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The purpose of this paper is to investigate using student employees with expertise in niche areas to provide library services outside the traditional scope of full-time library employees. It examines a case study where an academic library employed undergraduate students to assist users in makerspace-related work and, more recently, graduate students to assist users in data analysis. This paper will determine whether such students can provide satisfactory service to users.

This paper includes a background of the services, including hiring, training and assessment. The methodology for assessment includes analyzing user-created booking data, student employee consultation data and user feedback surveys to determine user and student employee satisfaction with the services.

The findings report high usage numbers and overall high user and student employee satisfaction with the two services, suggesting that student employees can be used effectively in such a way.

Although libraries often use student employees for lower-level library tasks, these results suggest libraries with limited resources and full-time staff should consider using student employees to provide specialized consultations, especially pertaining to software and other technologies.

An increased number of academic libraries are providing access to nontraditional technologies including 3D printers, 3D scanners, laser cutters, and more. However, these new equipment offerings require users to learn new literacies and skills in order to fully utilize them and realize their full potential to impact creativity and innovation on campus. The purpose of this paper is to share how one academic library is providing services and resources to help users acquire the necessary 3D modeling skills to design and successfully 3D print new knowledge objects.

The library is providing access to online tutorials on many different 3D modeling programs, gives instruction on 3D modeling through group workshops, and provides individual consultations with 3D modeling experts. These instruction efforts were assessed by analyzing usage statistics, attendance, and user satisfaction surveys.

Usage statistics show that the online tutorials are heavily utilized by UNR users and that many different 3D modeling programs are of interest to our community. Usage statistics and user surveys show the individual consultation service to be helpful and often exceeding expectations. Workshop attendance is generally low and appears to positively impact far fewer users than the other services.

While more libraries begin providing access to maker technologies, few are addressing the need to teach new skills and literacies necessary to utilize those technologies fully. This paper may prove valuable for other academic libraries to start providing avenues of learning for new and nontraditional library skills, such as 3D modeling.

The purpose of this paper is to uninitiate new and non-traditional library resources, such as those commonly found in a makerspace, can often seem abstract, intimidating, or even unrelated to the library mission. The University of Nevada’s DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library set out to engage its on-campus library colleagues to increase awareness and understanding of the new technologies being offered in support of active learning and discovery.

The science and engineering library is experimenting with an ongoing series of inreach/outreach workshops that enable other library faculty and staff from across the greater library organization to experience their non-traditional services and resources. A first pop-up maker technology workshop took place in June 2015 and was composed of three sessions including an introduction to 3D printing and modeling, digital design literacies, and lendable technologies. A survey was distributed to attendees for feedback.

Anecdotal evidence suggest the event was successful, offering a potentially powerful mechanism for engaging and informing library staff about non-traditional resources and technology.

This outreach approach may prove valuable for other academic libraries to similarly create awareness of non-traditional resources and technologies among its colleagues.