1. Bringing Their Whole Selves to Work; 2. Navigating Fulfilling Student Employment

Abstract

PRESENTATION 1 ABSTRACT: Bringing Their Whole Selves to Work: Capitalizing on Student Employee Strengths to Improve Their Employment Experience and the Library - Kate Wenger, Chatham University. Student employees bring unique perspectives, skills, and interests to their work in academic libraries. They are also a wealth of knowledge and ideas about what students actually want from the library. Libraries can and should capitalize on this to both enhance the student employment experience as well as to benefit the library. This presentation will discuss efforts at a small university library to connect student employee coursework to library work, assign special projects based on personal interests, and solicit and act on student employee ideas for improvements to library services and the library experience.

PRESENTATION 2 ABSTRACT: Navigating Fulfilling Student Employment: Mutually Beneficial Work Cultures - Shelby Hebert and Sierra Laddusaw, Texas Tech University. The Maps & GIS Department at Texas A&M University utilized a symbiotic approach to hiring and work assignments for student employees. Through incorporating students’ career and educational goals into our hiring and work assignment processes, we could work toward organizational goals while also creating a positive work culture where student employees were able to learn skills and gain experience they found meaningful and would prepare them for their future careers. In this presentation, we will discuss examples of how we developed thoughtful hiring practices, utilized strategic task assignments, created networking opportunities for student employees, and overall cultivated a supportive work environment that benefited student employees and achieved organizational goals.