LibGuides: Memorial Library Staff Information: Student Success

What do we know about student success?

Evidence that effective information use correlates with student academic success provides a compelling argument for developing programs that welcome and encourage students to use the library.

Connection is crucial. There is substantial evidence that both academic integration - the formal and informal interaction with the academic system - and social integration to the campus community are vital to student success. First-generation and international students are significantly less likely than their peers to be engaged in the academic and social experiences associated with success in college, but all students are more likely to become involved when someone from the institution invites their involvement.
Collaboration and engagement foster connection as well as learning. Focused exploration, analysis, and evaluation of information driven by the learner (or collaborative work group) have significant positive effects on critical thinking gains. Students who are more involved in learning, especially in collaboration with others, learn more and show greater levels of intellectual development. When shared learning is stressed, students form self-supporting groups that extend beyond a curricular connection.
Most college students lack the skills to evaluate information effectively. College students usually approach their research without regard to the way the library organizes resources and are likely to find “proper” research methods unappealing. At the same time, they acknowledge lacking the information skills necessary for sophisticated academic work. Only about half of all students are confident in their ability to find good information and about the same percentage admit to having difficulty in judging the quality and accuracy of what they do find. Even at small, academically challenging liberal arts colleges only 40% of students say they frequently make judgments about the quality of the resources they use.
Effective information use correlates with success. College students with stronger information skills read more, are more likely to make judgments about the quality of the information they obtain and, among liberal arts college students in particular, there is a strong correlation between the ability to effectively use the library and engaging in educationally purposeful activities such as discussing papers with faculty members. Studies at the secondary school level demonstrate that school library programs are the number one indicator of student success. Even students in impoverished communities achieve when they have access to a good school library program.

At the college level, although in general students’ out-of-class experiences have positive effects on their cognitive and intellectual growth above and beyond their academic and course-related experiences, information literacy programs only contribute to building skills or to creating the kind of academic integration so important to student success when students perceive a campus-wide emphasis on information literacy. The implication is for greater integration and collaboration between librarians, faculty members and student affairs professionals, so that awareness of library resources and services is a part of the academic program. The challenge is not only to develop programs, but to assess their effectiveness beyond testing the student’s ability to execute basic information literacy skills.

"Libraries and Student Success," Sherre Harrington & Norma Friedman, ACRL Annual Conference, March 14, 2009.

Selected Bibliography on Student Success

Choy, Susan P., Laura J. Horn, Anne-Marie Nuñez and Xianglei Chen. 2000. Transition to College: What Helps At-Risk Students and Students Whose Parents Did Not Attend College. New Directions for Institutional Research, no. 107: 45-63.

Engle, Jennifer. 2007. Postsecondary Access and Success for First-Generation College Students. American Academic 3, January: 25-48.

Kelly, Maurie Caitlin and Andrea Kross. 2002. Making the Grade: Academic Libraries and Student Success. ACRL.

Kramer, Gary L. 2007. Fostering Student Success in the Campus Community. Jossey Bass.

Kuh, George D. and Robert M. Gonyea. 2003. The Role of the Academic Library in Promoting Student Engagement in Learning. College and Research Libraries 64, no. 4: 256-82.

Kuo, James, Chris Hagie and Michael T. Miller. 2004. Encouraging College Student Success: The Instructional Challenges, Response Strategies, And Study Skills Of Contemporary Undergraduates. Journal of Instructional Psychology 31 no.1: 60-67.

Lundberg, Carol A. 2007. First-Generation Status and Student Race/Ethnicity as Distinct Predictors of Student Involvement and Learning. NASPA Journal 44, no. 1: 57-83.

Moore, Anne C. and Gary Ivory. 2003. Do Hispanic-Serving Institutions Have What it Takes to Foster Information Literacy? One Case. Journal of Latinos & Education 2, no. 4: 217-231.

Naumann, Wendy C., Debora Bandalos and Terry B. Gutkin. 2003. Identifying Variables that Predict College Success for First-generation College Students. Journal of College Admission, no. 181: 4-9.

Pascarella, Ernest T. 2004. First-Generation College Students: Additional Evidence on College Experiences and Outcomes. Journal of Higher Education 75, no. 3: 249-284.

Passaro, J., L. Lapovsky, L. H. Feroe and J. R. Metzger. 2003. Rethinking Policy, Process, and Planning to Redefine Quality and Enhance Student Success. New Directions for Higher Education 2003, no. 121: 85-98.

Penrose, Ann M. 2002. Academic Literacy Perceptions and Performance: Comparing First-Generation and Continuing-Generation College Students. Research in the Teaching of English 36 no. 4: 437-461.

Pike, Gary R. and George D. Kuh. 2005. First- and Second-Generation College Students: A Comparison of Their Engagement and Intellectual Development. Journal of Higher Education 76, no. 3: 276-300.

Pike, Gary R., George D. Kuh and Robert M. Gonyea. 2003. The Relationship between Institutional Mission and Students' Involvement and Educational Outcomes. Research in Higher Education 44, no. 2: 241-261.

Penrose, Ann M. 2002. Academic Literacy Perceptions and Performance: Comparing First-Generation and Continuing-Generation College Students. Research in the Teaching of English 36 no. 4: 437-461.

Pike, Gary R. and George D. Kuh. 2005. First- and Second-Generation College Students: A Comparison of Their Engagement and Intellectual Development. Journal of Higher Education 76, no. 3: 276-300.

Ratzer, Mary. 2007. Student Achievement and School Libraries: Empirical Evidence from 19 State Studies 1992-2007. Capital Region BOCES School Library System.

Samson, S. and M. Millet. 2003. The Learning Environment: First-Year Students, Teaching Assistants, And Information Literacy. Research Strategies 19, no. 2: 84-98.

Smalley, Topsy N. 2004. College Success: High School Librarians Make The Difference. Journal of Academic Librarianship 3, no 3: 193-198.

Spitzer, T. M. 2000. Predictors Of College Success: A Comparison Of Traditional And Nontraditional Age Students. NASPA Journal 38, no. 1: 82-98.

Swartz, Pauline S., Brian A. Carlisle and E. Chisato Uyeki. 2007. Libraries and Student Affairs: Partners For

Student Success. Reference Services Review 35, no. 1: 109-122.

Ting, Siu-Man Raymond. 2003. A Longitudinal Study of Non-Cognitive Variables in Predicting Academic Success of First-Generation College Students. College & University 78, no. 4: 27-31.

Watters, Robert D. 1987. A Climate of Excellence Paving the Way for Student Success at Miami-Dade South's Library. Community & Junior College Libraries 4, no. 4: 7-28.

Zamani, E. M. 2000. Sources and Information Regarding Effective Retention Strategies for Students of Color. New Directions for Community Colleges no. 112: 95-104.