Diversifying Library Skills of Undergraduate Student Workers in a Health Sciences Library: The INSERT Curriculum

Background: The University of Nevada Las Vegas’s Health Sciences Library includes a team of library faculty, staff, and undergraduate student workers, the latter of which were generally underutilized and not provided meaningful opportunities for skill development. Recently, the library developed a partnership program providing training for student workers that pairs them with a librarian to assist in completing projects. The presenters were both interested in having student workers participate in literature reviews for publications but recognized that skills development would be required. This led us to develop a curriculum of self-paced learning modules with scaffolded assignments.

Description: The INtroduction to Synthesis, Evaluation, and Review Technique (INSERT) curriculum was developed to provide self-directed learning for those with little to no experience in researching and writing synthesized literature reviews. The six self-directed modules guide learners through the search and synthesis process while providing scaffolded assignments. A final reflective project and feedback meetings with the librarian partner integrated throughout the curriculum provide the opportunity for reflective self-evaluation. In this presentation, we will discuss our main goals and theoretical influences while developing the curriculum, the content and structure of the modules, and the results and feedback from piloting the curriculum with three instructors and three undergraduate student workers. Our discussion will also include our plans for creating version two of the curriculum.



Conclusions: Three student-instructor pairs worked through the six modules mainly in the Spring of 2021. Time to completion varied and depended on both the student’s and the instructor’s schedules and capacity. Student feedback regarding the structure and content of the modules, as well as the time needed to complete each, were generally positive. Two example suggestions for improvement provided by the students centered on providing skills checks within the modules and providing alternative scenarios for learning concepts. Feedback from the instructors included providing more structure for individual assignments from the students, a better platform for access to the curriculum, and a briefer, more direct overview of the purpose and goals of the curriculum for potential instructors.