Introduction ix support many students, additional services need to be created to expand opportunities for all students. Throughout part 2, advocacy is stressed in the sense that student success leaders and library workers can work together to better support students. The text asks readers to consider how libraries reflect the core values needed to design services for everyone. Collaboration between library employees and student success professionals is a good fit because both groups value equitable access to education, serve all students, and have a direct connec- tion to the students from an interdisciplinary point of view without direct assessment. These collaborations fill a gap in current higher education struc- tures by matching concern for student outcomes with information needs, leading to increased success for underprepared students. In part 3, we outline the ways that academic library workers and academic success coordinators can collaborate effectively to meet the needs of under- represented students. We advocate for a process of identifying shared infor- mation needs, defining success, and subsequently designing shared services in order to help meet student needs. In this process, cross-training helps in developing shared content expertise across campus. Generating shared con- tent expertise on campus needs alone can lead to increased student success simply by educating others and creating a network of like-minded individu- als to help foster success of students. Part 4 introduces a model for continual improvement. By creating a cul- ture of excellence around student support work, one can establish a regu- larly-paced analysis of new student needs and working to address them. This book by no means can address each and every student need there are many. There will be new needs as this book gets published that we cannot address. As a result, having a plan to reevaluate, assess, and document the paths taken and what was learned, to identify which support structures helped, and which did not, is a part of a culture of excellence in serving students. We hope that after reading this book, individuals will be able to more readily identify the barriers that limit undergraduate students’ success in higher education. Using the book as a tool kit, they will be able to develop a plan for collaboration and partnership between library workers and student success administrators at any institution. Finally, readers will obtain deeper knowledge and understanding regarding the history of a student success and existing support structures within the university. This deeper knowledge includes the ability to understand the changing nature of higher education and how the system has perpetuated privileges, hegemonic knowledge, awareness, and skills.
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