2015 LibTech Conference

Publishing undergraduate research is an idea that has a lot of momentum behind it right now. Colleges and universities are publishing their students award-winning research, conferences, posters and presentations, fieldwork and class projects, honors theses and capstone projects, creative works, and research papers. Publishing undergraduate work enhances student learning outcomes (http://jlsc-pub.org/jlsc/vol2/iss2/4/) and can build confidence, even encouraging student authors to pursue a career in research in their field of study. Of course, getting published also helps students in their job searches and when they apply to graduate schools. The library benefits from publishing undergraduate research, too. Scholarly communications librarians are teaching information literacy and publishing skills to undergraduate students and in many cases to their faculty advisory as well. It’s an important role for the library to play.