After attending an OU Students Association Conference in Milton Keynes in 2018, I wanted to get more involved with the Association, as it really enhanced the sense of belonging. However, being an international student it was almost impossible for me, as it meant travelling to the UK, which I could not combine with my full-time job.
So, when the Association started advertising online volunteering roles in 2019, I immediately decided to apply. That is how I became an Online Archive Cataloguer, an Online Meet-Up and Event Host and a Library Study Volunteer. This article will be about my role as a Library Study Volunteer (LSV).
The Open University (OU) has been providing education to students in prison for over 40 years.(1) Since the 1970s, the Students in Secure Environments (SiSE) programme has spread to over 150 prisons and 50 secure hospital units.(2) Most of these students do not have access to a computer and/or the internet and can therefore not access the OU Library. Consequently, they cannot do independent research for their assignments and assessments themselves. That is how the Library Study Volunteer scheme came to life in early 2019. In the beginning, it was restricted to SiSE studying at Level 3, but was extended to students studying at Level 2.(3)
For the academic year 2018-2019, 1800 students were in secure environments. 14% were studying an access module, 17% were studying in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS), 19% in the Faculty of Business and Law (FBL), 19% in the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and 31% in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS).(4)
The students make a written research request through their Education Officer, which is then forwarded to the OU Students Association.(5) Library Study Volunteers receive the requests through a dedicated forum. We do not have direct contact with the students and we do not know who they are. The only information we have is their PI number and module code for administrative purposes. The students do not know who the volunteers are either. Once we receive new requests, it is up to us to select which requests we will work on. We are expected to complete a request within 10 days. However, our average turnaround is 5 days.(6)
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