Staffing with students

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the advantages and disadvantages to primarily utilizing undergraduate student volunteers for a long-term digitization project and to discuss methods to mitigate the disadvantages of student volunteer work. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a case study of the use of student volunteers for the Historical Campus Newspaper Digitization Project at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Findings This paper describes the process of recruiting, training and managing student volunteers for a digitization project. Both advantages and disadvantages to student volunteer work are discussed, including possible steps to mitigate the disadvantages of student volunteers. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to one institution’s experience utilizing student volunteers on one digitization project. Practical implications Librarians and archivists interested in new staffing methods for digitization projects can utilize this paper to better understand the benefits and costs to student volunteer labor before putting volunteer projects into practice. Originality/value This paper presents a unique case study of a digitization project staffed primarily with undergraduate student volunteers in an American academic library and archive.

Projektalapú információtechnológiai kompetenciafejlesztés: digitalizálás, hálózati tájékoztatási rendszerek létrehozása a könyvtár- és információtudományi képzésben

“…A hallgatók vagy önkéntesek bevonása digitalizálási, gyűjteményfejlesztési munkákba világszerte hasonló problémákkal és előnyökkel jár: bár hatékonyan fejleszti a szakmai kompetenciákat, a szakképzett, már betanított munkaerőhöz képest számolni kell a helyzet limitációival is (Skulan, 2018).…”

The Impact of Digitization of Libraries on the Educational Process in the Context of Distance Learning

“…The creation of appropriate tools within the framework of the digitalization of educational libraries helps to find the necessary resources for preparing for seminars and educational reports. Additional tools are used to search for new information, which is reflected in its analytical processing (Skulan, 2018).…”