THINK SMARTER, NOT HARDER: THE
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF
CREATING A RESEARCH ASSISTANT
PROGRAM
Cassie DuBay, Southern Methodist University
Alexandra Siek, University of New Mexico
Our Research Pool Programs: Fast Facts
SMU
•
•
•
•
Began January, 2014
5-10 students
Paid according to class year
Students work ~10 hours
per week with flexible hours
• Students share an office in
the library
• Research support for law
faculty only
• No single manager of the
students
UNM
•
•
•
•
2004 – 2009 (approx. dates)
3-14 students
All students paid the same
Students work 10-20 hours
per week, M-F
• Students share library office
• Research support for faculty,
affiliated Centers, Court of
Appeals and State Bar
• One central Librarian
manager
SMU’s Faculty Research Fellows
Research & Development
Research & Development
• What does a program look like for a library
using the liaison model?
• What kind of student makes the best research
assistant?
• How many students should we hire?
• What types of projects can they handle?
• How do we relay projects to them? What’s the
best method for managing their work?
Logistics?
Research & Development
Original Design
Interviewing & Hiring
Interviewing & Hiring
• Preferred Qualities:
– ALR
– No 1Ls
– Law Review
– Demonstrated writing ability through cover letter
– Top of the class
• Initially, we hired 5 students.
• Then 2 more!
• And now we have 9!
Projects
Projects
Expectations vs. Reality
• Time needed for projects
• How many projects students would take at one time
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Willingness to complete a draft early
• Using LibGuide to track projects
Changes & Lessons Learned
• Biggest change: new flow chart…
Changes
• Biggest change: new flow chart…
• Hiring and (and then not hiring) a summer
Fellow.
• Changed the intake form.
Tips
• Record-keeping!!
– Makes marketing easier
• Student feedback
– Learn to make the program better
• Payment and budget
– Get creative
Tweaks
• Communicating with faculty
– How can we help the faculty better understand
how the Fellows program works?
– Faculty feedback on student work? Radio silence.
• Research training
– Students don’t really seem to care about this perk
• Student-faculty relationships
– No matter how much we encourage it, students
still seem shy
• Office space
– Do students even use it? We rarely see them.
Benefits and drawbacks:
University of New Mexico
School of Law Library Research Pool
Research Pool Benefits
• Expanded ability to assist faculty in their
academic pursuits.
– Student pool worked on 75 faculty requests in 2005
• Educational opportunity for students.
• Provides needed income for work study Law
students.
Research Pool Drawbacks
• Expense of employing the large team of students prohibitive.
• Faculty would cherry pick certain Research pool students.
• Supervision became too time-consuming for one librarian.
• Quality control over the student work product became an issue.
• Result: The law librarians concluded that they would be able to
fill research requests more quickly and competently without
having to supervise and instruct law students.
University of New Mexico
School of Law Library
Another model: Short-term
Research Assistants
Short term RA Program: Fast Facts
UNM
•
•
•
•
Began in 2014
2 students
Students paid the same
Students work 6-10 hours per week, flexible
hours
• Students have access to a Library carrell
• Research support for faculty
• Librarian manages workflow, not project or
students.
Program Development
• Need arose from:
– Tenure track faculty doing research vs. limits on
number of RAs they could employ.
– Short-term research need.
– Associate Dean for Faculty Development and our
Library Director and I brainstormed ways of
assisting faculty in need of assistance.
Program Development
• Pilot program established:
– 2 short term “roving” research assistants
– Available to individual law faculty for a period of 1-6
weeks per semester for 10-12 hours a week.
• Librarian’s role:
– Hire, train, terminate RAs.
– Intake faculty requests for assistance, and track
availability of assistants during the semester.
– Librarians would not supervise students or projects.
• Pilot program was successful and was picked up
again the following semester.
Process: Advertising and Recruitment
• Tip: Begin the advertising and hiring process a month
and a half before each semester ends.
• Email to students advertising program; option of flyers
as well.
• Recruited skilled students with the help of legal writing
and research faculty.
• Associate Dean for Faculty Development assisted in
promoting the program.
• Position marketed as an opportunity to work with
diverse faculty members on a variety of projects; no
work study eligibility required.
Position requirements
• Position requirements:
– Second year or third year law students in good
standing.
– Currently enrolled in the required second year
legal research course or completed a full stand
alone course on Legal Research.
– Experience as an R.A. preferred.
• Students’ employment funded by law school.
No work study requirement.
Tips: things to consider in interviews
• Any recommendations from legal research or writing faculty.
• Reason for the students’ interest in the position?
• Level of academic achievement and ability to manage their
time well (e.g. Journal / Law Review students).
• Whether they “get” what the job entails e.g. they must assist
in managing and steering the project along with the professor.
• Whether they have appropriate people and savvy
communicative skills to work with the diverse group of faculty
members.
Training
• Once students are hired, provide an initial training session
as well as library tour and any other logistical information
needed for the RA.
– Note: I focused our training sessions not only on the research
process but also project and time management strategies,
keeping a research log, and packaging the product for the
requestor.
• The Program coordinator or the Research Coordinator
provide any project specific training as needed.
