Creative Ways to Support Student Scholarship

Encouraging and supporting student scholarship is an area of growing emphasis in higher education (NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Library Edition). In 2014 the Liberty University Jerry Falwell Library Scholarly Communications Librarian and assistant created a plan for raising awareness and participation in using the Digital Commons to capture scholarship campus-wide. In the midst of this campaign, opportunities for innovation arose. Using knowledge of best practices, serendipitous opportunities, and a little courage, this small staff began to reshape the Digital Commons from solely an institutional repository for ETDs and faculty publications to a space for highlighting non-traditional scholarship, student journals and award-winning student work. This development included piloting an experimental in-class journal and initiating collaboration with the Graduate and Undergraduate Research Symposia. Attendees will learn: Value of using networking with faculty to identify prospective roles the Digital Commons could play in supporting student scholarship Innovative strategies for structuring student journals using processes that encourage and facilitate faculty interest “Ready, fire, aim” – the value of calculated risk in preventing unnecessary hurdles to maximizing opportunities Effective methods for serving over 100,000 students and faculty with a minimal staf