Directing Students to a Librarian for Help

As Academic Mentors or Peer Tutors, a key part of your role is to connect students with librarians for personalized research assistance and resource recommendations. Librarians are trained information scientists with advanced degrees. Part of our job is to help students find and navigate appropriate sources.

There are various ways to contact a librarian, which can be confusing. Many students feel nervous about asking for help. You can support them by demonstrating how to use these contact methods. All options are listed in the red "Get Help" menu on the library website.

Which contact method is most effective will depend on the type of information they need:  

• For straightforward questions (such as, “Which database should I use?” “Can you recommend books about____?” “Is this topic too broad/narrow to research?” “What words should I use to search?”)
  • Chat & Text: A VSCS librarian is available online from 9am to 9pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 3pm on Friday. When our librarians are unavailable, a trained librarian from another college will respond via chat through a co-op agreement.
• For in-depth research help that will take more than a few minutes to answer (such as support for a significant research paper or assignment)
  • Email: libraries@vsc.edu  
  • Reference appointments: These appointments can take place over Zoom or, when available, in-person at a VTSU campus library. Students can find a librarian with appropriate expertise for their topic by clicking on the blue information button next to their name.

    

• For questions about checking out or renewing materials or interlibrary loan requests
  • Email: libraries@vsc.edu
  • Phone: The 1-800-431-0025 phone number connects to the front desks at the libraries located on each VTSU campus.  
    • Library staff can be reached Monday – Friday from 8 – 4:30.

Library Guides & Tutorials

The VSCS Librarians have created instruction materials that are online and on-demand. Helpful guides to be familiar with:

• Library Orientation: Includes a brief orientation video as well as a recording from a live orientation session.
• Subject Guides: These provide starting points for major academic programs, listing recommended databases and websites, featured resources, and liaison librarians.
• How to Do Research: This section of the website covers a variety of topics related to college-level research, including refining thesis statements, types of sources, and evaluating sources. The guide is also searchable.

  

• Background Research: Students often start searching from the library homepage, but their results may be too specific or irrelevant. This page helps introduce pre-search strategies and resources.
  • For argumentative or research papers (such as those assigned in English Comp, Connections, or SEI) Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints is a great starting point.
    • Search using keywords or visit the Browse Issues page to see available topics
    • Topic pages link to both subscription material and open content from the internet. An editorial staff selects content appropriate for college-level work.
    • It only covers a small portion of available resources, so encourage students to contact a librarian for additional recommendations.
• Citing Sources: This section of the research guide has overviews, with examples, of the most common citation styles required for courses in the VSC. Note: Librarians do not proofread citations, but we can help students figure out what kind of source they have.
  • Citation Tools: This page introduces tools available to help students create and manage their citations.
• Workshops & Video Tutorials: Find upcoming workshops and see recordings of past ones, along with tutorials covering a variety of library-related topics. We'll keep adding to these, so check back often.

Stumbling Blocks

The following are common challenges that students will encounter, along with some resources that may help them navigate any problems. If a student is having significant issues, please refer them to a librarian for direct help.

• Keywords and search strategies: Unlike web search engines like Google, library search tools require specific keywords for the best results. Direct students to the Searching for Information section of the library website, especially the Keywords & Search Terms and Refining Search Results pages.
• Errors and dead links: Students can report database and electronic resource issues and we will investigate and get back to them as soon as possible.
• Accounts and folders: Library databases allow saving results or creating personalized accounts. Folders are temporary unless logged in as a "MyEBSCO" user. A warning pop-up will appear if not logged in, letting you know that you should create an account to keep saved items permanently.