Bringing Library & Archival Research into the Classroom: Exploring the Student Experience at St. Jerome’s 1865 to the Present
The following text was written by Environments of Change, Senior Collaborator, Dr. Michelle Atkin. Information for her upcoming publication on this topic will be provided soon.
One of the things that I find most rewarding about the work I do as an academic librarian is being able to connect students and researchers with the materials in our collections. Finding that all-important resource in the collection can lead to those “ah-ha moments” in research, especially for those working in the humanities and social sciences. That being said, because of the size of many library collections, many library users (students, faculty, and sometimes even librarians!) have no idea of the treasures in their library.
In my position, I am very fortunate to work with a variety of students, including Library Student Assistants, Library and Archives Co-op Students, and Library and Information Technician Field Placement Students, who are eager to learn about and promote our collections. Since I arrived at St. Jerome’s University in 2022, I have worked alongside these students, providing instruction, mentorship, and feedback on a variety of library and archival displays and research projects.
Students who seek employment in libraries generally already have an interest and comfort level working in libraries. But not all students have that same comfort level, and the thought of doing library research, let alone archival research, can be a bit intimidating. As a librarian who teaches information literacy sessions to first-year students, I am often asked to provide “one and done” workshops to impart the necessary knowledge of how to use the library. Although these sessions serve an important function, it isn’t how I would like to teach students research skills in an ideal world. To that end, I wanted to see if there might be a way for me to share some of my knowledge of archives and special collections in a course for first-year students.
I began to think about the treasures in our archives and wondered how I might design a course that allowed students to work with them. Since St. Jerome's was founded in 1865, we have some depth to our archival collections! What if students could learn about what it was like to be a student at St. Jerome’s in the late 19th and early 20th century? What did students write about? What were they interested in? What were their goals and aspirations? And lastly, how might modern students relate to these early students? Would they see any parallels between students who studied here during the early days of St. Jerome’s and modern students today?
The more I thought about it, the more I thought, why not try this little experiment and see. I pitched the idea for the course to our Vice President and Academic Dean, and came up with the following course description:
Student Life: Telling our Story
This course will examine student life at St. Jerome’s University from the university's founding to the present. By exploring historical student newspapers, yearbooks, and other memorabilia in the St. Jerome’s Archives, students will be able to learn more about the depth and variety of student experiences at our university over the years. Working as part of a small research team, students will present a mid-term poster display project that summarizes their findings. For the duration of the course, students will participate in a series of in-class writers’ workshops designed to help them prepare their final research paper on a theme related to the modern student experience.
In putting together the course, I wanted to make sure that students had an opportunity to learn about the history of the institution. The class, which was taught in the library, began with a kind of “show and tell.” Over the first few weeks of the class, I sketched out the history of the institution and brought in original photographs, course calendars, books, yearbooks, and other materials, allowing students to handle these materials in class. For items that were too fragile, such as a student scrapbook from 1893-1898, I simply invited students to the front and carefully turned the pages for them. The students participated in an in-class archives workshop where they learned how to create an archival description for their assigned item (e.g. photographs, pamphlets, newspapers, course calendars, etc.), noting the physical condition and age of their item. I think the students really appreciated the level of trust that they were being afforded and can attest that they handled their items with respect and care.
When it came time for the students to work in their small groups to create their archival research posters, they had a sense of agency that they, too, could tell a story about the student experience based on their knowledge of the archival materials that they were entrusted to work with on site. Students worked in groups of four to create visual posters on the following topics: “The Founding of St. Jerome’s”, “Team Spirit” (student athletics), “Theatre at St. Jerome’s in the 1900s,” “Student Life at SJU in 1925,” “The Evolution of St. Jerome’s Through Student Journalism,” “All Together for their Alma Mater” (importance of alumni relations and ties to one's school), and “Our Founder” (biography and memorial to the founder of St. Jerome’s College, Rev. Louis Funcken). Once the posters were completed, each group presented their work to the class. Following the group presentations, the posters were displayed in the library so that they could be shared with the wider St. Jerome's community.
During the second half of the term, we switched gears and examined the student experience through a modern lens. Through a series of scaffolded library instruction and writing workshops, students were able to further develop their research skills to write a final essay on a topic related to the modern student experience. Once students had selected their topics, they had an opportunity to share their research in rotating small groups for the duration of the term, preparing their essay outlines, editing and finalizing their drafts, and delivering their elevator pitches to inform their peers about their ongoing research. Topics selected by the students in the second half of the course included: fostering an inclusive community, building and maintaining friendships, time management, procrastination, navigating student supports on campus, academic integrity, health and wellness, student mental health, stress management, participation in extracurricular activities, and student government/student activism, among others.
Over the course of the term, students had the chance to learn more about the student experience, both from a historical perspective (using materials from the St. Jerome's Archives) and a modern perspective (utilizing current scholarly literature on the subject). In their final course reflections, students were asked to identify what they believed to be timeless/core aspects of the student experience. Although the course covered a large span of time (160 years worth), the students were able to see many areas of similarity, including the need for a sense of belonging, anxieties related to world events, uncertainties for their future careers, the importance of academic integrity, and the impact of healthy habits (e.g. sleep, exercise, nutrition, etc.) on academic success.
In designing this course, I wanted to provide first-year students with the skills to work with library and archival resources, and also give them an appreciation of why those resources are valuable. In the end, it was clear that a good number of them did experience that "ah-hah" moment when they realized that a library does indeed contain treasures that will help them answer their research questions.
Michelle Atkin
Michelle holds both a Master of Library and Information Studies and a Ph.D. in Information Studies from McGill University. She is responsible for the overall management of the St. Jerome's Library and Archives. Her areas of specialization are reference, collections, and library instruction. In addition to her library work, Michelle teaches in the Arts First Program at St. Jerome's University.