As a student supervisor of a team of six at Kennedy Library, I am challenged not just with providing services to clients and stakeholders, but also carry a moral responsibility for my employed students. Students are essential to my daily work, and indispensable for many large-scale, high-visibility projects. It is important to identify individual students’ needs and goals, as well to recognize current stressors and worries. It is essential to me to provide student assistants with valuable experiences that directly apply to their interests and their future job tasks. To mentor effectively also means to collaborate broadly with colleagues from different disciplines and colleges in hands-on partnerships. Class assignments, senior projects and staff collaborations provide opportunities for students to experiment, explore and broaden students’ skillsets. With a team of web developers, graphic designers and user experience student assistants, we managed to convince stakeholders of a mobile-first approach for our website, and encourage students to combine senior projects with their assistantship. My ten rules for an effective student-supervisor relationship, which I will elaborate in my presentation, are: 1. Give pointers and directions, not orders. 2. Teach only what you’re good at. 3. Take students seriously. 4. Talk and sketch together. 5. Listen. 6. Watch. 7. Learn. 8. Experiment. 9. Keep problems away. 10. Have fun! To prove the effectiveness of these simple rules, I will highlight library projects, faculty collaborations and successful partnerships with examples from Outstanding Student Employees of the Year, Hackathon competitors and successful graduates.

1. Creating the Competitive Edge:
Successfully establish, lead and
mentor a student UX team
Robert E. Kennedy Library
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Kaitlin Reynolds
Student Assistant
Conny Liegl
Staff Member

3. On being
an employee
On being
a student

4. Robert E.
Kennedy
Library
Cal Poly
State
University
SLO

5. My life
and UX
My life
and UX

6. Building the
right team
across
disciplines
Being part
of an inter-
disciplinary
team

7. Giving
pointers,
not orders
Working on
assignments

8. Teach only
what you’re
good at
Trust to be a
subject-
matter expert

9. Talk and
sketch
together
Team
relations and
meetings

10. Challenge
and support
new ideas
Experiment
and learn
by doing

11. Keep
problems
away
Have fun,
enjoy the
experience

12. Finding
opportunities
Taking
chances

13. Mythbusters
Sounds familiar?

14. Student Myths
§ Students are only good for busy work
§ Students are lazy and unmotivated
§ Students need close supervision and
need their hands held at all times

15. Leadership Myths
§ Training employees takes a long time
§ It’s not worth the investment for
short-term student assistants or
interns
§ You can’t use student assistants or
interns in real-life settings

16. Project examples
Student-led work at Kennedy Library

17. Library Maps Redesign
Benjamin Kieffer, Graphic Communication ‘14

18. Library Maps Redesign
Benjamin Kieffer, Graphic Communication ‘14

19. Library Maps Redesign
Benjamin Kieffer, Graphic Communication ‘14

20. Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu
Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15
Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17
Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

21. Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu
Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15
Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17
Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

22. Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu
Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15
Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17
Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

23. Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu
Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15
Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17
Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

24. Thank you
Kaitlin Reynolds
@kaitreynolds
Conny Liegl
@connyliegl