Dismantling the Silos: Access Services and Technical Services Work Together to Support Student Assistants

This presentation will focus on a student assistant mentorship pilot program that will begin in the Fall semester of 2022 at Georgia Southern University Libraries. The mentorship program will focus on the student assistant’s whole self through multiple avenues of mentorship. Students will benefit from peer to peer and staff to student mentorship, where they will gain knowledge in working in a professional setting. They will also learn how to maintain a mentally and emotionally stable self through mindfulness practices utilizing the Georgia Southern University Libraries Brain Booth. The Brain Booth is an experiential space to learn about the mind body connection, reduce stress, and optimize learning. This program will occur within multiple departments and on two campuses. Access Services, Technical Services and the Brain Booth student assistants will participate in this program. Assessment will be built into the program. This will allow each department to determine the particular needs of their student assistants and adapt as needed. We will present the development of this program and the data available at the time of the conference, which will include initial results of learning outcomes of participating student assistants