To echo this month’s Dear CWCAB on writing center partnership, we would like to spotlight “Bridging Boundaries: Perceived Roles of Librarians and Writing Center Tutors in Supporting Student Research Writing” from the WLN special issue on writing center and library partnership from May/June 2021. The co-authors, Jennifer Albanese and Christine Fena, shared their story on writing center and library collaboration to support students’ research writing process.
Here’s an update from the authors on April 8, 2022:
Two and a half years after the Fall 2019 in-person events we discuss in the article, we have moved the event online with success using Zoom and offered it for 2 evenings every semester since Fall 2020. Each librarian or tutor has their own breakout room, and we use the main room as the “intake” space. All students now register for the event via Zoom, and we send them the intake questions ahead of time through a Google Form, which tells us whether they are hoping to see a tutor, a librarian, or both. This helps us know what to expect in the lead up to the event. Although we miss the “buzz” and “energy” of the in-person event, we have been pleasantly surprised at the benefits of using the Zoom breakout rooms, such as the ease with which participants can share their screens, send resource links back and forth using the chat feature, and the willingness of more librarians to volunteer since they can participate from home. Although it was beneficial for students to move around the physical space from the librarian side of the room to the tutor side of the room, now, students can move from a librarian breakout room, back to the main room, and then into a tutor breakout room, or back and forth as needed. Our goal for Fall 2022 is to offer both modalities, one in-person event on one evening, and the virtual event on the other evening. This event continues to be popular with students, and 170 students have come to the virtual version in the Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Fall 2021 semesters. We are looking forward to helping students again at the virtual event this month!
