Thank you to everyone who responded to my question about this last week. Here's a brief summary of responses.
Question:
“We are an NHS library service and we are currently reviewing our policy on literature searches for students. At the moment we do literature searches for students for their coursework, but are aware of the arguments that students should be doing their own searches (with library support) in order to develop their skills.
I'd be interested to know what other libraries' policies on this are. I am happy to summarise for the list.”
(By ‘students’, I was taking a broad view of ‘anyone studying’ whether as a full-time student or as a member of staff on a course)
Summary of responses
Needless to say, this was more complex than simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Mediated searches (with student) 20
Offer training/advice and help if get into difficulty 9
Refer [full time students] back to university library 1
Support based on staff member’s needs and confidence levels (going beyond assisted search if necessary) 1
Do literature searches for students 2
Differing level of support depending on whether full time student/NHS staff and/or level of course/link to organisation 5
Do very quick searches occasionally 1
Differing level of support depending on whether search technique is being assessed 1
Arguments against doing searches for students:
• Developing search skills is part of students' learning process
• Library doing searches for some students but not others is unfair
• Library doing search for a student could lead to student getting academic credit for work which is not their own
• Benefits of delivering a mediated session based on student’s own search topic as a way of developing their skills and also thought processes beyond any more formal search skills training they might already have received
• University and FE college libraries do not do searches for students
Arguments for doing searches for students:
• With NHS staff on courses, the academic course is assessing their ability to search but, if they are using the results to inform a practice development, a poor/non-comprehensive search could impact on patient care
• Some groups of students (e.g. healthcare staff needing to convert their qualifications) can be uncomfortable with the whole experience of academic study and have low confidence levels. A greater level of support early on in their course can improve their confidence and increase the likelihood of them completing it
• Differentiation between level of course, particularly for postgraduate/post-reg students (some of whom can get a search done by a professional association's library on request!). This links into the first point (this group are more likely to be using a search to inform a change in practice)
• Differentiation according to whether the ability to search is being assessed
Kind regards,
Claire
Claire Charnley
Library and Knowledge Services Manager
South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
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