Personal Librarians: Building Relationships for Student Success
By Lynne Bisko, Heather Buchansky, Brian C. Gray, and E. Gail Reese
ISBN: 9781440858246 (paperback); 9781440858253 (ebook)
Published: 2019
Pages: 166
Price: $55.00 (paperback);
ebook pricing available on request
Available from: ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited, 130 Cremona Drive, Suite C, Santa Barbara, CA 93117-5515;
abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A5516P
For many students, research help at a library’s reference desk is not enough. Even those students who are somewhat familiar with library resources in general can benefit from enhanced outreach and support. Enter the personal librarian program, which seeks to help students use the library and feel more comfortable asking for research assistance. Personal Librarians: Building Relationships for Student Success is a DIY guide for librarians and other information professionals who want to implement or enhance a personal librarian program of their own. The authors bring to their topic extensive North American academic library experience in outreach, student and public engagement, research services, first-year experience services, and library administration. Their goal is to provide a stepby- step plan for developing, maintaining, and assessing a personal librarian program in an academic or research library setting, using as a model their experiences at Elon University (a small institution with approximately 6,000 undergraduates), Case Western Reserve University (medium, 5,100 undergraduates), and the University of Toronto (large, 43,500 undergraduates).
Personal librarian programs vary widely, but, in general, seek to customize information literacy and research assistance by establishing a one-on-one relationship between librarians and students. As the authors observe, different student populations have different needs: Underrepresented, first-generation and low-income, international, indigenous, distance and online learning, and commuter students will require different levels of services and outreach.
The book takes the reader through the steps of creating a personal librarian program for these and general student populations. Key elements of planning include establishing program benefits and goals, preparing and training staff, cultivating campus partners, implementing marketing and communication strategies, and conducting assessment. Relevant case studies from each institution supplement the discussion by providing specific examples of the topic discussed in each chapter. A useful summary of key points and a list of references ends each chapter, and appendices at the end of the book offer examples of sample assessment tools, pictures of marketing and promotional materials, and a list of additional readings.
Future editions of this book could be improved with the addition of illustrative material, checklists, and graphics to break up the sometime dense text. Regardless, the book is an interesting, practical guide and should be consulted by librarians seeking to enhance their students’ familiarity with and use of their libraries. Librarians may also wish to read Richard Moniz’ and Jean Moats’ The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience (ALA Editions, 2014; alastore.ala.org/content/personal-librarian-enhancing-student-experience).
