You have your very own personal librarian!

Between first-year students and transfers, NC State welcomes some 6,000 new students to campus each fall. And each of these students has their own, devoted librarian through the Personal Librarian Program (PLP).

Students can always walk up to the Ask Us desk to find out about the vast array of services available to them, but the Libraries wanted to be much more proactive—especially for new students. 

Through the PLP, every first-year and transfer student is assigned a personal librarian. These specially trained librarians contact their students three times throughout the semester—in the beginning, during midterms, and during finals. These communications remind students about Libraries services specifically relevant to that time of the semester and offer them one-on-one video consultations with their librarian. At any time, and for any reason, students can schedule consultations and ask questions, whether it’s “How do I get a laptop?” or “Does the Libraries have any stuff on self-care or wellness?”

“When the pandemic hit in Spring 2020, we began to realize that typical orientation events would likely not provide the same opportunities for engaging with even traditionally matriculating students,” says Anne Burke, Associate Head of Learning Spaces & Services and one of the PLP librarians. “So we expanded the infrastructure and staffing for the transfer student Personal Librarian Program to encompass all incoming students.”

And students have loved it. One undergraduate transfer student got a Hill Library tour before COVID hit and met with a librarian about his strong interest in Data and Visualization Services. He has used the PLP to keep apprised on upcoming Libraries workshops and to get individual help on his own visualization projects. A first-year student who started in the summer semester reached out for help verifying sources with her final paper. Another first-year arranged to have a long-term loaner laptop mailed to her but had issues getting up and running with it—she and a librarian did the troubleshooting together through a PLP consultation.

Students are grateful for the variety of services available to them and excited that they have a specific person to reach out to instead of having to navigate some nightmarish voicemail system. The PLP is connecting students to more Libraries services earlier in their time at NC State.

Look for your emails and take advantage of this terrific program!