Gearing Up for CollegeLibrary Support for Outreach and Early Recruitment for Middle

School Students Samantha Godbey, Sue Wainscott, Nancy Fawley, & Xan Goodman

Lied Library, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

THE STUDENTS 7th and 8th graders Participants in Nevada State GEAR-UP

Program, a 7-year grant to help increase the likelihood of college enrollment and success for students in low-income schools

200 students from 7 middle schools in 2013-14

ETHNOGRAPHER FOR A DAYNOT A TOUR

OBSERVATION OF LIBRARY SPACE AND ITS USE

PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

Need for age-appropriate activity that would introduce students to the academic library experience

Desire to scaffold across potential visits over multiple years

Engagement with student library workers and library faculty about college and career path

Active learning engagement using ethnography activity

How would you use this space? What do you observe about the library on this

floor? What do you observe about the people on this

floor?

DESIRED OUTCOMES Increase college readiness, enrollment, and

success Decrease library anxiety Introduce idea of independence and

freedom of university experience

Intro: Draw on students’ prior experience with school and public libraries (5-10 min)

Observe: Groups of 4-8 students explore two floors of the library with library guide, record observational notes (20-30 min)

Share: Report out, Q&A opportunity (10 min)

“He’s watching the Walking Dead!”

“Will someone do my laundry?”

“Is there a curfew?”“You can eat in

the library?!”

“All the books look old.”

“Your library has more than one floor?”

“The only thing that would make this place

better is churros.”