Students as Consultants for Local Public Libraries: Leveraging High Impact Practices and Solving Real Problems

University Library, Viewing and Taping A

In an upper-level, writing-intensive, interdisciplinary general education course, students at CSU Channel Islands, an HSI institution, are appointed to one of six consulting teams to offer solutions to space or programming challenges at three branches of the Ventura County Library system. At the end of the course, students offer a consultant’s report and a professional presentation offering research-based solutions fitting different funding levels to the community partners. This presentation discusses (1) the work done to develop necessary partnerships with the local county library system through the University’s Center for Community Engagement, (2) the design of an upper-level undergraduate general education course that engages students with High Impact Practices including writing intensive coursework, collaborative assignments and projects, and community-based learning, (3) the challenges of implementing such a course when working with both a diverse student body and a diverse community, (4) feedback from both students and community partners about the experience, and (5) reflections by the faculty member and community engagement partner coordinator.