Teaching to the whole student: Building best practices for collaboration between libraries and student services

Abstract

Universities are experiencing changes in the expectations of first-year students. These students are members of the Millennial generation, whose expectations of college life and support services differ from generations of the past. This article will discuss how to integrate the library into the lives of the first-year students to create a holistic instruction program. It will review the literature for examples of the characteristics of the Millennial generation and how libraries have changed instruction to fit these students' needs. It will highlight the best practices in collaboration between the University of Cincinnati Libraries and campus support services that meet the students' expectations and the goals of the library and the university. The article demonstrates ways that other libraries can collaborate with their campus services to create a holistic approach to the students' first-year experience and provides several assessment tools and methods that can be used to strengthen collaborations and instruction programs.