The Learning Outcomes of Mentoring Library Science Students in Virtual World Reference: A Case Study

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a case study which examines the impact on student learning resulting from librarian mentor participation and collaboration with students on a course assignment, and explore student reflections on the role of librarian mentoring in relation to perception and effectiveness, learning, confidence gained, and value of professional assessment.

Abstract: This article reports on the cognitive and affective development of students being mentored in virtual reference interview skills by professional librarians. The authors present a case study which examines the impact on student learning resulting from librarian mentor participation and collaboration with students on a course assignment. This study explores student reflections on the role of librarian mentoring in relation to perception and effectiveness, learning, confidence gained, and value of professional assessment.

Summary

INTRODUCTION

• The assignment was designed to prepare library science graduate students to conduct an effective virtual reference interview.
• This qualitative study of five semesters involved administering the RIA assignment, collecting student feedback, and analyzing student reflections on the presence of the Belk Librarian as a mentor to students playing the role of virtual reference librarian.
• The mentoring sessions took in a 3D immersive virtual learning environment.
• The findings have implications for campuses considering collaborations between library science faculty, campus librarians, and students.

BACKGROUND

• The Library Science Program at Appalachian State University (ASU) offers a Masters of Library Science (MLS) degree in School and Public Libraries.
• Accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and by the North Carolina Public Library Commission, the program is a major educator of public and school librarians for North Carolina.
• In fall 2010, ASU began offering a fully online MLS degree program of study in the Appalachian Educational Technology Zone a 3D virtual learning community.
• The AETZone promotes active engagement among students, faculty, and librarians and a strong sense of online community.
• The Belk Library has had a space in the virtual environment since its inception in 1999 and has been providing library support and services, including research assistance, library instruction, and access to library resources to students and faculty using the AETZone.

Assignment History

• In 2008, Belk Librarians collaborated with a Library Science Faculty member teaching LIB 5020, Information Sources and Services in the design of an assignment with a purpose to familiarize MLS students with reference services skills.
• MLS students spent two to three hours over a two-week period as a virtual reference librarian in the AETZone Belk Library, assisting real students who were in need of research help.
• A Belk Librarian was present to mentor and guide the MLS student as they interacted with the real student.
• The following year, the assignment evolved to include the following learning objectives: (1) to build student skills in conducting a reference interview, (2) to give students the experience of providing virtual reference service in a 3D Web-based virtual world, and (3) to allow students to reflect and report on their experience (Johnson et al., 2009) .
• The reference questions were supplied by the Belk Librarians and were written to prompt a reference interview.

RIA Project Assignment

• In 2011, shortly after ASU began offering the MLS degree online, the course Information Services and Sources was redesigned by two MLS Faculty to incorporate the application of Presence Pedagogy (P2) and to better utilize the communication and technology tools inherent in the AETZone.
• The newly designed course resulted in a re-vamped assignment called the Reference in Action (RIA) project, which merged several activities, namely, reference skills, search skills, creation of the pathfinder, and the mock reference interviews.
• Occasionally, if it was obvious that a student-librarian was struggling with a particular aspect of the reference interview or with a technical issue, the mentor librarian interjected via private text chat with suggestions.
• The mentor librarians also recorded each session using the built-in recording features of the 3D immersive world.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

• The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the Reference in Action project mentored by librarians and administered through the AET-Zone.
• Specifically, the study is intended to document the student learning outcomes in the following three categories: evidence that learning took place, perception and effectiveness of librarian mentoring, and students' emotional progression.

LITERATURE REVIEW

• The experiences and challenges for conducting a reference interview vary, depending on the method of interaction-face-to-face reference, traditional online chat reference, and 3D virtual reference.
• A positive mentoring experience instills confidence in a library science student or new library professional and ensures a successful start to their career.
• According to Creighton (2007) , who has mentored library media specialists throughout her career, the purpose of a mentor is "to act as a coach or model to a new library media specialist and provide feedback and reflection on these new learning experiences.
• Mentoring also helps to prevent turnover and develops confident and knowledgeable practitioners" (p. 25).

