UIC Library receives grant to develop tools supporting student success

The University of Illinois Chicago Library was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The grant aims to develop assessment tools that utilize information such as students’ academic engagement, psychological factors and their own perspectives of success to identify activities that can be promoted to students to support their academic achievement.

UIC’s award is one of 71 awards, totaling more than $21 million, issued in fiscal year 2022 to libraries and archives across the country through the Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grants for Libraries program and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.

For this grant, UIC will conduct research to answer questions about student success that go beyond learning analytics and how library use plays a role in student success. The tools and research findings from this project will be disseminated to academic libraries to help them assess their impact on student success and to identify how libraries can better meet students’ needs.

The two-year project is a collaboration between the UIC Library and the library at Northern Illinois University – two institutions that serve underrepresented and first-generation students.

“We are grateful to have received an IMLS National Leadership Grant. With this funding, we have an opportunity to better understand specifics about how race, class and economic status impact our students as they pursue their educational goals. Our project is unique in that it considers students’ actual lived experiences and asks the students themselves to define what success means to them. With this knowledge, we can individualize the services, resources and support we provide to better meet student needs and then share what we’ve learned with other academic libraries and institutions,” said Rhea Ballard-Thrower, UIC Dean of Libraries.

The principal investigator and project director is Jung Mi Scoulas, PhD and an assistant professor and assessment coordinator at the UIC Library. A co-principal investigator for the project is Sandra De Groote, professor and head of UIC’s assessment and scholarly communication department. NIU library faculty Nestor Osorio, head of reference and research, and Kimberly Shotick, student success librarian, will coordinate the study among NIU students.

View the full research project proposal for grant number LG-252338-OLS-22.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. The institute advances, supports and empowers America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research and policy development. Its vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities.