Reference Services for International Students

Joseph Andrews LIBR 210 FALL 2011

Why international students? (pt. 1) 2010/2011 school year: 723,277 international students enrolled 3.5% of total enrollment 4.7% increase since 2009/2010 Since 2006/2007, increasing enrollments

(Institute of International Education, 2011b)

Why international students? (pt. 2) 0.6% use American govt funds

(Institute of International Education, 2011a)

Dont compete with American students for funds

(Kumar & Suresh, 2001, p. 329)

63.4% use personal or family funds

(Institute of International Education, 2011a) (Institute of International Education, 2011a) (Institute of International Education, 2011a)

Why customized reference services? (pt. 1)

Y al l nu cal m l lo be o r up k i t

Language barrier
Intl students struggle with:

Huh?

American accents Complex syntax Unfamiliar vocabulary (Brown, 2001, p. 341)

Nonverbal communication
Nodding head to mean no instead of yes Standing closer than Americans do
(Liestman, 2001, p. 368)

Why customized reference services? (pt. 2)

Cultural differences limit communication
(Brown, 2001, p. 340)

SILENCE= ATTENTIVENESS
(Gilton, 2007, p. 429)

LIBRARIANS = BUSY & UNAPPROACHABLE

(Kumar & Suresh, 2001, p. 334)

OUTDATED COLLECTIONS & UNTRAINED STAFF

(Liestman, 2001, p. 365)

Why customized reference services? (pt. 3)

Different educational traditions
MEMORIZING CRITICAL THINKING
(Kumar & Suresh, 2001, p. 334)

UNIVERSAL SHARING

COPYRIGHT & PLAGIARISM

(Gilton, 2007, p. 429)

Culture shock
(Kumar & Suresh, 2001, p. 333)

See female librarians as less educated Used to being respected because of social status
(Liestman, 2001, p. 368)

Remember-Never generalize!
Determine which services best for your international students
US FOC UPS RO G
SU R

VE

YS

(Liestman, 2001, p. 368)

How to customize reference services (pt. 1)

Orientations/workshops
MAKE STUDENTS AWARE, SHOW THAT LIBRARIES CARE!

(Liestman, 2001, p. 368)

JARGON

Speak slowly & clearly

SLANG

(Walker & Click, 2011, p. 22)

How to customize reference services (pt. 2)

Staff training
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION MULTILINGUAL STAFF & SERVICES
(Brown, 2001, p. 339)

ONLINE SERVICES CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

(Jackson, 2005, p. 207)

pathfinders
(Mestre, 2011, p. 107)

(Walker & Click, 2011, p. 23)

site translatio ns

Big point, reiterated

AVOID A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL APPROACH

Conduct needs assessment

(Liestman, 2001, p. 374)

Learn about YOUR intl students!

(Gilton, 2007, p. 430)

References
Brown, C. (2001). Reference services to the international adult learners: Understanding the barriers. The Reference Librarian, 33(69), 337-347. doi:10.1300/J120v33n69_30 Gilton, D. (2007). Culture shock in the library: Implications for information literacy instruction. Research Strategies, 20, 424-432. doi:10.1016/j.resstr.2006.12.013 Institute of International Education. (2011). International students by primary source of funding, 2009/10 2010/11 [Data page]. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Openw Doors/Data/International-Students/Primary-Source-of-Funding/2009-11 Institute of International Education. (2011). International student enrollment trends, 1949/50-2010/11 [Data page]. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Openw Doors/Data/International-Students/Enrollment-Trends/1948-2011 Jackson, P. (2005). Incoming international students and the library: A survey. Reference Services Review, 33(2), 197-209. doi:10.1108/00907320510597408 Kumar, S., & Suresh, R. (2001). Strategies for providing effective reference services for international adult learners. The Reference Librarian, 33(69), 327-336. doi:10.1300/J120v33n69_29 Liestman, D. (2001). Reference services and the international adult learner. The Reference Librarian, 33(69), 363-378. doi:10.1300/J120v33n69_32 Mestre, L. (2011). Visibility of diversity within Association of Research Libraries websites. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37(2), 101-108. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2011.02.001 Walker, C., & Click, A. (2011). Meeting the reference expectations of ESL students. College & Research Libraries News, 72(1), 20-23. Retrieved from http://crln.acrl.org/content/72/1/20.full.pdf