The reference desk revamped

How West Coast TAFE is bringing together student support services.

Where does this story start? West Coast TAFE

Library did not have a reference desk, but rather tried to manage reference enquiries from the loans desk

REFERENCE

DESK

Bob came to the Library.

Arrangements were made between the Library and Disability Services to set up a drop in tutorial area in the library for students with a disability.

What Changed?

Disabilities Support Officer

More and more students started asking Bob for help

What effect did this have on the Library as a whole?Students asked Bob for help rather than

library staffWhy was this happening?Was the circulation desk too busy?Was the circulation desk a physical

barrier?Could we actually see when students

needed help?Were we promoting all the available

support services?

At this point this was the structure

Manager Student Services Manager Learning

Resource Centre

Career Services Officer

AboriginalSupportOfficer

Disability and Student Support Coordinator

Library Booksho

p Records

Staff

Disability Support Officer

Library Student Services

The One Stop ShopA New Model was proposed

Manager Information and Student Support

Disability and Student Support Coordinator

Library Bookshop Records

Staff

Disability Support Officer

Aboriginal Support Officer

Career Services Officer

Library

was born

Job searching, career and study pathways

The Help Desk

LibraryCareers

Aboriginal Support

Computer Tutor

Study skills materials

Video Dubbing

An integral part of the StudentCentro concept was

A Reference Desk- Revamped

Traditional reference duties

Software applications and assignment

formatting

Information Literacy Handouts

Liaison and one on one support

Students edit video assignments

Why does StudentCentro Work?

We are saving money?

We are all interconnected and can help each other

We share career development and professional learning

Together we create a solid foundation to support student success

Greater awareness and inclusion of students with a disability

Aboriginal students brought in to the mainstream

Advanced warning of course changes

Prospective students interviewed in the library

Unintended Benefits

Tailor our services

Increase our ability to find alternative funding

Statistics

Statistics collection is important in helping us to:

What’s Next?We started by bringing Disabilities, Careers and Aboriginal Support to the

Library

We added the Computer Skills Tutor

We added Your Tutor online homework help in a pilot

program for Aboriginal and Disabilities Students

In 2010 We are expanding the Your Tutor online homework

help program to a greater number of students.

We are bringing the Study Skills Lecturer to the Help Desk

This semester we included all the nursing students in the

Your Tutor Program

Future Direction

The Training Sector now has a new funding model based on outcomes.

Teams like StudentCentro are a positive way forward as we look for ways to improve

retention

At West Coast Institute of Training StudentCentro has been recognized by the Executive as part of our strategic direction.

Vanessa (Library)

Caroline(Disabilities)

Kerryn (Careers)

Jane (Records)

Bronlyn (Aboriginal Support)

All the people who helped with this presentation

Naomi (Library)

Fiona (Library)

Bob (Disabilities)

Jeff (Study Skills)

Louise (Library)

Kirsty (Library)

Helen (Records)

Leslie (Records)

“The whole is more than the sum of its parts”

Aristotle