Resources

• Slides—download PPTX
• About Princeton’s Personal Librarian Program: https://library.princeton.edu/personal-librarian

Presenter

• Audrey B. Welber, Librarian for Teaching and Research Services, Princeton University

Description

Princeton's Personal Librarian Program launched in 2017 after a similar program at Yale inspired Princeton library staff to bring this outreach model to their campus. Welber and a colleague saw the program’s potential to meaningfully engage and support undergraduates at Princeton. Building on Yale’s model, they found original ways to tailor the program to respond to the needs of their students and library colleagues. Welber talks through the details of implementation, discussing pitfalls encountered along the way, and sharing strategies that led to enthusiastic program participation by Princeton’s undergraduates.

Welber shares recent refinements and expansions to this initiative, including a subprogram supporting student athletes (at the request of the Academic Athletic Affairs department), wildly successful "anti-procrastination" events, and a pilot effort focused on the needs of first-generation and low-income students. Asking for help at university libraries can be intimidating for many students; this presentation highlights the uniquely supportive role of Personal Librarians to address this and provide undergraduates with welcoming points of connection.

This webinar will be of interest to any library staff member interested in student outreach and support, as well as those looking to adopt programming from other institutions. 

All affiliates of OCLC Research Library Partnership organizations are invited to participate.