Library Services

Happy Tuesday! It’s our first-ever episode of Grad Pod and we are so excited to get started!

Today’s episode features Kelsey Cheshire from VCU Libraries—if you’ve ever felt awkward asking a librarian for help, or you’re curious about what resources the library has to offer, tune in! Or you can read the transcript below, if that’s more your style.

Have a question for Grad Pod? Or a topic suggestion? Email us! Gradschool@vcu.edu.

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Episode Transcript:

HAYA:  Hello, and welcome to the GradPod. I am your host, Haya Hamid, and today we are talking about academic support and what it looks like for graduate students at VCU. We're going to discuss what to do when you are struggling with a writing assignment or a complex research assignment, and where and how to seek help, and who you should seek help from, and more.

Put yourself in this position. You are a first semester graduate student, and you have been assigned a semester long research project. You probably have experience with doing this process in undergrad, but grad school is just different. So let's start by acknowledging that. Graduate school is hard, but you are where you need to be.

Study habits and techniques that have worked for us in undergrad do not always translate well into graduate studies, because there are major changes to your learning environment. So what does one do? The VCU library database is going to be your best resource to access peer reviewed articles, access to countless academic journals and publications, borrow books and materials and more. Of course, you can access many of these publications via their website as well as in person, and if they don't have what you're looking for, they will find it and bring it to you. There is a chance that it can be delivered from a library nearby, to Cabell or the Health Sciences Libraries.

So your options are open, but who better to talk to about this than a representative from VCU Libraries? Right! Today we are speaking with Kelsey Cheshire, who is a research guide with VCU Libraries and they specialize in providing specialized research consultations for the VCU School of Social Work and the Department of Sociology.

Isn't that so cool? We have librarians who specialize in disciplines.

Kelsey, welcome to the grad pod.

KELSEY: Hi, Haya. Thank you for having me. And I also love that you describe us as research guides because I think we often think of public librarians when we think of a librarian and I am not the kind of person that can help you find the latest fiction.

So, A research librarian, especially in academia, is someone who is an expert in information. So the production of information, the dissemination of that information, how to use information ethically, and so on and so on. So even though I work with the School of Social Work, I am not a social worker. Instead, I have almost a decade of experience finding information for social workers.

So, we really specialize in different disciplines because it is so different for whatever subject you are studying or getting your graduate degree in. And I really want to reiterate, wherever you're at in that process, we're here to help you. You know, I took only five years off between getting my undergrad degree and my graduate degree, a Master's in Information Studies, and I still felt like everything had changed.

So, I think regardless of how much time you've spent away from school, things are going to be new for you when you are at VCU. And so, that is really one of the key reasons that you should reach out to a librarian for help.

HAYA: Awesome. Well, thank you for telling us about your role as a research guide. I'm curious to know about some of the common challenges that graduate students face when conducting research or literature review. And how can VCU libraries particularly help them address those challenges?

KELSEY: That's a great question. I think just considering the big picture of everything, we live in interesting times. So we have the internet, which has led to an information overload and kind of this perception that everything is available at the click of a button on the internet. Unfortunately that's not the case.

So, you know, just one of the simple ways that the library helps you is providing access to millions of items to you for free as a student at VCU. So, you know, if you've ever tried to read a newspaper article online and saw a paywall message, pay 20 dollars in order to read this article, you know, thanks to VCU libraries we can get you that for free!

And then also, I think there is a lot of emerging technology. AI is a huge topic right now. And so you may even just have questions of how to use artificial intelligence within your research or writing papers, how it can help you find information, but also how it can cause challenges for you. I think we hear so many good things about AI and we don't realize the issues and the bumps as this technology is emerging.

So ultimately, I think the biggest challenge for graduate students can just be feeling alone. in navigating these different information sources, these assignments. And so ultimately, you know, your librarian is someone that can help you without being a person that is grading you per se, you know, whatever, whatever the problem is, say, you need to write a paper and you need 10 peer reviewed journal articles.

We can help you identify that information. Maybe you are. trying a new methodology, like distributing a survey, for example, and you're looking for a guide on how to best create an online survey. So we have different databases that even teach you about methodology. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention other types of research.

So you know, even if you are a graduate student in the humanities who's wanting to do archival research. We have librarians at the Special Collections and Archives at VCU Libraries who are experts in that type of information and finding the primary sources that could be available to you. So it doesn't matter if you're studying business, marketing, or if you are doing engineering, whatever it may be, there is a subject expert to help you!

I may get in trouble for this, but I basically say if you can't find what you need and you have spent 15 minutes that is when you should reach out to a librarian because it could just be one of those things that we can quickly help you with. That doesn't necessarily mean I can find you an answer in 15 minutes, but we are here to help navigate any of those challenges that you might have.

HAYA: All right, thank you Kelsey for letting us know about all the resources and different kinds of materials. So could you please explain the process for requesting materials from other libraries if VCU does not have what a graduate student needs?

KELSEY: Absolutely. So, this is actually one of my favorite things about libraries! We have a process called interlibrary loan. Luckily, you don't have to remember that term, but the concept is that, you know, libraries willingly share their materials with each other when those items can be loaned out. So, you know, if you are looking for a book that the library doesn't own, we can reach out to another library and take care of that process of getting it for you.

So you know, I mentioned this, and I say books, but it can be so many different types of materials, DVDs, CDs. There's a lot of options. If a library has it, we could potentially borrow it for you. And, this is even international in scale at times, so even if you are looking for an item in another country, there are systems in place to hopefully be able to borrow those items for you.

So it really is as simple as asking us if it is something that we could borrow. You know, my main caveat is, try to save money while you're in school. Take advantage of these programs. So the only items we can't borrow for you from other libraries are traditional textbooks, you know, sometimes they have an online component, they are published and updated so frequently, it's just a hard thing for us to actually maintain.

So unfortunately, we can't get your textbooks from another library, but we can help you save money in other ways.

HAYA: Last but not least, Kelsey, if there's a graduate student listening who feels like, yeah, I could maybe use some help, but I feel weird about asking, or, you know, I feel like the questions I have are dumb, what would you say to that student?

KELSEY: Yeah, so I think We say this a lot, but there are no dumb questions and actually let me talk a little bit about research in libraries. So there is a studied phenomenon called library anxiety. This is,just a common feeling that people have when they enter a building like a library. You know, you look around, you see people working, doing things, and, and you just assume I'm supposed to know where things are, how to find items.

And so just know that. We really are a welcoming space, a very welcoming group of people. We want your questions. If we can't answer them, we are going to put you in touch with someone who can. And so considering, you know, it's very normal to feel anxious a bit about these things, please know, you know, the library is a place of unlimited possibilities, if we can borrow from VCU's UNbranding.

We not only have spaces but we have we're a place where millions of resources, we're a place where community is formed I kind of just suggest to people try to be unafraid about using different library resources or spaces, but in order to really take advantage of all we have to offer, you do have to try something new.

And so try to have fun with it, learn a little bit more about, you know, your field that you're entering. And one way to do that is to talk with the experts of information in your field.

HAYA: Thank you so much, Kelsey. We appreciate your time and resourcefulness. I want to echo everything Kelsey just said. VCU Libraries has serviced so many students, as well as staff and faculty, and even the greater Richmond community. As the busiest library in Virginia, they continue to be a dynamic, welcoming, and innovative space on campus. And for that, we are always grateful.

CREDITS: GradPod is produced by VCU's Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our Theme Music was composed, performed, and recorded by, Austin Sellick and Claudia Andrade, students of Filipe Leitao, Assistant Professor of Composition & Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts

Do you have A question for us? Email us at gradschool@vcu.edu and we may answer your question ON AN episode!