Call for Chapters: Student Success Librarianship: Critical Perspectives on an Evolving Profession (working title) #ACRL

Call For Chapter Proposals: Student Success Librarianship: Critical Perspectives on an Evolving Profession (working title)

We invite you to submit chapter proposals for the forthcoming book, Student Success Librarianship: Critical Perspectives on an Evolving Profession, to be published by ACRL Press. 

SCOPE

Student Success Librarianship is the new darling of the profession, with such

positions becoming increasingly common in academic libraries. Many librarians with this title are often not only the first person in the position, but they also frequently occupy identities that are minoritized in higher education. Being so new to the field, many Student Success Librarians have found themselves in a position where their roles are ambiguous and difficult to define, which can lead to uncertainty, feeling under-appreciated, and burnout, as unspoken expectations and duties can always be justified with “student success.” This book will examine Student Success Librarianship through a critical lens in order to provide insight and advice that will contribute to a positive evolution of the role for current and future librarians interested in this career.

The goal of this book is to help Student Success Librarians as well as library professionals with similar roles to feel represented in the literature. Because there isn’t a formal professional platform where Student Success Librarians can network, it’s possible that Student Success Librarians feel alone in both their love for and their critiques of the profession. Without much research or literature related to Student Success Librarianship, librarians in this role have little to compare their experiences to, and thus lack the opportunity to both celebrate their wins and to examine areas of improvement for their careers. This book will meet this need as a tool for validation, education, and inspiration.

Note: Your job title does not have to specifically be “Student Success Librarian” to submit a proposal. All library professionals with job duties related to student success are welcome to submit. This includes previously holding a position related to student success.

We welcome chapter proposals on the following topics:

• Defining student success/Student Success Librarianship

By this, we mean: What is student success, and who gets to define such a nebulous concept? With this topic, we hope to elucidate the concept of “student success” in higher education, how that translates to Student Success Librarianship or similar librarian jobs, and problematize the implications of defining success for students.

• Student success in the time of COVID-19

• Student Success Librarianship at HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and MSIs (Minority-Serving Institutions)

• The Diversity Resident to Student Success Librarian pipeline

• Outreach, burnout, and (in)equity

• Student Success work and Vocational Awe (as coined by Fobazi Ettarh)

• Assessing success and/or the Academic Surveillance Complex as a byproduct of attempting to quantify success

• Resources for Student Success Librarians

Useful online resources, tips for outreach, how to advocate for your position, 

programming ideas, etc.

• Additional topics related to Student Success Librarianship not listed here

*We welcome nontraditional submissions such as comics, personal essays, etc. that are relevant and supplemental to full chapters.

*Chapter authors will have the opportunity to license openly. 

Submission Procedure and Timeline:

Please submit proposals (up to 700 words) to StudentSuccessACRL@gmail.com

Deadline for proposals due November 1, 2022.

Tentative notification of acceptance December 1, 2022.

Tentative due date for first draft June 1, 2022. 

Final manuscript should be 2500 to 6000 words

About the Editors:

Melody Lee Rood (she/her) is the Student Success and Open Education Librarian at the Walter Clinton Jackson Library at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She received her MLIS from North Carolina Central University in 2016 and her BA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of North Carolina Asheville in 2011. Melody serves as a liaison to all of the Student Success Offices, the International and Global Studies Program, the Library and Information Science Program, as well as the library’s Open Educational Resources Initiative. Her research interests include outreach for nontraditional students, critical librarianship, open pedagogy, equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice. 

Olivia Patterson (she/her) is the Student Success Librarian at J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The first to hold this position at Atkins Library and fresh out of her Master’s of Library & Information Science program at UNC Greensboro (‘21), Olivia brings a critical and student-centered approach to her role, emphasizing the importance of treating students as whole people. Using her undergraduate degree in Sociology (UNC Asheville, ‘18), Olivia applies critical theory surrounding race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability (and intersections thereof) to her work.