College students often experience the most freedom they have ever had when they step onto campus for the first time. Being prepared sets students up for a bright future. College Success Skills from LearningExpress Library in MeL can help young people navigate all independence and rigor of life in college and beyond.

College Success Skills includes lessons that help students start on the right foot. The lessons focus on five key areas: Organizational Strategies, Classroom Success Skills, Information Literacy Skills, Getting Academic Support, and Personal Success Skills. There are also Articles and eBooks related to these topics. Patrons start by creating a free account to save their progress and then they can browse and sample any of the 20+ tutorials.

After my daughter finished her first year as a college student and athlete, I was curious to know how she might use the tutorials in College Success Skills to help her prepare for next year. I asked her to try out a couple of the lessons and provide some feedback. She completed two of the Organizational Strategies tutorials: Achieve Your Goals and Manage Your Time. There were several features that she liked:

• Instead of just tips, there was a self-evaluation which allowed her to focus on her needs and what she would find most helpful
• The activities were academically based and gave her ideas about how she could manage tasks by level of importance
• They talked about organization in terms of personal space, not just time

After completing two tutorials, she browsed through the other sections and found some additional features that she thought made College Success Skills useful:

• The larger topics are broken down into different tutorials that allow her to choose the specific area where she needs help
• There is information about post-college life so she can learn about money, credit, and taxes

To promote College Success Skills from MeL to students and their families, libraries can offer a series of workshops to help recent high school graduates get focused on what it will take to be successful in college.

If you are having any issues linking to items on this page, please explore the MeL eResource Access Page. Contact meldatabaseshelp@mcls.org for help.

Brought to you by Laura Warren-Gross from the MeL Team. 

Hey front line staff: The MeL Maven Badge is a 6-part Information Literacy and eResource adventure designed for you. Look for it at the end of summer 2021!

Laura Warren-Gross

Engagement Specialist for Public Libraries

Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS)

1 800 530 9019 ext 152