Gemstone

Expectations for Librarians  

Thank you very much for agreeing to work with a Gemstone team! This is a valuable and rewarding partnership that benefits the teams and the library immensely.

There are personal benefits as well:

• A deep connection to exciting and innovative research
• Connection to an important campus community 
• Mentorship opportunity to note on your CV

Here are some of the responsibilities and expectations that come with volunteering:

• Prompt email replies to your team
• Attempts to check in with your team to monitor their progress
• Have an understanding of the Gemstone program, deadlines, and the team's progress towards their goals (for more information, see http://www.gemstone.umd.edu/academics/curriculum.html)
• Time to read drafts and mentor students towards improvement and offer appropriate critiques of their work (more below)
• Teach library-specific research skills sessions through in-person and/or electronic communications methods

Typical workload:

• Email communication a few times during the semester
• 1-2 meetings with the team per semester
• Reading and critiquing drafts and offering advice on the following items
  • Literature review composition
  • Source validity 
  • Source integration 
  • Literature search methods
  • Citation consistency and accuracy
• Attendance, comment, and support during proposal and theses conferences
• Attendance at the Gemstone Library Awards

Team timeline and benchmarks:

First Year: Team Formation

Sophomore Year: Teams will conduct their literature review. Librarians should meet with the team (or team representative) at least once each semester, to highlight important resources and research techniques to assist in this process. Attendance, constructive criticism,  and support at their thesis proposal meeting.

Junior and Senior Year: Students work closely with their mentors to conduct their research. The librarian may receive occasional contacts from team representatives to answer questions about resources and library services (for example, equipment loan, study room locations, Interlibrary Loan, etc.).

Senior Year: Offer feedback on thesis drafts and support your Gemstone team as they present their thesis at Thesis Conference.  Librarians are also encouraged to attend the Thesis Conference Rehearsal if they are available. 

Additionally, please see the Gemstone Program's listed expectations for Team Librarians: https://gemstone.umd.edu/teams/team-librarian-resources

We ask that librarians try to meet most of the above-mentioned expectations, but if you have any questions about the commitment levels and workloads, please contact Amber Pierdinock-Weed, apierdin@umd.edu.