UPDATED Archives: Student Assistant Job Openings

Are you a St. Kate's student looking for a unique and rewarding part-time on-campus job opportunity? Do you want to learn about St. Kate's history and get paid for it? Work with us as a student assistant in the Archives and Special Collections!

There are 2 open positions, one for a first year or sophomore undergraduate student and one for a graduate student in the MLIS program.

Job duties include staffing the service desk and providing assistance to users of the collections, organizing and/or digitizing records of University offices and manuscript collections, and creating displays using materials from our Archives.

If you are interested in history, religion/theology, and archives or libraries, this is the perfect job for you! Login to KatieCareer and learn more.

Review of applications for the undergraduate position will begin February 15th and the deadline to apply is Sunday, February 21st.

Review for the graduate position will begin February 22 and the deadline to apply is Sunday, February 28th.

Attn: MLIS students - Grad Assistantship!

Hey, MLIS students, want to get on-the-job reference experience working with fun, energetic librarians? Then apply for our Reference Graduate Assistantship position!

The purpose of this position is to first provide professional reference service to the University community and, second, to facilitate a hands-on learning experience for the graduate student. The Reference Graduate Assistant will be mentored by and work alongside four professional reference librarians at the St. Paul Campus.

Depending upon the qualifications of the Assistant, there may be opportunities to work beyond the reference desk and do things like: deliver instruction, develop LibGuides, support outreach initiatives, etc.

Apply today!

APA Workshop for St. Kate's Graduate Students on November 8

Registration is now open for "APA: A la carte," and APA workshop for graduate students to be held Saturday, November 8 from 9 a.m. to noon in the Coeur de Catherine lower level (downstairs from the library).

Presented by St. Kate's librarians, topics will include writing tips, formatting, and citing sources in APA style, and strategies to avoid plagiarism.  An optional hour-long RefWorks workshop will follow at 12:30 in Library 110.

This is not an introductory APA workshop; familiarity with APA guidelines is assumed. Any student currently enrolled in a St. Kate's graduate program is invited to attend. Registration is required.  Participation is on a first-come, first serve basis. A link to the workshop registration form is available at http://libguides.stkate.edu/apaworkshop

Questions?  Contact Sue Gray (sagray@stkate.edu) or Kathi Rickert (kdrickert@stkate.edu)

Sophia and Your Thesis or Research Paper

Did you recently graduate from a St. Kate's graduate program? Have you submitted your thesis?

It may be available on the library's digital repository Sophia. Sophia collects scholarship from across the University for dissemination to the community and beyond. Find papers, faculty research and grants, undergraduate work, theses and more.

• For all work added most recently to the collection, view Recent Additions

• Or search for by name, discipline and more

Surviving the End of the Semester

The end of the semester is upon us and, for many students, that means final exams and papers. Stop by the library for:

• help with research
• citing
• or just a quite place to study and relax
  (the St. Paul Library will be open until MIDNIGHT through May 23).

Also see these study tips and advice for finals week:

• O'Neill Center for Academic Achievement - Check out their Study Skills on their website (KateWay login required) or stop by for help
• Surviving Finals Week from University of the Pacific - Tips for taking finals and not freaking out 
• Guide to Surviving Finals from Harvard's Flyby newsblog - Practical advice (like staying off Facebook) 
• Surviving Finals from College Magazine - Avoid distractions

Attention Grad Students: APA Workshop

The Graduate APA Workshop for Saturday March 16 is full.
Information about the workshop, including the Powerpoint presentation, is available at: http://libguides.stkate.edu/apaworkshop

Watch for notice of our next workshop.
Thank you for your interest!

Graduate Assistantship Available for MLIS Student

Get paid to get real-world library experience! Apply to be a reference graduate assistant for next semester. The deadline has been extended to December 8, 2010.

Assistantship Application Information

Graduate Student Assistantship Positions Available

The Libraries hire Graduate Student Assistants to work at the reference desk, in archives and special collections, and in other areas of the library. Check out the current open positions and check back for more openings.

MLIS Assistantships:

• Ade Bethune Collection
• Reference

Graduation and Beyond!

Graduation is May 22 and 23, but don't let your St. Kate's connections end there. Become a member of the Friends of the Libraries and continue your use of the St. Catherine Libraries with a Friends' library card.

Go to:

• Hot Topics: Graduation - for information on St. Kate's and beyond
• Friends of the Libraries - for more about the organization

Do you have fond memories of either the St. Paul or Minneapolis campus libraries?
Leave us a comment!

That Time of Year

Yes, it's back to school time. You can tell by the brisk sales of sweaters and jeans (despite temps still in the 70s and 80s) and by the rows and rows of Crayola at Target. For those of us in higher education (whether a freshman, a grad student, or a professor), back to school means more than just new shoes. It also means buying books, remembering your username and password, and making sure your alarm clock will get you up for your 8 a.m. class.

The Libraries are here to help with a few of those things. Check out our Back to School page and stop by the Library next time you're on campus.

Support your local library...school!

Shock and dismay best describes the St. Kate's community reaction in January upon hearing the decision for continuing the College of St. Catherine's application for accreditation by the American Library Association Committee on Accreditation. The continuance means that current students will not be able to graduate with an accredited MLIS graduate degree until the ALA through the COA gives approval to the program. A Petition for Accreditation wiki was started by a graduate of the program. A Facebook group is also going strong.

On April 17th, St. Kate's President Andrea Lee, IHM leads a team from the library school to meet with the ALA's Committee on Accreditation. Both campus libraries have employed library students over the years and have been impressed with the caliber of the students.

"St. Kate's library students are much better prepared by this library school than I was by the University of Minnesota library school." Jim Newsome, Head of Public Services, St. Kate's library. 3/27/09

The library school has effectively communicated the seriousness of the situation to the students through meetings and emails. The students have worked hard to respectfully and forcefully fight the accreditation continuance. Find out about the St. Kate's committee on accreditation.

~Kate Burke, temporary Reference Librarian, St. Paul Campus

Graduate Student Library User Survey

Last spring, library staff conducted a survey of graduate students’ library usage and satisfaction with resources and services. Survey responses reflect the changes that have occurred in students’ information needs and behaviors since the last survey was done in 2000.

A total of 310 completed surveys were received from students in all nine graduate programs. The survey revealed that more than half of the respondents conduct their research away from the CSC Libraries. 59.1% of the respondents do their research at home, and only 28.9% use the CSC Libraries as their primary research site. This finding has significant implications for the delivery and access of library services.

While print sources are still important to graduate students, access to digital content is a big need and the top library priority for survey respondents. The overwhelming majority of students (90.4%) want the Libraries to provide more online full-text journal articles, with almost half (43%) requesting more library databases. Coming in at a distant third is more library computers (28.3%). Comments from respondents echoed the need for more full-text articles.

Library staff helpfulness and knowledge and interlibrary loan services were all given the highest ratings by survey respondents, and written comments confirm that the libraries’ greatest strength is its staff.

Survey responses affirmed the Library’s prioritizing of electronic resources, specifically library databases. Librarians are also providing more training workshops and individual consultations for graduate students and are engaged in a significant redesign of the library website to improve service to remote access users.

The staff is appreciative of the students who contributed their ideas and voiced their concerns, and we will continue to use the survey data as guidance in addressing graduate students’ information needs.

by Sue Gray, Reference and Circulation Librarian, Mpls Campus