Article #2 A Summary and Critical Review of:

Love, Emily.  (2009). A simple step: integrating reference and instruction into previously established academic programs for minority students   The Reference Librarian, 50: 4-13.

“I do not normally come into the library”

                                                                                -Korean student, University of Arizona, 2000

I came across this thought provoking article, A Simple Step: Integrating Library Reference and Instruction into previously Established Academic Programs for Minority Students by Emily Love at the University of Illinois.  In this article, Love sets out to examine the connection between active librarian leadership in connecting with minority students (“library outreach”), and the successful use and enjoyment of the library by those students.  While set in a university environment, much of Love’s finding s are applicable to any school setting.  As Love suggests, librarians have a “compelling reason to enhance their role in minority student learning by reaching out to partnering with minority student programs” and by “targeting the library’s services to minority students” (Love, p.5).  What Love discovered was that minority students, at the university level, demonstrated high initial recruitment but low retention and graduation.  A “racial discrepancy” in retention and graduation figures could possibly be due, in part, to an overall feeling of alienation toward academic preparedness, learning processes, researching, and completing assignments (Love, 5).  In short, minority students did not know how to properly access reference services at the library, or were reluctant to approach librarians for help, and this affected, overall, their academic achievement.

Love examines how this discrepancy could be more positively balanced by having librarians be more open and welcoming to minority students, and by having librarians more accessible via personal consultations, contact via e-mail and phone, and by providing librarian “drop-in” hours.   In addition, librarians made gains providing library outreach to cultural centres on campus in order to better explain library services to minority students (Love, p. 7).  All of these initiatives were aimed at supporting a “seamless learning environment’ for students who were feeling disconnecting form their university experience (Love, p. 7).

Overall, what struck me as critical information in this article was the idea that school libraries must target their outreach to students from underrepresented backgrounds in order to enhance their success.  We cannot assume that all students have the same ability to recognize and utilize the services which we provide.  Having worked as a teacher and teacher librarian in schools with minority cultures, largely First Nations students, this article brought to light the importance of meeting students’ individual needs, in the same was that classroom teachers are asked to do this with their own daily instruction.  School librarians, too, must seek out ways to connect in a meaningful way with all students by helping them to navigate the world of information.  Many cultures find face-to-face initial meetings with strangers to be intimidating, and when language issues and diverse backgrounds are added to the mix, one can see that approaching a librarian for the first time and asking for assistance is daunting. 

This article enabled me to think critically about the role of the school librarian in the academic success of students.  From this research, it is clear that “actively pursuing partnerships” both within the school and beyond into the community is vital to the enhancement and success of the library.  School and community-based partnerships will enhance student use, making access to research and resources easier and more fluid.  This is actually something we already know and rely on:  collaboration in any form is a positive thing.  We also cannot underestimate the power of personality in students’ use of the library.  Love urges librarians to “establish a warm and caring environment for student learning, which could help to improve minority student retention rates and lower student frustration” (Love, p. 12).  Being outgoing, friendly and enthusiastic is an important part about being a school librarian, but this is something that is easily overlooked.  Overall, Love’s article is an important piece in our effort, as school librarians, to promote our services and “establish a presence” in academic success (Love, p. 8).  Too often, the library is seen as an academic tool rather than a direct, key player in achievement.  Thus, recognizing the value of the “key role” that we have in shaping students’ academic success and achievement is the first step in library outreach (Love, p. 5).

It should be noted that, despite all of her reasonable arguments, one drawback to this article is the fact that Love does not provide any quantitative evidence to suggest that library – minority partnerships have a direct impact on university retention and graduations rates.