Raymond Pun, First Year Student Success Librarian at California State University, Fresno was named the 2017 winner of the Emerald Research Grant Award, administered by the Business and Reference Services Section of RUSA. Pun was selected for his project, “Mapping Collaborations between Business Librarians and Career Counselors,” an exploratory study of how academic business librarians collaborate with career centers to support student success.
The study identifies, synthesizes and presents the findings of such partnerships, and how these partnerships support students’ career developments in a series of best practices and case studies. The study will gather initial data by launching a survey to identify existing collaborations. The study will demonstrate how academic business librarians can support career centers through a number of creative and collaborative ways to encourage student success. Additionally, the study will frame business information literacy as a critical component of career development and offer best practices, guidelines, and assignments to create and sustain these partnerships.
Sponsored by Emerald Publishing, the award consists of $5,000 and a citation, which will be presented at the RUSA Achievement Awards Ceremony at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.
As the first year student success librarian, Pun coordinates and supports first year information literacy and first year library experience programs across campus. In his liaison role, he partners with Student Affairs including the Career Development Center to deliver career research workshops. Previously he was a reference and research services librarian at NYU Shanghai, People’s Republic of China and a research librarian at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of The New York Public Library.
He has published and presented extensively on academic collaborations, student engagement, and international librarianship. He has co-edited three books including The First-Year Library Experience Cookbook (ACRL 2017) and Bridging Worlds: Emerging Models and Practices of U.S. Libraries Around the Globe (ACRL 2016).
The BRASS Emerald Research Grant Award committee includes: Chubing Tripepi (Chair), Karen J. Chapman, Sarah Fancher, and Natalia Tingle.
The RUSA Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 25 at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. All conference attendees are invited to the event. Additional event details will be available on the conference website in April.