• Development of LibGuides for RAs
Project Flow
Librarian
receives a
request for RA
from faculty
Librarian informs
requestor of
policies; assesses
request and
availability of RAs
Librarian informs
RA of request
and puts them in
touch with
faculty requestor
Librarian
provides further
project specific
training
As project
progresses,
Librarian checks
in with RA and
faculty.
If project develops
and requestor
needs more time,
Librarian reassesses availability
of RAs
At conclusion of project, details documented in Faculty Request
database; solicit feedback from professors about student
performance.
Project tracking and statistics
• Librarian enters the details of the project into our
customized Faculty Request Database including projected
start and end dates.
• Can track the start and end dates, number of hours spent,
and any details of the project including the RA or RAs
assigned to it.
• Ability to run reports for statistical and budgetary purposes.
• A product similar to the customized database we currently
use is Spiceworks.
Periodic issues
• Faculty asked students to assist with matters that are
better suited to faculty support personnel e.g.
proofreading for punctuation.
– Solution: identification of the specific nature of what the
requestor wants e.g. what do they mean by “cite
checking”? Educate the requestor as to what the RA may
be able to do and what faculty support can do.
• Not enough consistent demand for services.
– Solution: we adjusted job description stating that we
could not guarantee constant work for the RAs throughout
the semester.
Other periodic issues
• Requestor wants to “keep” the student longer
than original time estimated.
• It is sometimes challenging to retain the R.A.s
over the summer or per semester.
• The quality of applicants would vary by
semester.
• Minor issues e.g. provision of supplies needed
e.g. numerous binders and copying/printing
on behalf of their professor.
Other similar short term RA programs
– BYU Law Library : http://lawlib.byu.edu/node/16
– Rutgers U. Law Library: https://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/research-assistants
– University of Florida Law Library:
http://www.law.ufl.edu/library/using-thelibrary/faculty-users/library-research-assistant
Other models:
• Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library, UCLA
School of Law
– The library hires, trains, and supervises all of the
law student research assistants for the Law
School’s tenure-track faculty.
– Through this program, RAs receive research
training and an opportunity to work closely with
a leading legal scholar.
– The faculty services team does all of the
matching of research assistants with faculty.
Other models (continued):
• Wiener-Rogers Law Library, UNLV School of
Law
– As of 2012, this Law Library’s faculty liaison
program has employed 5-8 law students as paid
Research Assistants to assist the multiple faculty
liaison librarians in faculty research requests.
Requests from faculty are filtered through
librarians to research assistants; direct contact is
the exception. Librarians bear ultimate
responsibility for the work product.
Factors to consider
Budget: who will pay?
Limits on type of research? What resources would you have
to support a more expansive service model?
Roles of librarians – who will handle research intake?
Administrative and other support for hiring, training, and
managing? Do you have a senior faculty services librarian
who enjoys working with students and can supervise the
students?
Factors to consider
How will you package and deliver results? Customizable?
Will you provide the research results, or provide legal or other type of
analysis?
Division of labor between services that you or the law school already
offer: e.g. document delivery services? Faculty support services?
What will your hours of operation be?
Do you have Institutional support for your program? Do your deans
support your institution? Or, if you are struggling as to marketing the
library, this may be a be a way to do so.
There isn’t just one model
• Regardless of the model, the essential ingredients
are the same: law faculty members, research
requests, law librarians, and research assistants.
These are the building blocks required to
establish a research assistant program.”
– David McClure, Joining the Conversation: Law Library Research Assistant
Programs and Current Criticisms of Legal Education, 32 LEGAL REFERENCE
SERVICES Q., 274, 278 (2013).
• Customize your program to fit the resources
available and the needs of your faculties and
students at your Law Schools.
Further reading
• Jon S. Schultz, The Faculty Services Department: Fine-Tuning the Research
Engine, 83 L. LIB. J. 771 (1991).
• Darcy Kirk & Barbara Rainwater, The Research Assistant Pool in the Law
Library, 6 TRENDS L. LIB. MGT. & TECH. 4 (1994).
• Harriet Richman & Steve Windsor, Faculty Services: Librarian-Supervised
Students as Research Assistants in the Law Library, 91 L. LIB. J. 279 (1999).
• Linda Karr O’Connor, Jennifer Loope Selby & Barbara H. Garavaglia,
Conference Presentation, Law Library Research Assistant Programs: Two
Different Models, Am. Assn. L. Libs. Annual Meeting, Boston, Mass. July 23,
2012) (audio recording available at AALL2go,
http://aall.sclivelearningcenter.com).
• David McClure, Joining the Conversation: Law Library Research Assistant
Programs and Current Criticisms of Legal Education, 32 LEGAL REFERENCE
SERVICES Q., 274, 278 (2013).
Sample forms and other documents
provided on SWALL website
• Job ads
• Interview questions
• Faculty Request Database entry tracking the
project
• Policy guidelines for faculty
• Training slides
• Project intake form
• Student feedback survey
• Student information form
• Infographic of program data
• Program flow chart
Questions?
Thank you!
Cassie DuBay, Southern Methodist University
cdubay@smu.edu
Alexandra Siek, University of New Mexico
siek@law.unm.edu