91³Ō¹Ļ

Librarian Jacqueline Whyte Appleby helps student Tony Ding learn to navigate one of the top three library systems in North America (photo by Camelia Linta)

Personal librarians for first-year students

Helping undergrads explore one of the top three library systems in North America

Last fall, first-year student Helen Rudnicki received an intriguing email at her brand new utoronto address.

Signed by librarian Jacqueline Whyte Appleby, the message welcomed Rudnicki to the 91³Ō¹Ļ and offered her something special ā€“ personalized help coming to grips with St. George Campusā€™s 42 libraries.

ā€œI thought that was pretty cool,ā€ says Rudnicki, an archeology major who attends New College. ā€œA lot of my friends didnā€™t go to the library at all, but I always had books. Thereā€™s a lot of material you canā€™t get online.ā€

Thatā€™s exactly why 91³Ō¹Ļ started the Personal Librarian Program, says Rita Vine, faculty liaison and information literacy co-ordinator for and administrative lead for the project: first-year students just didnā€™t seem to be using the library.

ā€œI came up with the idea after doing research on similar programs at Yale and Drexel University,ā€ she says, adding that the John M. Kelly Library at 91³Ō¹Ļ's St. Michaelā€™s College has run a similar project for several years and shared data with her.

During last yearā€™s pilot project, Vine and Appleby matched 1,000 incoming students with 10 librarians who work across St. George Campus ā€“ from Trinity College to Robarts Reference Department to OISE. About 200 students took up the offer of help, says Vine.

ā€œThat ranks among the highest levels of take-up [among similar programs] that weā€™re aware of.ā€

The librarians explained everything from how to read a call number and write a citation to how to find non-academic services on campus. All contact was through email.

ā€œA lot of the time I didnā€™t know where to start at all,ā€ says Rudnicki. ā€œI was able to give the librarian a topic and she would help me narrow it down, give me places to look and [teach me] how to search.ā€

ā€œStudents may not even know that they can ask for help,ā€ says Vine. ā€œBy creating an intentional connection to a librarian, weā€™re helping them meet one more person in the university who cares about their academic success.ā€

Vine wants to expand the program, but says there arenā€™t enough librarians to reach out to all 7,000 first-year students in Arts and Science on the campus.

ā€œWeā€™ll require more administrative and librarian resources.ā€

In the meantime, 2,000 frosh were emailed this fall, and approximately 24 librarians are participating.

For students who havenā€™t been assigned a personal librarian, Vine offers an insider secret.

ā€œOne of my favourite ā€˜hiddenā€™ resources is a set of bibliographies on many subjects,ā€ she says. ā€œPrepared by experts, each item has an abstract that can help you figure out if the article is suitable for your assignment ā€“ a big time-saver for busy students. The trick is to look under ā€˜Oxford Bibliographies Onlineā€™ in the library catalogue.ā€

Bonus: many paywall-protected articles are free when accessed through the library website.

This article originally appeared in the 91³Ō¹Ļ Magazine. to read more 91³Ō¹Ļ Magazine articles visit

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