For Vanderbilt librarians, the “personal” approach is nothing new. The libraries have subject librarians for every major on campus, and these librarians are known for developing relationships with students – helping them with their courses and academic research, but also with navigating university life.
Yuh-Fen Benda, Asian Studies librarian, works closely with several courses, and in the spring was embedded in China and the World, a course in the history department. When one of the students returned to China, Yuh-Fen gave her a ride to the airport. She then connected all of the Mainland Chinese students in the course with librarian Lorelei Dai at the Shanghai Library, working with Ms. Dai to give these students access to databases owned by the Shanghai Library.