, we can add to our skills/attitudes list if anything new comes up.
Do you spend any time in the library when you are not working? If so, how?
How would you describe the environment of the library?
How does the library compare to other spaces that you spend time on campus?
Do attend any events at the library? Describe.
Take a few moments to look over the categories we created and the skills and attitudes you listed.
Is anything missing that you would like to add?
Is there any particular skill or attitude that you would like to say more about?
Anything we did not discuss that you would like to share about your employment at the library?
Thank you for your time and responses!
