During the cold winter months, Elizabethtown College students bundle up and head to High Library for warm and comfortable quiet time. They check out a favorite book to read when then need a break from cramming; they study with friends and conduct research for lengthy academic papers. This February, however, to make things even more accessible, the library is coming to the students.
During the week of Feb. 3, High Library staff members will be stationed outside the Marketplace for lunchtime Midterm Minis. Midterm Minis are information sessions held impromptu, if necessary, to help students get through midterm exams. “The librarians will be there to help answer questions or basically provide whatever services the students may be needing,” said Louise Hyder-Darlington, access services librarian in the High Library.
We will have our laptops and lots of helpful strategies to make research much easier.” – Hyder-Darlington
After hearing student concerns during fall focus groups and taking suggestions on how to be more accessible, the High Library staff conceived of the idea to bring their knowledge beyond the library walls to make it more available in the places students gather.
“The librarians connect with the first-year students during the early weeks of classes,” said Hyder-Darlington. “However, in the focus groups, our students suggested that it would be helpful if the librarians could somehow reach out to the students prior to and closer to midterms.”
Areas of assistance, she said, could include helping the student choose the right database for research on a midterm paper, providing instructions on how to use Interlibrary loan to get materials High Library doesn’t have on hand, demonstrating how to search databases, assisting with citation writing, helping with accessing databases off campus and giving advice on the next steps for tracking down something found on Google Scholar.
Staff members from High Library will be available at a table just outside the Marketplace from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, through Friday, Feb. 7, Hyder-Darlington said. “Students can just stop by. We will have our laptops and lots of helpful strategies to make research much easier.”