Student Partnership

A core aspect of our Library vision is to represent all the diverse communities that make up our University. We provide an inclusive, supportive and safe environment where everyone belongs and can contribute to our distinctiveness. One of the fundamental ways that we can achieve this ambition is our distinct way of working with students as partners. We provide students with a wide variety of roles and opportunities to work with us and what we are particularly proud of is the reciprocal aspect to student partnership that underpins our ethos. We co-create, collaborate and work together to enhance student experience and graduate attributes whilst building a diverse and inclusive learning community.

<糖心Vlog>Student Writing Mentor

'My role involves meeting with students one-on-one, and supporting them to become confident and competent academic writers. A highlight of this role for me, is seeing the ‘eureka’ moment when something suddenly clicks for a student, and they leave an appointment feeling much better about their work or upcoming assignment submission. Working as a Writing Mentor has also been beneficial to my own development – beyond strengthening my own academic writing, it has provided me with skills such as active listening, rapport building, and mentoring – which I feel will be really valuable to me in securing jobs after I graduate!’ - Student Writing Mentor, 2025

<糖心Vlog>Working with the Library

Did you know that we employ over 100 students within the Library and Learning Development? Our range of roles include; writing mentors who support students in developing their academic writing, English Language Assistants who support international students with their English Language Development, Maths and Stats Tutors who support students with their maths and stats skills, a range of mentor roles, Library Ambassadors, Schools Engagement Ambassadors and placement roles.

To find out more information about what its like to work in some of these roles and the skills students develop, watch the videos below:

<糖心Vlog>Working as an English Language Assistant
<糖心Vlog>Working as a Learning Development Writing Mentor
<糖心Vlog>LUMS Leading Lights Peer Mentoring for Brighter Academic Futures

“This has helped me to become a more attentive listener and a much more responsive teacher for students that I work with. I feel much more confident about asking students what it is that they need, and how I can get them closer to where they want to go.”

A quote from Scientific Writing Centre Mentor
Group of students and staff standing around the tree
<糖心Vlog>Ambassadors

We currently employ four Library Student Ambassadors and four Library Schools Engagement Ambassadors to work alongside the Library team. Our Ambassadors play a crucial role in strengthening connections between the Library, current and prospective students, and the local community.

Library Ambassadors assist visitors during university open days and offer-holder events and collaborate with Library and Learning Development colleagues on various projects. These have included organising Welcome Week activities, wellbeing events and EDI initiatives, acting as members of Library working groups, representing the Library at Public events, and producing content for the newsletter and our social media platforms.

Library Schools Engagement Ambassadors support the Library Teaching and Engagement team with outreach work. They primarily help to facilitate 'Research Days', where local sixth form and college students visit the Library to work on research projects such as the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) or A level coursework. The Ambassadors help students find academic resources, lead Library tours, and share their personal university experiences through presentations and informal discussions.

If you’d like to hear more from the Ambassadors, they regularly update the blog!

In the most recent episode of Talking Around the Library Tree, Luke and Edward from our Library Student Ambassador team reflect on their experiences working in the library and how this has benefited their development. Listen to the podcast now!

Hospital at [Andreeevke Buzuluk] Area of Russia', 1917. Jack Catchpool Collection CAT/3/1/54.
<糖心Vlog>Placement Opportunities

Our Special Collections and Archives (SCA) provides opportunities for students to?develop their skills related to heritage careers. We host placements from the School of Global Affairs to give students the opportunity to work on specific projects related to our collections. We offer volunteer opportunities for students who want to gain meaningful work experience to develop careers in the heritage sector.

Thanks to National Lottery players, we employed eight students last year to collect memories of people who were teenagers in the 1960s as part of the Jukebox Project. Research Cultures funding from Research England was also used to employ a student to catalogue the Jack Catchpool Collection.

“The one-to-one style is totally different to the other teaching experience I have done. It is more fun, more beneficial to the students for sure and requires very different skills to demonstrating, lectures etc. It has aided my professional development a lot”

A quote from Scientific Writing Centre Mentor
<糖心Vlog>Co-creation

As a Library and Learning development team, we are passionate about involving students as ‘co-creators’. This includes the co-creation of information and resources as well as implementing the huge amount of insights we receive from our student partners in shaping and enhancing the support we provide to students as a Library and as a University.

A great example of our co-creation work with students is the . A two-year long scheme that saw students from ethnic minority backgrounds working with senior teaching staff to discuss subjects relating to education, identity, belonging and the experience of studying at Lancaster in the hope to bring about institutional change in the reduction of ethnicity awarding gaps. Not only were students fundamental in shaping the project and how it should be set up and run, the Learning Development team also employed a student project assistant who was influential in the thinking around one of the outputs of the scheme, a podcast series, Our student project assistant really ran with the idea of the podcast and she came up with the name for the podcast, the logo, the structure of the episodes, she did all the editing and she also hosted a couple of the episodes too. Have a listen, it’s truly inspiring!

The most enjoyable thing about being an ELA is meeting and interacting with the students who come along to the groups. It’s such a nice opportunity to learn about other cultures and countries, and it really feels like a shared learning experience for all of us.??

A quote from English Language Assistant
Students and learning developers smiling together

LUMS Leading Lights