A Swedish Writing Center and its University Library Work Together

No Writing Center is an Island

Presenters: Annika Bindler – Academic Writing Tutor Magnus Olsson – University Librarian Academic Resource Centre – Umeå University, Sweden www.student.umu.se/arc

Third International Conference for Academic Writing in Tel Aviv IFAW June 27, 2016

Why are we here together?

Writing Center University Library

Help students with:

Navigating the process rather than the product Working under time-constraints

Being a bridge Help to self-help Using resources

Correctly incorporating sources

What is the problem?

We are the unknown family member

We must define ourselves

Research

Teaching

Service

University Hierarchy

Total enrolled students (2015) figures

30,957

Employees 4,248

Professors 366

Teachers/Researchers 2,032

Departments/Units 48

Centres 17

Exchange agreements

800

Does the literature support collaboration?

Writing centers’ and university libraries’ goals overlap. Ferer, E. (2012)

Evaluate and strategically use resources towards these shared goals. Pun, R. (2016)

Having services close to each other facilitates mutual understanding of the work done by librarians and writing tutors, and can aid in co- referencing to one another’s services. Mahaffy, M. (2008)

Can emphasize the “intertwined relationship” of writing, reading and research to students. Elmborg, J. (2005)

One-stop shopping. Cooke, R. and Bledsoe, C. (2008)

What are the suggestions?

Elmborg

Collaboration in practice

o Begin a working conversation

o Co-referencing

o Academic space

o Faculty development workshops

o Get to know each other’s field

o Co-publishing

Source: Elmborg, J. (2005) Locating the Center: Libraries, Writing Centers, and Information Literacy, Writing Lab Newsletter, p.

Reading and

writing challenges

Millenial

ESL International

student

Mature student

Widening participation

Our student body

Variations across

disciplines

Non-traditional

student

Five-question survey e-mailed to the 10 universities in Sweden

9 libraries and 2 writing centers responded

4 libraries and writing centers are funded and administered within the same organization.

All of the libraries claim that they have collaboration with the university writing center

Frequency of collaboration activities ranged from zero to infrequent to writing a yearly action plan together.

Almost all of the libraries advertise their services together via brochures, web sites, social media and when meeting with students.

What is the approach other universities are taking in Sweden?

• Co-located

• Funded and administered together

• Weekly Academic Support Walk-in Service

• Say Hello to the Writing Process lecture series

• Book a librarian/writing tutor

• Attend meetings together

• Develop and give lectures/workshops/events together

• Advertise together

• Co-referencing

• Co-writing

What is our approach?

What can limit us?

Ourselves

Lack of ownership and responsibility

How do we assess our contribution to student learning?

Teachers not understanding our roles

Continue being the unknown family member

Insufficient communication and planning

Where are we in this collaboration process?

Collaboration in practice

Begin a working conversation

Co-referencing

Academic space

o Faculty development workshops

o Get to know each other’s field

o Co-publishing

Source: Elmborg, J. (2005) Locating the Center: Libraries, Writing Centers, and Information Literacy, Writing Lab Newsletter, p.

Engage with other university libraries and writing centers

E-mail survey to all staff and faculty at Umeå University whether they know of the writing center at the university

Send out an e-mail survey similar to the one used by Holly Jackson (2016) at Wright State University to all higher education institutions in Sweden

Try to publish in a writing center publication rather than an academic library publication

Moving forwards

Thank you