THINK SMARTER, NOT HARDER: THE SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF CREATING A RESEARCH ASSISTANT

PROGRAM

Cassie DuBay, Southern Methodist UniversityAlexandra Siek, University of New Mexico

Our Research Pool Programs: Fast Facts

SMU• Began January, 2014• 5-10 students• Paid according to class year• Students work ~10 hours

per week with flexible hours• Students share an office in

the library• Research support for law

faculty only• No single manager of the

students

UNM• 2004 – 2009 (approx. dates)• 3-14 students• All students paid the same• Students work 10-20 hours

per week, M-F • Students share library office • Research support for faculty,

affiliated Centers, Court of Appeals and State Bar

• One central Librarian manager

SMU’s Faculty Research Fellows

Research & Development

Research & Development

• What does a program look like for a library using the liaison model?

• What kind of student makes the best research assistant?

• How many students should we hire?• What types of projects can they handle?• How do we relay projects to them? What’s the

best method for managing their work? Logistics?

Research & DevelopmentOriginal Design

Interviewing & Hiring

Interviewing & Hiring

• Preferred Qualities:– ALR– No 1Ls– Law Review– Demonstrated writing ability through cover letter– Top of the class

• Initially, we hired 5 students.• Then 2 more!• And now we have 9!

Projects

Projects

Expectations vs. Reality

• Time needed for projects

• How many projects students would take at one time

• Ability to meet deadlines

• Willingness to complete a draft early

• Using LibGuide to track projects

Changes & Lessons Learned

• Biggest change: new flow chart…

Changes

• Biggest change: new flow chart…

• Hiring and (and then not hiring) a summer Fellow.

• Changed the intake form.

Tips

• Record-keeping!!–Makes marketing easier

• Student feedback– Learn to make the program better

• Payment and budget–Get creative

Tweaks• Communicating with faculty– How can we help the faculty better understand

how the Fellows program works?– Faculty feedback on student work? Radio silence.

• Research training– Students don’t really seem to care about this perk

• Student-faculty relationships– No matter how much we encourage it, students

still seem shy• Office space– Do students even use it? We rarely see them.

Benefits and drawbacks:

University of New Mexico School of Law Library Research Pool

Research Pool Benefits • Expanded ability to assist faculty in their

academic pursuits.– Student pool worked on 75 faculty requests in 2005

• Educational opportunity for students. • Provides needed income for work study Law

students.

Research Pool Drawbacks • Expense of employing the large team of students prohibitive.

• Faculty would cherry pick certain Research pool students.

• Supervision became too time-consuming for one librarian.

• Quality control over the student work product became an issue.

• Result: The law librarians concluded that they would be able to fill research requests more quickly and competently without having to supervise and instruct law students.

Another model: Short-term Research Assistants

University of New Mexico School of Law Library

Short term RA Program: Fast Facts

UNM• Began in 2014 • 2 students • Students paid the same• Students work 6-10 hours per week, flexible

hours • Students have access to a Library carrell• Research support for faculty • Librarian manages workflow, not project or

students.

Program Development

• Need arose from: – Tenure track faculty doing research vs. limits on

number of RAs they could employ. – Short-term research need.– Associate Dean for Faculty Development and our

Library Director and I brainstormed ways of assisting faculty in need of assistance.

Program Development • Pilot program established: – 2 short term “roving” research assistants – Available to individual law faculty for a period of 1-6

weeks per semester for 10-12 hours a week. • Librarian’s role:– Hire, train, terminate RAs. – Intake faculty requests for assistance, and track

availability of assistants during the semester. – Librarians would not supervise students or projects.

• Pilot program was successful and was picked up again the following semester.

Process: Advertising and Recruitment• Tip: Begin the advertising and hiring process a month and a

half before each semester ends.

• Email to students advertising program; option of flyers as well.

• Recruited skilled students with the help of legal writing and research faculty.

• Associate Dean for Faculty Development assisted in promoting the program.

• Position marketed as an opportunity to work with diverse faculty members on a variety of projects; no work study eligibility required.

Position requirements

• Position requirements: – Second year or third year law students in good

standing. – Currently enrolled in the required second year

legal research course or completed a full stand alone course on Legal Research.

– Experience as an R.A. preferred. • Students’ employment funded by law school.

No work study requirement.

Tips: things to consider in interviews• Any recommendations from legal research or writing faculty.• Reason for the students’ interest in the position?• Level of academic achievement and ability to manage their

time well (e.g. Journal / Law Review students). • Whether they “get” what the job entails e.g. they must assist

in managing and steering the project along with the professor.

• Whether they have appropriate people and savvy communicative skills to work with the diverse group of faculty members.

Training

• Once students are hired, provide an initial training session as well as library tour and any other logistical information needed for the RA.

– Note: I focused our training sessions not only on the research process but also project and time management strategies, keeping a research log, and packaging the product for the requestor.

• The Program coordinator or the Research Coordinator provide any project specific training as needed.