Different Types of Mentoring Programs

• Some libraries have very structured formal mentoring programs for new librarians, staff, and student workers, while others mentor "on the fly.".
• Kelly (2011) recounted her own experience as an MLS student as a mentee for one year and describes the many benefits of library science students working with professional librarians for all parties involved.
• She also advises how to successfully implement such programs.
• "One-on-one mentoring . . . can be very impactful for students entering the library field" (p. 145).
• A mentoring program geared toward MLS students creates a cooperative relationship between the library and the library science program.

Auxiliary Benefits

• Experienced librarians who mentor gain the advantage of learning about emerging technologies, new perspectives, and innovations in the field.
• Mentoring library science graduate students benefits the librarian in several ways, including challenging them to articulate and assess their own methods and keep abreast of current trends in the profession.
• Lee (2011) wrote that "Having a library student complete an assignment within the library helps to keep the librarians fresh and on the cutting edge of what library students are learning and expecting from the library profession.
• Mentoring in virtual reference training allows trainees to receive personal assistance from librarians more experienced in working with virtual reference (Luo, 2008) .
• Initially, there were 12 partnerships, each lasting 3 months.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

• The RIA project assignment was carried out between the years of 2011 and 2013 and included five semesters.
• The overview of the timeline, RIA sessions, and study participants may be seen in Table 1 .
• The librarians began data analysis by reading through the student reflections multiple times.
• After several readings, the librarians devised an initial coding scheme, assigning a code or phrase to each important quote.
• Glesne (2011) writes that the process of developing categories or themes enables the researcher to gain new insight from the data and make new connections.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS Evidence that Learning Took Place

• The students frequently reported that the librarian mentor feedback helped their learning process, which led to the creation of this category.
• There were 131 remarks related to this category and 24 specifically mentioned that they would incorporate mentor suggestions into their next RIA session or workplace reference interview.
• The comments relating to implementing mentor suggestions usually occurred in the reflections after the second RIA session and one class of 13 students had only one session.
• When asked to reflect upon having the assistance of a Belk Librarian as mentor, the students most often began with a detailed description of the feedback provided.
• The students talked about learning in several ways.

Reviewing Recording Yielded New Learning

• One way the researchers found evidence of learning was when the students talked about reviewing the recording.
• The Belk Librarian mentors recorded each RIA session using the video recording function, which is one of the technologies built into the AETZone.
• There were 31 comments related to this code.
• Students reported that reviewing the recording after the session was beneficial because it gave them the opportunity to critique their performance.
• In spring 2012 and 2013, the recording function was unreliable and the authors were unable to record all of the sessions.

Observed Learning

• Students reported 26 times that playing the patron role, observing their classmates' RIA sessions, and listening to the critique of their peers contributed to learning.
• As one student noted "Having the opportunity to listen to the feedback the [mentor] librarian gave to the other acting librarians was also helpful.
• The subsequent sessions, yielding 18 comments, were changed so that the entire class was present for each RIA session, enabling all to observe their classmate's reference interactions, as well as listen to the Belk Librarian mentor feedback for each session.
• Additionally, the process of guiding the patron to the appropriate resources and communicating with the patron requires a different approach.
• As one student commented, "Doing a virtual reference interview is so different from face to face interaction.

Emotional Progression

• The researchers looked at students' self-assessed emotions from the RIA role playing assignment.
• "I must admit, when I first arrived I was scared out of my mind, also known as One student wrote.
• This really helped me understand real life reference work rather than just reading about how to be a reference librarian.".
• It is notable that students' comments on their emotional states fell into two main areas: peak feelings of nervousness/fear at the beginning of their RIA role-playing sessions, and feelings of confidence afterwards.

