International Student Experience Fair, University of Kent

Rosalyn Bass and Louise Dorman from Academic Liaison Services, Templeman Library, had a stand at this event on 29 January 2013.  It was well orgnaised and well attended.  30 odd students visited our stand and we were impressed by their maturity, good manners and enthusiasm. All of these had used the library and were generally positive about it.  Feedback was helpful and specific and as follows:
 

Negative

·        Refworks – postgrads had problems getting Cite N Write to work. Had taken advice from Subject Librarian and contacted RefWorks support for help, but had not had any success.  Suggested try Mendeley.

·        Ebooks – frustration with them disappearing after 1 day loan expires because personal notes are lost. Can’t print from them.  Suggested use them online because notes will be preserved as linked to login.

·        Insufficient primary texts – Not enough copies of literature primary texts.  Discussed whether these should be purchased by student. Explained library 1:8 Gold Standard of one core text per eight students.

·        Problems accessing journals – Demonstrated and explained about accessing via library pages

Positive

·        The students were happy to discuss and compare University of Kent with their experiences of university at home.  We learned that one USA library is reference only with most resources having to be used on site and that French universities feel more like schools, with most students living at home and less social life. One student expressed an interest in being an “ambassador” for the University of Kent when he returns home.

·        It was pleasing to note that when students were shown the Academic Liaison leaflet, most of them  recognised their subject librarian and had already had some sort of contact with them

·        Students like the library social area and café

·        One student praised the  “efficient IT service”

·        Many referred to the library inductions and said that they had been helpful

·        All students reported that they were confident finding their way around the library and could locate the books they needed

We both found that the fair provided a good opportunity for promoting the library services. It allowed us to interact with students informally, gather feedback and offer advice, as well as liaise with colleagues from other departments.