Libraries are uniquely poised to cooperate with other student support units to a central support entity to give non-traditional students the assistance they need to stay enrolled and on their way to a timely graduation. Presented at GaCOMO12 by Julie Poole.

1. CC Attribution – Non Commercial
http://creativecommons.org/

2. “It is impossible to overestimate
the fear and lack of self-confidence
of students, especially that of
non-traditional students.”
Sinfield & Burns, 2008, p. 46

3. The Problem: Attrition
 Why do students leave?
 Academic challenges
 Outside demands
 Lack of support (from the school but also from family
and friends)
 Negative experiences early in their college experience
or in their experience at a particular school
 Financial problems
 Illness/Injury

4. How to Combat Attrition?

5. What keeps students
enrolled?
 Determination
 Commitment to chosen profession/major
 Formal and informal support
 Integration (with the school, their courses, their
peer group, etc.)

7. Students Need
Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is the confidence in
one’s powers and abilities

8. How to Foster Self-
Confidence?
 As an institution
 “HE (higher education) institutions can exacerbate
student lack of self-esteem in the way that they
implicitly view and explicitly treat their students”
(Sinfield & Burns, 2008, p. 47).
 Bridging the gap between student and
college/university

9. How to Foster Self-
Confidence (continued)
 As Library/Support Services
 A welcoming, friendly environment (THE IMPACT OF A
SMILE AND FRIENDLY FACE IS HUGE)
 Build students up
 Teach self-efficacy and self-reliance
 Partner with other academic and support units
 Performance improvement bolsters self-confidence

10. Students Need
Encouragement
“This one professor changed my
life.”

11. How Do We Encourage?
 Every conversation/interaction with a student
 Acknowledge fears and frustrations and let students
know that they are learned behaviors that can also
be unlearned
 Make the environment safe – mistakes are part of
the learning process
 We all make mistakes too – show them, use them in
your teaching

12. Students Need Support
 Academic support & personal support
 These are not mutually exclusive
 Types of support:
 Libraries – instruction, reference, atmosphere
 Academic tutoring
 Career & personal counseling
 Academic advising
 Support for military personnel/veterans/military families
 Financial advise and support
 Disability services
 Student integration (activities, clubs, peer groups)

13. Students Need Support
and Libraries Can Help
 Libraries are uniquely positioned to be leaders in
student support
 We have “good” spaces
 Sometimes our spaces already include other support
services
 Our online spaces are usually fairly robust
 We straddle the line between academic and support
unit and can more easily collaborate with faculty and
support staff

14. Conclusion
 Student retention and success is our problem – we
need to own it
 We can be student allies
 We can be support service partners
 We can also partner with teaching faculty
 We can work to change our institutions into
welcoming, friendly places
 We can show research that proves what works and
what does not