[studentsuccesslibrarians] Welcome!

Fri Dec 13 16:59:29 UTC 2019

Hi Amanda! I wrote my last email before I saw your introduction! I totally
hear you about the conflicted feelings about the library's role in student
success. A lot of the research I've read boils down to "students who use
the library make higher grades," even though it could be easily argued that
students who make higher grades are more likely to use the library, which
is actually saying something quite different. Also, should we be measuring
success with numbers only? Is it considered a success if they have the
grades but their mental health suffered? I don't know. There's a lot to
think about. I'm glad you're here though! I will definitely be posting
student success related job positions in the listserv as I see them come.

Best,
Melody

On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 11:18 AM Amanda Jenkins <akjenkins4 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> My name is Amanda Jenkins, and I am currently a librarian at Luther
> College in Decorah, IA. "Student success" isn't in my job title either, but
> we're a small campus and a small library and I'm able to have my fingers in
> a few pies at once--I wanted to join this list because I've been wrestling
> with questions related to student success and support and mental health
> lately, as my campus Counseling Services has been sharing statistics that
> show an increased number of students seeking help. I have a lot of jumbled
> and conflicting feelings and ideas about the library's role in student
> success, and I was excited to find this list as a place to share and work
> through and have conversations about those ideas!
>
> I finished my degree in May of 2018 at the University of Iowa, so I'm also
> early career, but like Ruth I break the pattern of first-gen and POC. I
> find myself in the second temporary (one academic year) contract of my
> career, so I'm going to be back on the job market fairly soon, and on the
> lookout for positions that are more explicitly undergraduate experience or
> student success oriented--another reason I joined this list!
>
> Excited to meet everyone, and grateful to be here.
>
> Happy Friday,
> Amanda
>
> Amanda Jenkins (she/her/hers)
> User Experience Librarian
> Preus Library 207A
> Luther College, Decorah, IA
> jenkam01 at luther.edu
> 563-387-1297
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 12, 2019 at 11:00 AM Ruth Monnier <rmonnier at pittstate.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Melody, Reanna, Nicky, and all!
>>
>> My name is Ruth Monnier (she/her/hers). Like Reanna, student success and
>> first-year experience are not in my job title and I have a similar
>> ambiguous title to explain. I am the Learning Outreach Librarian at
>> Pittsburg State University. In this role, I work with our Student Success
>> Programs on library orientation for all incoming students and as the job
>> description said "demonstrate a strong commitment to library user services
>> and programs that support student success."  I am new to my role and
>> southest Kansas as I started about 7 months ago. I am the second
>> individual at the library with this title. However, like Melody mentioned
>> it seems to be hard to give a quick overview of what I do to other
>> individuals. I am curious how others are fulfilling this mission of
>> supporting student success and as Melody said, what is the definition for
>> student success.
>>
>> I graduated from Kent State in August 2018 and previously worked in
>> public libraries. I would consider myself an early career professional, but
>> otherwise break the pattern of first-gen and POC.
>>
>> Look forward to learning and hearing from everyone,
>> Ruth
>>
>> Ps. Thanks again for starting the listserv, Melody!
>>
>> Ruth Monnier, MLIS
>> she/her/hers
>> Learning Outreach Librarian and Assistant Professor
>> Leonard H. Axe Library
>> Pittsburg State University
>> rmonnier at pittstate.edu
>> Office: 620-235-4885 <callto:620-235-4885>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* studentsuccesslibrarians <
>> studentsuccesslibrarians-bounces at wiw.org> on behalf of Reanna Esmail <
>> rke24 at cornell.edu>
>> *Sent:* Thursday, December 12, 2019 10:11 AM
>> *To:* Melody Rood <mlrood at uncg.edu>; Nicola Andrews <nandrews at uw.edu>;
>> studentsuccesslibrarians at wiw.org <studentsuccesslibrarians at wiw.org>
>> *Subject:* Re: [studentsuccesslibrarians] Welcome!
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> Thank you, Melody, for putting this together!
>>
>> I'd like to also introduce myself. My name is Reanna Esmail. While
>> student success and first-year experience are not in my job title, it is
>> similarly open-ended, subjective, and ambiguous. I am the Outreach and
>> Engagement Librarian at Cornell University. Part of my position includes
>> planning first year (undergraduate and graduate) library orientation,
>> developing learning materials, and creating programs for first-generation
>> students. Thus, I feel that student success falls under the purvue on job
>> responsibilities.
>>
>> I am also a recent librarian. I received my MSLIS this past May and
>> started my librarian position in June. I am also a POC and first-gen
>> college student, so perhaps there is a pattern here?
>>
>> Otherwise, I'm excited to be part of this group!
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Reanna
>>
>> P.S. I'm actually originally from the SF Bay Area. I will be in the Bay
>> for the winter break (12/24-1/4). If anyone wanted to meet for a coffee or
>> something, please reach out!
>>
>> *Reanna Esmail*
>>
>> Outreach and Engagement Librarian
>>
>> Research & Learning Services
>>
>> she/her/hers
>>
>>
>>
>> 106 Olin Library
>>
>> Cornell University
>>
>> Ithaca, NY 14853 USA
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* studentsuccesslibrarians <
>> studentsuccesslibrarians-bounces at wiw.org> on behalf of Melody Rood <
>> mlrood at uncg.edu>
>> *Sent:* Thursday, December 12, 2019 10:48 AM
>> *To:* Nicola Andrews <nandrews at uw.edu>
