The Graduate School of Leadership and Change (GSLC) serves the faculty and students by providing a student-centered library in full support of the curriculum. The digital reference services and the library collection is backed up with University wide Interlibrary Loan, and access to the print collections held at any of our on-site locations, as well as the hundreds of thousands of scholarly eBook in our platforms. GSLC library support is especially designed to support adult, low-residency students in all aspects of their academic endeavors—from initial work through dissertation. In addition, the library provides to all its patrons a regular program and plan of support for self-directed learning acquisition of information literacy for scholarly work. Personalized and proactive library reference support and instruction underlie all library services.
Professional Reference Services
A full time core-faculty librarian, Steve Shaw, works exclusively with the GSLC, supporting students and faculty on-line and attending every residency with research support through individual appointments, group sessions, and responsive virtual library support.
Philosophy and Role
Our patron-centered library reference service is designed with the philosophy that successful doctoral low-residency library support must be personalized, proactive, and always pedagogical.
With an eye toward understanding the student’s academic interests, professional work, technical skills, library experience and concerns, the librarian meets with every student before the first residency, ensuring a personal onboarding and introduction to the library. From this interview, the librarian helps the students personalize their library experience which will continue to be adapted for the student’s needs throughout their time in the GSLC. This is followed up with cohort library sessions annually at residencies, as well as multiple live virtual workshops throughout the years on topics supporting all aspects of academic work, from entry-level through alumni support. Additionally, students can sign up for 1-1 sessions using Zoom anytime, on any topic.
The adult graduate student is often returning to serious scholarship after an absence from academia. This absence may bring insecurity and rusty library research skills. We hope that by coming to authentically know the librarian as a person, the student can feel comfortable and confident in approaching him for help in using the library to support self-directed learning and research. Acknowledging the sacrifice and commitment adult students make to complete this degree, the library services focus on providing both training and assistance which expedite the student’s own research abilities, leaving more time for study and family.