Building Bridges:Crossing silos to inspire student success

Mary DonohueLibrary DirectorEvans Library

Academic Affairs

JeanMarie ReinkeOutreach & Retention

CoordinatorAdmissions Office

Student Affairs

Bridges? Silos? What are we talking about?

©Nèg Foto. flickr

©Recuerdos de Pandora/flickr

Fulton-Montgomery Community College

The Evans Library

The Evans Library

The Retention Office

Not “Dumbing Down” or Lowering Standards!Retention is working with ALL students –

not only the “Troubled Ones”

The Retention Office

Student Goals:

• Pursue degree or certificate

• Meet HS requirements as an early

admit

• Enroll in a course for career

development or promotion

• Enroll in a course for personal

enrichment

• Employer supported coursework

• Take a few courses then transfer on

©Angie Torres.flickr

The Retention OfficeAdmissions

Financial Aid

InstructorsLearning CenterAdvising

Enrollment

Management

Team

SOS – Intervention Team

Retention Committee

The Evans Library & The Project

What Retention was doing

• Failing to meet academic standards• Academic Warning • Probation

• Individualized Plan for Academic Success • Monitoring student’s progress

©Teresa Robinson/flickr

Assessment in Action®

This project is part of the program “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success” which is undertaken by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The program, a cornerstone of ACRL's Value of Academic Libraries initiative, is made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Project – Researching the Topic

Influences on student retention:• Institutional • Student demographics, intellectual, & academic preparation factors• Student psychological factors

Student success factors: • Time management/attendance• Textbooks• Quiet spaces to work/Sanctuary• Consistent spaces to work• Relationship with college staff* -

The Project – The Proposal

To implement a concerted, coordinated effort with FM’s

Office of Retention & Office of Institutional Effectiveness

to identify those students experiencing academic difficulty

in one or more course & market specific library resources,

including the availability of a personal librarian, in order

to gauge the impact of those interactions on student

persistence in courses & retention.

The Project – Acceptance & Training

• We were accepted!!!• We learned how to formalize our assessment!!!• And, by better articulating, do it better!!!

©Deb Gilchrist/ACRL

The Project – Action by Retention

Modified the form

Explained project to other advisors

Shared @ Student Affairs meeting

The Project – Action by Library

And so what happened that Fall???

The Project – Progress

We invited people to our party….

But nobody came!!! ©Mitchell Joyce.flickr

The Project –Evidence/Analysis

Fall 2014

Unique Visits

No Interaction

7%

The Project v.2 – Planning/Change

©R/DV/RS. flickr

The Project v.2 – Retention

Sometimes it is the little things that matter most!• Getting students to library• We learned having advisors walk the students to meet with their

librarian, was much more effective toward them using this service regularly.• Advisors mediated the dissonance between what students expected

from the library environment and what they experienced.• When the students feel anxious or overwhelmed they tend not to

follow through. This small step helped to ease the anxiety.

The Project v.2 – The Library

The Project v.2 – Evidence

7%

+157%Spring 2015

Unique Visits No Interaction

18%

Fall 2014

Spring 2015

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Time (minutes) spent with Students

The Project v.2 – Evidence

The Project v.2 – Evidence

Librarian/Student Interactions

The Project v.2 – The Present

We’re waiting For More Evidence:• Final course grades• Persistence - Last date of attendance• Librarian contacts • Exit Interviews -

• Librarians, • Retention,• Advisors, • Learning Center professionals, • Students.

Then what will we do…..?

The Project v.3 – Planning/Change

©Changed Priorities Ahead signR/DV/RS. flickr

Result of project???No more silos! Bridges are now built and will be used!

Any Questions?

Thank You!

Works Cited/Images

Slide 2: Nèg Foto. Roswell [Crabapple] GA SILOS. flickr. http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-1

Slide 2: Recuerdos de Pandora.Puente Manhattan en construcción (Nueva York, 1909).flickr. http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-2

Slide 10: Teresa Robinson. Right Brain Planning.flicr. http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-3

Slide 14 & 22. Deb Gilchrist.ACRL. Assessment in Action. http://www.ala.org/acrl/AiA

Slide 18: Mitchell Joyce.Get Me Out Of Here!flickr. http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-4

Slide 20 & 27: R/DV/RS. Changed Priorities Ahead sign .Flickr. http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-5

Slide 28:

Peretz Partensky.Astana, by the River. flickr. http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-6

Harshil Shah. Australia-NSW-Sydney-Harbour Bridge & Opera House. flickr.

http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-7

Justin Brown. Under the Pedestrian Bridge. flickr. http://tinyurl.com/anny-fmcc-8