Perception and Effectiveness of Librarian Mentor

• There were 166 remarks on how students perceived the librarian mentors and the validity of their role.
• Students commented 129 times that they found the librarian mentor helpful, comforting, and/or supportive.
• In contrast, 12 students specifically said the presence of a professional librarian made them nervous, though 5 of them said in the same paragraph that they only felt that way at first.
• I thought I might get "drilled" with criticism, which is why I was so nervous to begin with, but I found the opposite reaction after I finished the interview.
• Some of the 166coded comments fell into more than one category, and this explains why their sum is greater than 166.

CONCLUSION

• Findings from the student reflection analysis on the role of the librarian mentor in the RIA project support this conclusion.
• The research findings also revealed that after each mentoring session students gained confidence in their ability to be a professional librarian, improved and sharpened their reference interviewing skills, and made progress towards understanding and adapting to the nuances which arise during a virtual reference interaction.
• This collaboration helped strengthen the relationship between librarians and MLS faculty members, as well as the entire MLS department.
• In addition, the RIA project has provided opportunities for the MLS faculty and Belk Librarians to co-author articles and present at conferences together.
• This study suggests that other schools would benefit from such partnerships.

Figures

TABLE 1 Study Timeline and Participant Data

Full text

Archived version from NCDOCKS Institutional Repository http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/
The Learning Outcomes of Mentoring Library Science
Students in Virtual World Reference: A Case Study
Abstract: This article reports on the cognitive and affective development of students being
mentored in virtual reference interview skills by professional librarians. The authors
present a case study which examines the impact on student learning resulting from
librarian mentor participation and collaboration with students on a course assignment.
This study explores student reflections on the role of librarian mentoring in relation to
perception and effectiveness, learning, confidence gained, and value of professional
assessment.
GERALDINE PURPUR and JON LEVI MORRIS
Purpur, G., & Morris, J. L. (2015). The Learning outcomes of mentoring library science
students in virtual world reference: a case study. Journal of Library & Information Services
in Distance Learning, 9(3), 192-203. Version of record available from Taylor & Francis at
doi:10.1080/1533290X.2015.1044690

The Learning Outcomes of Mentoring Library
Science Students in Virtual World Reference:
A Case Study
GERALDINE PURPUR and JON LEVI MORRIS
INTRODUCTION
From 2011 to 2013, the Belk Librarians at Appalachian State University collab-
orated with the Masters of Library Science (MLS) teaching faculty in the im
-
plementation of an assignment called the Reference in Action project (
RIA).
The assignment was designed to prepare library science graduate
students
to conduct an effective virtual reference interview. This qualitative study
of
five semesters involved administering the RIA assignment, collecting
student
feedback, and analyzing student reflections on the presence of the Belk Li
-
brarian as a mentor to students playing the role of virtual
reference librarian.
The mentoring sessions took in a 3D immersive virtual learning environment.
Reflections collected from the students were used to determine whether
the Belk Librarian participation as mentors in the Reference in Action project

contributed to student learning, and if so, in what ways. Findings from the
student reflection analysis on the role of librarian mentor in the RIA project
indicated that librarian mentoring contributed to student learning and stu-
dent confidence in their skills necessary for conducting an effective reference
interview. The findings have implications for campuses considering collabo-
rations between library science faculty, campus librarians, and students.
BACKGROUND
The Library Science Program at Appalachian State University (ASU) offers
a Masters of Library Science (MLS) degree in School and Public Libraries.
Accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
and by the North Carolina Public Library Commission, the program is a major
educator of public and school librarians for North Carolina. In fall 2010, ASU
began offering a fully online MLS degree program of study in the Appalachian
Educational Technology Zone (AETZone) a 3D virtual learning community.
In addition to the MLS program, other graduate programs at ASU, such as
school administration, instructional technology, and higher education have
also used the AETZone to facilitate delivery of course content and instruction.
The AETZone promotes active engagement among students, faculty, and
librarians and a strong sense of online community. The Belk Library has had
a space in the virtual environment since its inception in 1999 and has been
providing library support and services, including research assistance, library
instruction, and access to library resources to students and faculty using the
AETZone.
Assignment History
In 2008, Belk Librarians collaborated with a Library Science Faculty member
teaching LIB 5020,
Information Sources
and
Services
in the design of
an assignment with a purpose to familiarize MLS students with reference
services skills. In this first iteration of the assignment, MLS students spent two
to three hours over a two-week period as a virtual reference librarian in the
AETZone Belk Library, assisting real students who were in need of research
help. A Belk Librarian was present to mentor and guide the MLS student
as they interacted with the real student. The following year, the assignment
evolved to include the following learning objectives: (1) to build student
skills in conducting a reference interview, (2) to give students the experience
of providing virtual reference service in a 3D Web-based virtual world, and
(3) to allow students to reflect and report on their experience (Johnson et al.,
2009). In this second iteration, MLS students were paired together to form a
team and took turns playing the role of the reference librarian and the role

