Building a Scholarly Network in Learning Communities at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Abstract

In 2011 the Chancellor at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL) charged each department and academic unit within the university to create programs and strategies to increase student enrollment within the next six years. The UNL Libraries embraced this goal by becoming more involved in the first-year experience programs and the first-year learning communities. This chapter will outline how the UNL Libraries gained library administration support to hire a Learning Communities/First-Year Experience Librarian and describe how they applied the theory of threshold concepts to develop a series of workshops and e-booklets to teach information literacy skills to students affiliated with the William H. Thompson Scholars Learning Community. These two initiatives will demonstrate how UNL Libraries built connections with campus units and services to become actively involved in student enrollment and retention.