>> *Cc:* studentsuccesslibrarians at wiw.org <studentsuccesslibrarians at wiw.org>
>> *Subject:* Re: [studentsuccesslibrarians] Welcome!
>>
>> Hi Nicola!
>> Thank you for the introduction! Your research goals sound really
>> interesting! Now that you mention it, the Student Success librarians that
>> I've met (only a few) fit that description--myself included. I'm early
>> career and mixed POC/ first gen. I went to a conference earlier this year
>> that talked about how Diversity Residents often move on to jobs like
>> FYE/Student Success positions, so I definitely think there's something
>> there. I actually have some research goals that similarly align with this
>> topic, so we should keep in touch in the future.
>>
>> Well, it's nice to meet you! I hope others will join in on the
>> conversations. I was told listservs are commonly marked as spam, which is
>> what I believe is happening here. So hopefully folks will eventually
>> realize it and mark the listserv address otherwise. Good luck to you and
>> everybody else during final exam season!
>>
>> Best,
>> Melody
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 5:11 PM Nicola Andrews <nandrews at uw.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Hi folks - I just thought I would introduce myself.  My name is Nicky
>> Andrews, and I am the First-Year Experience Librarian at the University of
>> San Francisco, a role I started in September.  This is a brand-new role,
>> and I am considering ways to eventually do research or to present on what I
>> perceive as being a trend of "Student Success/Undergraduate
>> Success/First-Year Experience" type roles being created - and typically
>> filled by young, relatively early career professionals from minority
>> backgrounds; and what that means in terms of power dynamics within
>> academia/the impact we can have on students/our profession.
>>
>> So anyway - hello!  Thank you Melody for starting this listserv, and I
>> hope it leads to some fruitful and supportive conversations.
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 9, 2019 at 6:56 AM Melody Rood <mlrood at uncg.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Hello!
>>
>> I'm resending this email since 1) Several people have signed up since I
>> first wrote this and 2) it seems that these emails are going to spam boxes
>> for a lot of people, so please make sure to mark it as NOT spam for future
>> emails!
>>
>> My name is Melody Rood (she/her/hers). I am the Student Success Librarian
>> at UNCG--a new position in our library. I've been in this role for about 6
>> months now, so I'm still very new! I must admit, when I first started, I
>> felt both anxious and excited to be the first person in this position. I
>> spent a lot of time thinking about how to define my job. When folks asked,
>> I would inevitably find myself in a circumlocutory speech about
>> nontraditional students or retention rates, never really answering the
>> question. I knew what I was expected to do based on the job description, so
>> technically, I could explain what a Student Success Librarian does.
>> However, I found myself wanting to have conversations about what "student
>> success" means in the library--not just the institution's definition. Who
>> decides what is success? How are we measuring it? Are we benchmarking just
>> to prove the library's worth? Who is being left out? So, I looked for
>> associations and potential listservs where I could connect with people who
>> were also in this fairly new position in librarianship. Unfortunately, I
>> did not have a lot of luck. I was able to connect with a couple of people
>> in the Southeast, but I knew there were more of us out there! I told myself
>> if I couldn't find an avenue to connect with other S.S. Librarians by the
>> end my first semester, I would make it happen myself. That led to the
>> creation of this listserv!
>>
>> I hope that we can use this space to have conversations, make
>> connections, share CFPs and other professional opportunities, etc. Please
>> feel free to share this listserv with other Student Success Librarians or
>> folks doing similar work. Anybody is welcomed! If you feel inclined to
>> introduce yourself, that would be great, but no pressure! Thank you!
>>
>> To share the link to join:
>> https://wiw.org/mailman/listinfo/studentsuccesslibrarians
>>
>> Best Wishes,
>> Melody
>>
>> --
>> Melody Rood (she/her/hers)
>> <https://intercultural.uncg.edu/student-advocacy-outreach/lgbt-community/lgbtq-resources/trans-resources/why-pronouns-matter>
>> Assistant Professor & Student Success Librarian
>> Liaison to International & Global Studies
>> Jackson Library, UNCG
>> _______________________________________________
>> studentsuccesslibrarians mailing list
>> studentsuccesslibrarians at wiw.org
>> https://wiw.org/mailman/listinfo/studentsuccesslibrarians
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *Nicola Andrews, Ngāti Paoa*
>> University of Washington MLIS 2017
>> http://nicolaandrews.net/
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Melody Rood (she/her/hers)
>> <https://intercultural.uncg.edu/student-advocacy-outreach/lgbt-community/lgbtq-resources/trans-resources/why-pronouns-matter>
>> Assistant Professor & Student Success Librarian
>> Liaison to International & Global Studies
>> Jackson Library, UNCG
>> _______________________________________________
>> studentsuccesslibrarians mailing list
>> studentsuccesslibrarians at wiw.org
>> https://wiw.org/mailman/listinfo/studentsuccesslibrarians
>>
> _______________________________________________
> studentsuccesslibrarians mailing list
> studentsuccesslibrarians at wiw.org
> https://wiw.org/mailman/listinfo/studentsuccesslibrarians
>

-- 
Melody Rood (she/her/hers)
<https://intercultural.uncg.edu/student-advocacy-outreach/lgbt-community/lgbtq-resources/trans-resources/why-pronouns-matter>
Assistant Professor & Student Success Librarian
Liaison to International & Global Studies
Jackson Library, UNCG
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