Every day, students at Florida Gulf Coast University go to their library to do research for a project in class, or to do homework that is due the next day. However, what many students don’t know is that there are a numerous workshops that can help them achieve greater academic excellence. “Introduction to the Research Process,” and “Fish Out of Water” are just a few of the many workshops to help students find the resources they need for work.
These workshops are offered every semester, with some more than once. While some are just for students, there are other workshops just for faculty. Some of these workshops are even coordinated with other departments such as the Center of Academic Achievement and the Writing Center. The Writing Center has a workshop named, “Research + Good Writing = ‘A’ Paper,” which helps students incorporate research into their paper, according to the FGCU Library Services Fall 2013 Workshop page.
Unfortunately, even though students’ tuition helps pay for usages of the library, only a number of them have actually went to a workshop or attendone of the services provided.
Julia Reed-Betts, a freshman and Biology major, has been to the library and took advantage of some of these services. She said, “I know of some of them, but I haven’t gone to the majority of them. I’ve been to the Writing Center, and it helped me recognize errors in my paper.”
One way is that some teachers give students extra credit for attending a workshop.
Kay L. Oistad, the head of reference at the FGCU library, explains why these services are important to a student’s education: “The workshops are held in the library’s information literacy lab where there are 30 computers. So the workshops are an excellent opportunity for students and faculty to gain hands-on instruction in the use of library resources.”
Did you know that students could get E-books through FGCU? If not, then come to the “e-Books at the Library” workshop at the FGCU Library on Thursday, October 17 from noon to 1 pm. This workshop will help students guide their way to finding E-books in the library or finding them online and downloading them to a computer.
The FGCU Library faculty tries spreading word of these services by putting up flyers with times and dates for each workshop in all of the elevators in the library. In addition, Osprey Hall in South Village is the sight of two workshops called, “Fish Out of Water,” and “Introduction to the Research Process.” This allows students who live in South Village to attend a workshop where they live instead of going all the way to the library.
The FGCU Library is full of workshops and services that are beneficial to students, yet many of them don’t go get the help they need. As Oistad puts it, any workshop or service a student attends is “one more tool for their toolkit.”