A Collaborative Project between Cornell University Library and Columbia University Libraries

1. Supporting Humanities
Doctoral Student Success
A Collaborative Project between
Cornell University Library and Columbia University Libraries
CUL/IS Staff Forum April 27, 2011
Damon Jaggars, AUL Collections & Services
Alysse Jordan, Head, Social Work Library
Jennifer Rutner, Assessment & Planning Librarian
John Tofanelli, British and American History and Literature Librarian

2. Motivation
• Decline in number of degrees awarded: the number of doctorates awarded in the
humanities has declined by 12% between 1998 and 2008, while those in science
and engineering have increased by 20.4% (2008 NSF SED)
• Longer time to completion: while the mean registered time to degree in all
disciplines has increased since 1978, it is still the longest in the humanities,
increasing to 9 years in 2003 as compared to 6.9 in engineering, 6.9 in the life
sciences, and 6.8 in the physical sciences (NSF Time to Degree)
• Higher rates of attrition: the cumulative attrition rates at year ten in the
humanities are 32% compared to 27% in engineering and 26% in the life sciences
(CGS 2008)
• Complex landscape: the factors that influence time to completion and retention
rates vary according to discipline, institutional characteristics, availability of
financial aid, quality of advising, clarity of program requirements, quality of family
life, job prospects, lack of community, etc. (Ehrenberg et al., 2009)

3. How can the library better-
support doctoral work on
campus?

4. Collaboration

5. The 2CUL Project
“Columbia and Cornell University Libraries are pleased
to join forces in a transformative and enduring
partnership between our two great library systems
that enables us to pool resources to provide content,
expertise, and services that are impossible to
accomplish acting alone.”
http://2cul.org/

6. Project Team
Cornell University
• Kaila Bussert
• Kathy Chiang
• Michelle Hubble
• Gaby Castro Gessner (Project
Manager)
• Sussette Newberry
• Deb Schmidle
• Kornelia Tancheva
• Jill Ulbricht (Admin Support)
• Wendy Wilcox
Columbia University
• Amanda Bielskas
• Jim Crocamo
• Fadi Dagher
• Damon Jaggars
• Alysse Jordan
• Victoria Gross (Research
Assistant)
• Jennifer Rutner (Project
Manager)
• John Tofanelli

7. Day-to-Day
• Travel (shuttle)
• Video conferencing
• Phone calls (many!)
• Phone conferencing
• Email
• Wiki
• Group training
• Camtasia training
video

8. Methods

9. Research Procedures
Spring 2010
• Ethnographic Training
• Focus groups (5 total)
Summer + Fall 2010
• Interviews (45 total)
– 90 minutes, individual
• Post-questionnaire (paper)
Winter 2010-11
• Analysis and reporting
$

10. 870 pages of transcripts.

11. The Student
Personal Space
Previous Experience
Personal Expectations
Self-determination
Personal Life
The
Institution +
Department
Institutional Space
Funding
Dept. Requirements +
Expectations
Culture + Community
Advising
Teaching
Attrition
Research +
Writing
Coursework
Exams + Preparation
Prospectus +
Preparation
Discovery
Writing Process +
Revision
Defense + Preparation
Information
Management
The Library
Librarians
Collections
Services
Library Space
Technology
The
Profession
Job Search
Publishing
Challenges
Successes
Opportunities
First
Second
Third
Code Level
Fourth
Code Tree

12. Results

13. DEMOGRAPHICS

14. Interview Participants
Discipline Cornell Columbia Total
Art History 0 7 7
Asian Studies 2 0 2
Classics 2 0 2
Comparative
Literature
2 0 2
English 4 6 10
History 7 5 12
Medieval Studies 4 8 12
Religion 0 6 6
Total 21 24 45

15. Interview Participants
Cornell Columbia Total
Pre-exam 9 8 17
Post-exam 12 16 28
Yes MA 11 13 24
No MA 10 11 21

16. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
21-24 25-30 31-34 35-38 39-44 45-55 56-65 66-75
NumberofStudents
Age
Age of Participants

17. Time from BA graduation Through Expected PhD
Completion
Graduation from undergrad to start of PhD Start of PhD to candidacy Candidacy to PhD expected graduation

18. 14
14
10
21
24
3
24
22
8
19
16
6
2
2
2
3
2
8
3
2
1
5 1
2
5
3
2
3
1
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Grad Program
Funding
Advising
(Columbia only)
Library Services
Library Collections
Library Spaces
(Columbia only)
Humanities PhD Student Study Questionaire
Please rate your overall satisfaction with the following at CU:
Very Satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very Dissatisfied
n/a

19. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1< 1 -2 hrs 2 - 4 hrs 4 - 6 hrs 6 - 8 hrs 8+
No.ofStudents
Time Spent in the Library by Frequency and Duration
Daily Weekly Monthly

20. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
browse
write
read
office hours
research w. library…
research w. non-library…
computers
consult librarian
meet colleagues
other
Post-Exam Pre-Exam
Activities in the Library by Status
Percentage of Students

21. 30
10
5
Humanities PhD Student Study Questionaire
Have you visited any non-CU libraries to use their collections
for dissertation research?
Yes No n/a

22. 39
2
4
Humanities PhD Student Study Questionaire
Do you receive financial support from CU for the academic
year?
Yes No n/a

23. 6
34
5
Humanities PhD Student Study Questionaire
Do you have an outside job that provides income?
Yes No n/a

24. INTERVIEWS

25. The Student
The Library
The
Institution +
Department
The
Profession
Research +
Writing

26. Findings: Provide Space
"The thing that has been the best for me is having a
space to work. I got more done last year when I
had my locked carrel than I had gotten done in
years before or since, because it was a dedicated
space in which I could keep all of my sources [...]."
Opportunities:
• Provide dedicated spaces for doctoral students that promote academic and social community
building.
• Provide spaces that could be reserved by doctoral students for writing groups, dissertation
discussion groups, etc.
• Increase the number of quiet individual study areas with appropriate lighting, power, and security.
• Consider 24/7 access to study/research spaces used by graduate students

27. Findings: Foster Community
“It’s having community. Belonging to your
community, having friends that are doing this and
feeling that you have something worthwhile to say
that other people are recognizing it.”
Opportunities:
• Working with appropriate campus partners, position the library as a central
referral hub, or single point of entry, offering guidance and direction in a wide
range of areas important to graduate student success.
• Serve as a central repository of sample collections of academic documentation and
offer guidelines or best practices for preparing reading lists, prospectuses, etc.
• Offer hands-on training on developing, understanding, and mastering the
documentation of doctoral projects.

28. Findings: Provide Access to
Deep Research Collections
“I have to say that I have had every resource that I have
needed from the library. I really can’t say, ‘Here I am
in the sixth year because you didn’t buy that set of
resources for me and I don’t have the materials to
work with, so how can you expect me produce work?’”
Opportunities:
• Make channels for graduate students purchase suggestions more visible and ensure that specific
resources mentioned as missing are purchased.
• Work actively with vendors and publishers to increase the usability of e-books (PDFs,
downloadable, no restrictions, and a standard format).
• Improve search and discovery interfaces, including library catalogs, web sites, database platforms,
and the interconnections between them.
• Expand the types of materials allowed for borrowing and lending, such as audio and video formats
and primary source materials.

29. Findings: Provide Research, Information
Management, and Teaching Expertise Assistance
“[…] maybe sitting down with an advanced research reference
librarian . . . might be in my best interest as I go into the
writing stage of my paper, just so that I can make sure I am
not saying something that has already been said or
duplicating research, or that I am not missing something
that is cutting-edge and that's really important to my
argument.”
Opportunities:
• Work with academic departments to promote graduate student awareness of
subject librarian services.
• Take advantage of events sponsored by academic departments and by the libraries
as an occasion for librarians to interact with graduate students and promote library
services.
• Offer consultation services, workshops and/or online instruction

30. Findings: Developing Scholarly Identity
“I had to tell my committee in an email, I plan on having a
draft of the first chapter to you by June. If I don't, please
get on my case… So, I actually found that I needed to make
deadlines for myself and then tell them so that they knew,
and even though they wouldn't care, my pride was at stake
at that point.”
Opportunities:
• Host writing or discussion groups to inspire increased productivity during the dissertation writing
process.
• Offer time management workshops for students approaching or just completing exams.
• Work with academic departments to help establish best practices for students who wish to publish
before graduation.
• Assign librarians to doctoral students as library mentors or "personal librarians," available to consult
on research, writing, publication, discipline-specific literatures, etc. and connect them to other
appropriate support services on campus as appropriate.

31. Next Steps

32. Next Steps at Columbia
• Share findings with CUL/IS staff
• Communicate findings to GSAS and the
University community
• Work with H&H to incorporate findings into
planning for Butler Library and DHC
• Further analysis

33. Thank you.
djaggars@columbia.edu
aj204@columbia.edu
jenrutner@columbia.edu
jt628@columbia.edu

34. Photo credits
Columbia University
Cornell University
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3110/3224486233_cd6f7372db.jpg