Students as co-creators: working with students as partners across library services (hosted by Lancaster University)

** Please note: the joining instructions for the event may come via the hosts for the event and will not always be available online.  Please look out for the email/calendar appointment from the hosts nearer the time. **

About this event

Date: Thursday 11 January 2024  
Time: 10.00 - 3.00 (arrivals from 10am for 10:30am start)
Format: Hybrid:

  • Online via Teams - Fully booked
  • In-person at Events & Exhibition Space, Lancaster University Library, LA1 4YH - Bookings now closed

This event will be of relevance to library and learning development/ academic skills colleagues who either already employ students or are considering employing students.  It will focus on working with students as partners rather than managing and training student teams.

At Lancaster University we have an ambition to be a library that goes beyond providing just a service to work in partnership with all our Lancaster University communities. This includes providing students with opportunities to work with the library and have a central role in our development.

We have a growing number of student teams employed across the Library and Learning Development.  These include writing mentors, maths and stats tutors, library ambassadors working across all areas of the library, and project teams, for example widening participation funded projects including a reciprocal mentoring scheme with students and senior University colleagues. Our student teams work in partnership with library staff, they bring the student voice into all areas of our work, and they co-create new service developments, online content and teaching delivery.

This hybrid event will be organised & facilitated with students and staff from the library team at Lancaster, with speakers from Lancaster and other ALN institutions sharing their experiences of the benefits of working with students as partners, both for the institution and the students themselves. The final event of the day will be a student-led panel event made up of students employed as Ambassadors in academic libraries, who will share their experiences in these roles and answer questions from attendees.

The draft programme for the day is as follows:

  • Lancaster University: Working with students as partners to achieve our 2025 vision- Library Ambassadors and Schools Engagement Ambassador programmes
    At Lancaster University we have an ambition to be a library that goes beyond providing just a service to work in partnership with all our Lancaster University communities. This includes providing students with opportunities to work with the library and have a central role in our development. We have a growing number of student teams employed across the Library and Learning Development. These include writing mentors, maths and stats tutors, library ambassadors working across all areas of the library, and project teams, for example widening participation funded projects including a reciprocal mentoring scheme with students and senior University colleagues. This presentation will reflect on how student teams work in partnership with library staff to bring the student voice into all areas of our work, to co-create new service developments, online content and teaching delivery.
     
  • Liverpool University: Student Opportunities programme
    This academic year, 18 students have joined the Libraries, Museums and Galleries team at the University of Liverpool as part of the new Student Opportunities programme. The team of ‘Student Partners’ will work throughout the year with the University’s internationally significant collections, and expert staff to bring new perspectives, develop their skills, and deliver a series of student-led projects. This presentation will highlight some of those skills and the lessons learnt from our first year delivering the programme
     
  • Manchester University: Reflections on ten years of student involvement across library services and the evolution of the Student Team – From frontline staff to teaching
    The presentation will focus on reflections on ten years of student involvement across library services and the evolution of the Student Team from its original focus (which was more along the lines of a front facing customer service role) to its current remit (which sees the ST get involved across all Library services, with their core role focusing on developing and delivering teaching and support to fellow students and shaping Library response to the sector and University strategy).
     
  • Salford: Recruitment Process  (details to be confirmed)
     
  • Manchester Met: Student Associate – review online materials for Media and Misinforamtion module
    The online Media and Misinformation course was developed during 2023 by librarians Rachel Donlon, Julie Burrell and Sarah Webb from Library and Cultural Services at Manchester Metropolitan University. This project built on the subject knowledge and pedagogical skills of librarians who had been running the university’s popular fake news offer for several years. However, with the rapid developments within and around this debate [societal concern] and an increasing emphasis on digital skills, the offer needed to be refreshed and refocused. The online Media and Misinformation, part of Manchester Met’s RISE programme (available to students and open to the public) was the new offer. Student co-creators have been employed to write material, create videos and review the whole course since its inception and are crucial to its success going forward. This successful student-staff partnership is one of many within Library and Cultural Services aiming to build on co-creation of material to support student learning.
     
  • Sheffield Hallam: Student study skills advisors (details to be confirmed)
     
  • University of Chester: Working with students to diversify and decolonise reading lists ((details to be confirmed)
     
  • Student Panel: A panel question and answer event featuring student ambassadors from a range of universities