A return on investing in student employees

By: Kim Karim

Libraries train their student employees in many areas including, but not limited to: circulation, outreach, ducement delivery and archiving. Whether the training is on-the-job or over a period of several days before or during the semester, student employees are given the information and tools they need to help each library carry out its mission and services to their college community.

During the summer of 2022, our Head of Access Services and I created and carried out a two-day student training program, which varied greatly from the training I would do during each student’s library shift. The more students that were hired before the semester started (which was usually more for the fall), the busier I would be the first several weeks into the academic year. My very first academic semester was nearly five years ago when I was hired to be the Circulation Supervisor. I not only had to learn all the policies and procedures myself, but in turn had to teach nine new student employees that same information. I started one month before the semester began. It was stressful!

Thinking back to that time, it would have been extremely helpful to have a designated training period with those students as a group. Repeating the same information over and over to students each day, for multiple days and weeks in a row, was extremely daunting. Information got lost and the connection with my students waivered, as by the end of the day I was mentally drained from repeating myself. Our new training program, however, which was planned and executed with little negative outcome, is not only better for me as their supervisor, but better overall for the students.

They are able to get all the information about the library at the same time and in the same capacity as their peers. They are able to ask questions more freely, work together with their peers using hands-on activities, and feel better prepared heading into the semester with a real understanding of how our library functions. 

The return? Students begin to form a real connection with their peers and the staff. This happened right away with our students, both returning and new. This fall, we hope to continue to build on the success of our first training experience. With any luck, a new batch of enthusiastic employees will rise up and begin their successful tenure at the circulation desk.