of the patron needing research assistance. The reference questions were
supplied by the Belk Librarians and were written to prompt a reference inter
-
view. The Belk Librarians were present during these sessions as mentors a
nd
to provide assistance if needed. Additionally, to prepare the students for this
assignment the Belk Librarians provided an orientation to the
AETZone
Belk
Library in the form of a treasure hunt and a presentation focusing on
RUSA
Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services.
RIA Project Assignment
In 2011, shortly after ASU began offering the MLS degree online, the course
Information Services and Sources
was redesigned by two MLS Faculty
to
incorporate the application of Presence Pedagogy (P2) and to better
utilize
the communication and technology tools inherent in the
AETZone.
Many
of
the original activities were included, but rather than focus on specific
skill
sets, e.g., search skills or reference interview skills, they were re-designed
to build on and interact with each other (Matzen et al., 2013). The newly
designed course resulted in a re-vamped assignment called the
Reference
in
Action (RIA)
project, which merged several activities, namely,
reference
skills, search skills, creation of the pathfinder, and the mock reference inter
-
views.
For
the RIA project, students formed groups charged with selecting
a
topic, developing a wiki pathfinder on the topic, and creating a pilot, test
-
ing a variety of patron profiles, and developing a list of reference questions
related to their topic and pathfinder. Over a four-week period, the
students
took turns playing the role of the reference librarian and the role of
the
patrons they had created. The reference interviews took place in
the Belk
Library AETZone
under the tutelage of active academic librarians who
were
experienced in providing both in-person and virtual reference service.
As mentors, the Belk Librarian role was to critique the session by offer
-
ing positive feedback, comments, and suggestions. The reference interview
session critique was based on a list of common behaviors and included:
•
greeting
•
negotiation of the reference query
•
verbal feedback during the session
•
incorporation of virtual world software technologies
•
knowledge of sources
•
closure
At the beginning of each session, the mentor librarians introduced them
-
selves to the student-librarian and the student-patron, explained their
role,
and explained that in most cases they would not comment during the ses
-
sion. Occasionally, if it was obvious that a student-librarian was struggling

with a particular aspect of the reference interview or with a technical issue,
the mentor librarian interjected via private text chat with suggestions. Like-
wise, the student-librarian was encouraged to ask the mentor librarian for
help when needed. The mentor librarians also recorded each session using
the built-in recording features of the 3D immersive world. The recordings
were placed in a Web guide for the students to review and study their per-
formances. For each reference interaction, students were asked to write a
3–5 page paper that included:
•
a summary of their experience;
•
reflections on the patron they encountered;
•
reflections on the reference interview;
•
reflections on their ability to provide the patron appropriate help;
•
reflections on having the assistance of a Belk librarian as a mentor; and
•
general thoughts about the experience. (Matzen et al., 2013)
For three years the RIA project was incorporated into the
Information
Services and Sources
course. The Belk Librarians participated as mentors for
five semesters between 2011 and 2013. At the conclusion of each semester,
the Belk Librarians met with the MLS Faculty to discuss the assignment and
if necessary, made changes based on observation and experience.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the Reference
in Action project mentored by librarians and administered through the AET-
Zone. Specifically, the study is intended to document the student learning
outcomes in the following three categories: evidence that learning took place,
perception and effectiveness of librarian mentoring, and students’ emotional
progression.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The experiences and challenges for conducting a reference interview vary,
depending on the method of interaction—face-to-face reference, traditional
online chat reference, and 3D virtual reference. Very little has been written
specifically about mentoring library science students in a 3D virtual learn-
ing environment, but there is a significant body of literature that documents
the numerous benefits of mentoring in the field of librarianship. Effective
mentoring is vital to the success and growth of the library profession
(Freedman, 2009). New librarians gain the knowledge and wisdom of sea-
soned professionals, which in turn strengthens the future of the library