• Development of LibGuides for RAs

Project Flow

Librarian receives a

request for RA from faculty

Librarian informs requestor of

policies; assesses request and

availability of RAs

Librarian informs RA of request

and puts them in touch with

faculty requestor

Librarian provides further project specific

training

As project progresses,

Librarian checks in with RA and

faculty.

If project develops

and requestor needs more time,

Librarian re-assesses availability

of RAs

At conclusion of project, details documented in Faculty Request database; solicit feedback from professors about student

performance.

Project tracking and statistics

• Librarian enters the details of the project into our customized Faculty Request Database including projected start and end dates.

• Can track the start and end dates, number of hours spent, and any details of the project including the RA or RAs assigned to it.

• Ability to run reports for statistical and budgetary purposes.

• A product similar to the customized database we currently use is Spiceworks.

Periodic issues

• Faculty asked students to assist with matters that are better suited to faculty support personnel e.g. proofreading for punctuation.

– Solution: identification of the specific nature of what the requestor wants e.g. what do they mean by “cite checking”? Educate the requestor as to what the RA may be able to do and what faculty support can do.

• Not enough consistent demand for services.

– Solution: we adjusted job description stating that we could not guarantee constant work for the RAs throughout the semester.

Other periodic issues

• Requestor wants to “keep” the student longer than original time estimated.

• It is sometimes challenging to retain the R.A.s over the summer or per semester.

• The quality of applicants would vary by semester.

• Minor issues e.g. provision of supplies needed e.g. numerous binders and copying/printing on behalf of their professor.

Other similar short term RA programs

– BYU Law Library : http://lawlib.byu.edu/node/16 – Rutgers U. Law Library:

https://law-library.rutgers.edu/research-assistants

– University of Florida Law Library: http://www.law.ufl.edu/library/using-the-library/faculty-users/library-research-assistant

Other models:

• Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library, UCLA School of Law – The library hires, trains, and supervises all of the

law student research assistants for the Law School’s tenure-track faculty.

– Through this program, RAs receive research training and an opportunity to work closely with a leading legal scholar.

– The faculty services team does all of the matching of research assistants with faculty.

Other models (continued):

• Wiener-Rogers Law Library, UNLV School of Law – As of 2012, this Law Library’s faculty liaison

program has employed 5-8 law students as paid Research Assistants to assist the multiple faculty liaison librarians in faculty research requests. Requests from faculty are filtered through librarians to research assistants; direct contact is the exception. Librarians bear ultimate responsibility for the work product.

Factors to consider

Budget: who will pay?

Limits on type of research? What resources would you have to support a more expansive service model?

Roles of librarians – who will handle research intake?

Administrative and other support for hiring, training, and managing? Do you have a senior faculty services librarian who enjoys working with students and can supervise the students?

Factors to considerHow will you package and deliver results? Customizable?

Will you provide the research results, or provide legal or other type of analysis?

Division of labor between services that you or the law school already offer: e.g. document delivery services? Faculty support services?

What will your hours of operation be?

Do you have Institutional support for your program? Do your deans support your institution? Or, if you are struggling as to marketing the library, this may be a be a way to do so.

There isn’t just one model

• Regardless of the model, the essential ingredients are the same: law faculty members, research requests, law librarians, and research assistants. These are the building blocks required to establish a research assistant program.” – David McClure, Joining the Conversation: Law Library Research Assistant

Programs and Current Criticisms of Legal Education, 32 LEGAL REFERENCE SERVICES Q., 274, 278 (2013).

• Customize your program to fit the resources available and the needs of your faculties and students at your Law Schools.

Further reading

• Jon S. Schultz, The Faculty Services Department: Fine-Tuning the Research Engine, 83 L. LIB. J. 771 (1991).

• Darcy Kirk & Barbara Rainwater, The Research Assistant Pool in the Law Library, 6 TRENDS L. LIB. MGT. & TECH. 4 (1994).

• Harriet Richman & Steve Windsor, Faculty Services: Librarian-Supervised Students as Research Assistants in the Law Library, 91 L. LIB. J. 279 (1999).

• Linda Karr O’Connor, Jennifer Loope Selby & Barbara H. Garavaglia, Conference Presentation, Law Library Research Assistant Programs: Two Different Models, Am. Assn. L. Libs. Annual Meeting, Boston, Mass. July 23, 2012) (audio recording available at AALL2go, http://aall.sclivelearningcenter.com).

• David McClure, Joining the Conversation: Law Library Research Assistant Programs and Current Criticisms of Legal Education, 32 LEGAL REFERENCE SERVICES Q., 274, 278 (2013).

Sample forms and other documents provided on SWALL website

• Job ads• Interview questions • Faculty Request Database entry tracking the project • Policy guidelines for faculty • Training slides • Project intake form• Student feedback survey• Student information form• Infographic of program data• Program flow chart

Questions?

Thank you!

Cassie DuBay, Southern Methodist Universitycdubay@smu.edu

Alexandra Siek, University of New Mexicosiek@law.unm.edu