RUSA is proud to announce the formation of the RUSA First Year Experience Interest Group, (FYEIG). This group has been formed in order to address the many challenges of first year students in higher education. One of the anticipated outcomes is to establish a forum with regular meetings for the discussion of practical and scholarly topics relating to first year students and those involved with this group.
The purpose of this group is to share ideas and develop new connections for future collegiality and support. Topics for discussions include but are not limited to retention improvements, introduction to higher education research skills development, outreach, first generation students, international students, students enrolled simultaneously in high school and college (dual enrollment programs), reference services, etc.
This group is in the initial pilot project phase, which ends on June 30, 2016. In order to become a regularly scheduled, RUSA-sponsored group, there must be sufficient support and some credible work by this date.
You are invited to join this interest group by going to http://connect.ala.org/node/249585, then log into your ALA account, and join the group. FYE IG membership is automatic.
This should be a great help for incoming students. Topics for discussion is about right. However, first year students fresh from high school go to the universities’ computer laboratories and get to Google when given an assignment. How do we redirect them to the research desk at the library is our biggest challenge. Anyone with ideas?