Document Type

Article

Journal Title

Library Leadership & Management

Volume Number

39

Issue Number

2

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5860/llm.v39i2.7653

Version

Publisher PDF: the final published version of the article, with professional formatting and typesetting

Original Citation

How to Cite

Paolillo, C., & Marcum, C. (2026). Motivating and Retaining Student Assistants: A Case Study. Library Leadership & Management, 39(2). https://doi.org/10.5860/llm.v39i2.7653

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

2-1-2026

Disciplines

Business | Education | Library and Information Science

Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement

This paper offers specific recommendations for effectively motivating and retaining student employees at an academic library that practitioners may consider as they develop and implement programs for hiring, training, and retaining student assistants at their institutions. It describes a methodology that can be replicated for similar studies at other universities. This paper contributes new knowledge to the subject of academic library employee retention by reporting on the opinions of library student assistants at a small private liberal arts university in Southern California to gain insight into the kinds of retention program elements that students recommend. This study used an online survey to gather student feedback from student employees on the specific elements of our retention program that they see as critical to retaining them throughout their time on campus.

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