A Survey of Campus Coordinators of Undergraduate Research Programs

Merinda Kaye Hensley is Assistant Professor and Instructional Services Librarian and Scholarly Commons Co-Coordinator in the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, e-mail: mhensle1@ illinois.edu; Sarah L. Shreeves is Associate Dean for Digital Strategies at the University of Miami, e-mail: [email protected]; Stephanie Davis-Kahl is Professor and Scholarly Communications Librarian at Illinois Wesleyan University, e-mail: [email protected]. ©2015 Merinda Kaye Hensley, Sarah L. Shreeves, and Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Attribution-NonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) CC BY-NC. Interest in supporting undergraduate research programs continues to grow within academic librarianship. This article presents how undergraduate research program coordinators perceive and value library support of their programs. Undergraduate research coordinators from a variety of institutions were surveyed on which elements of libraries and library services they valued, and where libraries could improve and develop services for undergraduate researchers and their faculty mentors. This article seeks to present a critical perspective on library support for undergraduate research programs from an important external constituent group of faculty and administrators. The data and recommendations can further conversations and aid collaboration between librarians and their campus colleagues.