Your support gives student assistants the opportunity to develop professionally while helping others succeed academically. Kennedy Library employs over 100 student assistants to perform vital services including technology support, collections maintenance, administration and creative resources. Library student assistants develop technical, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills they can carry forward in their careers.

Specially trained student assistants, known as LibRATs (Library Research Assistance Technicians), are trained to connect their peers with the resources and information they need. LibRATs provide answers to students’ most common research questions, allowing librarian experts to focus on more complex inquiries. Their impact is immense; in the 2015-16 Academic Year, LibRATs answered 1,400 research questions at the Research Help Desk and taught 3,000 students important research skills in their general education classes.