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "The learning outcomes of mentoring library science students in virtual world reference: a case study" ?

This article reports on the cognitive and affective development of students being mentored in virtual reference interview skills by professional librarians. The authors present a case study which examines the impact on student learning resulting from librarian mentor participation and collaboration with students on a course assignment. This study explores student reflections on the role of librarian mentoring in relation to perception and effectiveness, learning, confidence gained, and value of professional assessment. The Learning outcomes of mentoring library science students in virtual world reference: a case study. 1044690 The Learning Outcomes of Mentoring Library Science Students in Virtual World Reference: A Case Study GERALDINE PURPUR and JON LEVI MORRIS 

Q2. What technology was used to record RIA sessions?

The Belk Librarian mentors recorded each RIA session using the video recording function, which is one of the technologies built into the AETZone. 

Q3. What are the benefits of a mentor?

Auxiliary Benefits Experienced librarians who mentor gain the advantage of learning about emerging technologies, new perspectives, and innovations in the field. 

Q4. What is the purpose of the study?

the study is intended to document the student learning outcomes in the following three categories: evidence that learning took place, perception and effectiveness of librarian mentoring, and students’ emotional progression. 

Q5. What is the way to conduct virtual reference training?

According to Ronan (2003), working with mentees one-on-one while they are online is one of the most effective ways to conduct virtual reference training. 

Q6. How many students said that having a professional librarian was valuable?

Thirty students mentioned that having a professional librarian available to monitor and mentor them one-on-one was valuable, and 17 made suggestions or criticisms to improve the mentoring librarian’s role. 

Q7. What is the role of the Belk Librarian in the Reference in Action project?

The Belk Library has had a space in the virtual environment since its inception in 1999 and has been providing library support and services, including research assistance, library instruction, and access to library resources to students and faculty using the AETZone. 

Q8. What other graduate programs at ASU have used the AETZone to facilitate delivery of course?

In addition to the MLS program, other graduate programs at ASU, such as school administration, instructional technology, and higher education have also used the AETZone to facilitate delivery of course content and instruction. 

Q9. What is the way to mentor library science students?

Kawasaki (2012) suggests that mentoring library science graduate students is in itself an effective modeling of professional behavior: it shows that professional librarians give back of themselves by investing their time mentoring library science students, and in so doing also hone their own skills. 

Q10. What was the role of the mentor librarians?

The reference interview session critique was based on a list of common behaviors and included:• greeting • negotiation of the reference query • verbal feedback during the session • incorporation of virtual world software technologies • knowledge of sources • closureAt the beginning of each session, the mentor librarians introduced themselves to the student-librarian and the student-patron, explained their role, and explained that in most cases they would not comment during the session. 

Q11. What is the impact of mentors on the students’ leadership development?

A study conducted by Smith (2013) to determine the impact of a mentor in leadership development on MLS students pursuing school library careers found that “mentors had a positive impact on the leadership development of the participants and that the provision of mentors had a great influence on the students’ degree program experience” (p. 15). 

Q12. How many students commented on their confidence after the RIA assignment?

Sixty-eight students commented that their confidence had increased as a result of the RIA assignment and working with the Belk Librarian Mentor.