Sources: The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience

The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience. Edited by Richard Moniz and Jean Moats. Chicago: ALA, 2014. 152 p. Paper $58 (ISBN: 978-0-8389-1239-3).

The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience champions the personal librarian concept as a revolutionary solution to many of the issues currently facing academic libraries, revealing what a personal library program can do for a library and how such a program should be built. The book is well crafted, flowing and connecting exceptionally well, despite the fact that each chapter embodies a completely separate essay. In particular, the book’s organization provides readers with an easy transition from skeptical critic to enthusiastic participant, as each chapter transfers the energy and optimism of the authors to the reader.

Building on the evolving role of reference librarians as liaisons and educators, a personal librarian program seeks to go beyond reference interactions and library sessions to intentionally “build long-term one-on-one connections that allow students to have the confidence and resources to be successful in the skill sets that librarians particularly seek to instill in them” (9). The libraries that have already established personal librarian programs, such as Sam Houston State University, Yale University, and Drexel University, have used their programs as a means to further connect with their student population and remind them what librarians can do for them. In particular, the personal librarian program is meant to combat the issue of low student retention facing academic institutions by establishing strong relationships with students from their freshman year onwards. If a student can enter higher education with a personal librarian, who contacts the student before the academic year starts and who serves as someone the student can rely on for any assistance he or she may need throughout the year, Moniz and Moats believe that the often overwhelming stress of the transition to college can be reduced. More than anything else, the personal librarian “serve[s] as a point of contact for students” by keeping in constant communication with students, providing personal research assistance whenever needed, and connecting students with their subject specialist librarians once a major has been chosen (21).

In a world in which the librarian’s role is in a state of transition, the concept of the personal librarian presents itself as an intriguing asset. Predominantly invaluable for librarians searching for the means to “make personal connections with students that can begin to stand outside the classroom” (47), such librarians will find all of the tools and encouragements they need within the pages of The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience.—Calantha Tillotson, Graduate Reference Assistant, Bizzell Memorial Library, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma