{"id":707,"date":"2024-11-15T12:28:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T12:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/?p=707"},"modified":"2025-01-15T08:06:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T08:06:42","slug":"scenario-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/2024\/11\/15\/scenario-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How can a library staff member help international students from diverse cultures feel comfortable and welcome in the library?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.2&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;|22px||0px|false|false&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_blurb title=&#8221;As a library staff member at the circulation desk, you are approached by an international student who is unfamiliar with the library and its resources. Their limited English proficiency makes it difficult to understand their needs. How can the library staff member ensure that learners from diverse cultural backgrounds feel comfortable and welcome in the library, while also guiding them towards the information they require and understanding the context of their question?&#8221; content_max_width=&#8221;750px&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; header_font_size=&#8221;24px&#8221; width=&#8221;131.3%&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;-30px|0px||0px|false|false&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;|0px|||false|false&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ensuring that international students from diverse cultures feel comfortable and welcome in the library involves a number of different steps which begin with a sense of belonging. Students\u00a0 coming from a variety of cultural backgrounds, have diverse linguistic skills and may or may not have the same level of academic experiences as their peers. Keeping in mind that when an equity deserving student approaches the library desk, they have likely overcome many barriers and acknowledge their bravery. Here are some steps staff members can take:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Using the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/culturally-responsive-teaching\/checklist\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Culturally Responsive Checklist<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to understand a learner&#8217;s non-verbal cues. Utilizing gestures as well as objects to aid understanding of the conversation\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Using simple language instead of library jargon will support student comprehension<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Using the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/inclusive-teaching\/checklist\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inclusive Pedagogy and Trauma informed Approaches checklist <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">as well\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Understanding cultural sensitivity, body language, and cross cultural differences that may influence communication is crucial. For instance, eye contact can have various meanings across cultures. Some students may avoid making eye contact, instead using hand gestures, looking at their computer, or glancing at paper or other objects to avert their gaze. In certain cultures, maintaining eye contact is considered authoritative.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Asking open-ended questions rather than personal questions about their country of origin, or their nationality or culture. This can vary by patron, as international students may sometimes intentionally mention their cultural background or country of origin to highlight their lack of knowledge about the content. Hence, creating awareness of what is being discussed is important.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Offering students an opportunity to be walked to their destination, e.g. if looking for books on a different level of the library, if the desk is not too busy, perhaps assisting them in finding the book will be a good idea. If however, that is not possible then finding an alternate way of allowing them to navigate the space, but with a reminder that they can come back for help if they can\u2019t find what they are looking for.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If linguistic barriers exist, asking staff who are multilingual if they are comfortable with assisting patrons at the desk.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Be patient with students, give them the time to ask their questions and provide opportunities to seek clarification and find assistance. Rephrasing and reiterating instructions may also provide a layer of support for students\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Build trusting relationships with students. Lack of cultural representation at the library desk may result in barriers with students not trusting a staff member and this can be perceived the other way, whereas a staff member&#8217;s previous biases might obstruct one\u2019s perspective of a culture. Hence, being aware of one\u2019s cultural biases is an important step.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For students with linguistic barriers or lack of familiarity with the library\u2019s resources, using paper and pen to write down the different concepts will scaffold learning. Seek clarification by asking them to show you or write down their questions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Note that international students might not use the library as their first point of contact. Library anxiety may be a real issue for them. If they do approach the library for assistance, it may speak to the level of bravery they have taken and the significant support they need. .\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">International students might not fully grasp concepts like information literacy, using scholarly resources for research assignments, and understanding academic policies and procedures in an international setting. Therefore, it is important to familiarize them with these concepts. Although the terminology may vary, students might already be familiar with these ideas in their own regional contexts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<p>[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ensuring that international students from diverse cultures feel comfortable and welcome in the library involves a number of different steps which begin with a sense of belonging. Students\u00a0 coming from a variety of cultural backgrounds, have diverse linguistic skills and may or may not have the same level of academic experiences as their peers. Keeping [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19792,"featured_media":1220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scenarios"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1428,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/1428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/inclusiveteaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}