The academic library can play a crucial role in experiential learning for undergraduate students. In 2011, librarians at the University of Dayton built on the idea of student workers and partnered with the University Honors Program to offer customized experiential learning through paid internships. Librarians work one-on-one with students from a variety of disciplines. With experiences tailored to student interests, the library setting becomes a real world laboratory for skills training within the undergraduates’ disciplines or career interests. This article will describe the variety of experiences offered, resources needed, and ways of measuring and assessing for an effective internship program. The authors will articulate how library internships can offer necessary skills for careers outside the library world.

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Purpose -This article aims to describe the standards-based approach used to build the International Studies Research Methods (INS250) course, a discipline-specific, credit-based class taught by librarians. This writing-intensive course emphasizes information literacy and critical thinking skills, which were developed using written assignments, class presentations, multiple assessment methods, and web-based applications. Design/methodology/approach -This paper will review the literature about discipline-specific, credit-based information literacy (IL) courses and outcomes. It will also analyze the INS250 course structure and map ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education to learning outcomes for the course. Findings -The paper finds that, in the absence of discipline-specific information literacy standards, the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education can serve as a starting point for International Studies course outcomes and assessment. Other assessment approaches, specifically student workshops and concept maps, promote student engagement and provide ample evidence of student learning. Originality/value -This article will identify research skills needed by International Studies majors and students in similar multidisciplinary programs. It will serve as a model of how to build a credit-based course with application to other fields such as political science, sustainability, human rights and international business. The course is student-focused and responsive to new disciplines and areas, with an emphasis on disciplinary databases, search skills, and citation skills.

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Leisure reading in America has declined in the last 20 years, especially among 18 to 24 year olds. Studies show, however, that a positive relationship exists between college students' academic achievement and the time they spend in recreational reading. Reading for pleasure improves reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development. Librarians at the Roesch Library, University of Dayton (OH), collaborated with colleagues in Residence Education on a yearlong pilot recreational reading program to address this cultural shift on a small scale. Porches, informal gathering places familiar to students, served as an appropriate theme for the program's goal of bringing people together to talk about books. This project found that with just a little bit of motivation and encouragement, students are willing to read for fun.