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The Intertwining Concerns of 
Libraries and Writing Centers
Wesley D. Custer, Asbury Theological Seminary

ABSTR AC T Through 2020, Asbury Theological Seminary largely 
built an introductory course for those preparing for graduate-level 
study in seminary disciplines. Through that work and the collab-
orative efforts between our research librarian, Writing Center, and 
instructional designer, we have discovered shared concerns, knowl-
edge, and new insights into how to help our students. Great synergy 
was found in terms of information literacy, citations, using informa-
tion well, and a desire to see students/patrons succeed. Points of 
divergence were found in terms of organizational structures (siloes) 
and a potential conflict between a “do for” rather than “teach how” 
staff focus. Recommendations also are given at the close regard-
ing having writing resources available for patrons in contexts where 
there is not a writing center. 

INTRODUCTION

Through 2020, Asbury Theological Seminary largely built an intro-
ductory course for those preparing for graduate-level study in semi-
nary disciplines. Through that work and the collaborative efforts 
between our research librarian, Writing Center, and instructional 
designer, we have discovered shared concerns, knowledge, and 
new insights into how to help our students. This presentation will 
describe the institute course that was developed and the benefits/
insights that came through the process. 

BACKGROUND

Emerging through the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) (reported 
in the 2017 presentation by Tippey, Horner, and Stelle, titled: “Won’t 
You Be My Neighbor: Camaraderie at the Intersection of Research and 
Writing Services”), Asbury Theological Seminary has been having a 
growing success with the Writing Center synergizing with the rest 



Listen and Learn Sessions  271

of our library-based research services (Tippey, Horner, and Stelle 
2017). The role of the writing center consultants over the past several 
years has included the occasional (or perhaps regular) research ques-
tion, which has been a great benefit to their role, because many of 
our writing consultants are also excellent researchers. We seem to 
be discovering that quality writing is closely correlated to quality 
research skills. This program has seen good success over the years 
and is poised to work on continuing forward-looking improvements. 

In 2018, the area of Library Services joined with Information 
Technology forming a combined Library, Information, and Tech-
nology Services department. This resulted in a significant restruc-
ture, centralizing research services, circulation, reference, basic 
technology help, instructional design, and instructional technology 
under a new heading of Instructional Services. The work of research 
services now rests with the Director of Instructional Services, who 
also supervises our Instructional Design and Technology department 
along with the Help Desk and provides online/digital librarianship.

REASON FOR THE COURSE AND THE TEAM

With a new structure in place and a Writing Center well established, 
the Enrolment Management Team (EMT) requested an institute-style 
course to give the rejected applicant an opportunity to develop some 
skills and prove their ability to succeed in graduate education. This 
newly collaborative structure has been very helpful for thinking 
through this course and building it in Canvas, our Learning Manage-
ment System. We put together a team to develop the course made 
of our Instructional Designer, Joelene Goh, Director of the Writing 
Center, Dr. Ginger Stelle, and myself as the Director of Instructional 
Services. We spent the early stages of the development determining 
what incoming students would most benefit from knowing prior to 
matriculation. We determined that it would be best if we could intro-
duce the student to foundational information literacy, solid writing 
principles, and critical thinking skills. 

POINTS OF WRITING CENTER AND RESEARCH/REFERENCE 
LIBRARIANSHIP OVERLAP

The first point of overlap and synergy is in information literacy. It 
is a core concept that good writing requires good information and 



272  AT L A 202 1 PROCEEDINGS

finding good information requires a foundation of information liter-
acy. Writing centers are heavily invested in the student having the 
right information to support their claim in writing. That gives the 
writer the content for their argument, and without good informa-
tion a paper cannot be anything but personal reflection or opinion. 
Academic librarians are also deeply invested in patrons finding the 
best information in the best manner possible. We live in the world 
of information discovery, access, and evaluation for the purpose of 
supporting academic achievement. 

The second point of synergy is in the use of citations in writing. 
Citations are a key part of using information well, which has always 
been a core value of librarians—and academic librarians in particu-
lar. Writing centers tend to be citation format gurus for the student/
patron. Academic librarians have also filled this role in the absence 
of writing centers. There is ample potential for collaboration and 
information-sharing along these lines. 

The third area of synergy, citation management software, is also 
a major concern and area of expertise for both the academic librar-
ian and the writing center. While citation software is a bit of an 
extension of good citation practice, the use of software is a unique 
skill. Academic librarians have been using Zotero or other citation 
programs for years, and writing centers have been places where 
students would learn about citation management also. 

Fourthly, having already mentioned using information well, we 
should point to that as a unique point of synergy. Academic librar-
ians are always concerned about using information well, particularly 
from an information literacy standpoint. Writing centers take it a 
bit farther in the mechanics of expression in writing. This can also 
include argumentation development and document structure. I find 
that research appointments occasionally wander into argumentation 
or document structure depending on the needs of the student. We 
will talk about some recommendations later to assist in the absence 
of a writing center. 

Lastly, a common theme through all of these points of synergy 
is the basic desire to see our students and patrons succeed academ-
ically in their work. This may go without saying but I will say it 
anyway. Academic librarians are deeply desirous that their patrons 
do well in their academic work. This success sheds light onto the 
value of our profession. Likewise, writing centers also are deeply 
invested in the academic success of their clients because their exis-



Listen and Learn Sessions  273

tence may be evaluated by the overall academic success and/or writ-
ing quality of their clients. 

There are many ways, as we have discussed, in which academic 
librarians and writing centers are similar and synergistic in their 
focus and goals. There are also ways in which conflict may arise or 
our goals/methods may be divergent. 

POINTS OF DIVERGENCE OR POTENTIAL CONFLICT

It may be that a writing center lives in your library space but does not 
have unified oversight. In my context, the Writing Center reports to 
the Dean of Library, Information, and Technology Services the same 
as I do. This allows for a unified overarching vision for our larger 
department, and we can coordinate on training and refer patrons 
back and forth. In other contexts, the reporting structure could go to 
student services and not in an academic authority structure, caus-
ing significant differences in focus, goals, or support methods. Be 
conscious of this. 

If your institution starts a writing center, it could be seen as the 
golden child where the library becomes the old-school folks in the 
institution. If you have any influence or voice while a writing center 
gets launched in your institution, work early on to partner with 
them and be involved regardless of the reporting structure. While 
the writing center will still be the “new kids” in the institution, they 
do not have to be an adversary or make the librarians the old guard 
or something. 

Good working relationships require conversation, and the basic 
organizational structure of your institution may prevent or hinder 
good conversation. There is a tendency of any structure to become 
siloed and isolated from others in the organization. Many times, the 
organizational structure as mentioned before can play a significant 
role in hindering collaboration and conversation. Writing centers 
need to have a good working relationship with the librarians, and it 
may be up to the librarians to foster that relationship. 

Many writing centers will be noisier places where food and drink 
are welcomed and encouraged. Libraries tend to not be those spaces. 
When space is shared, this will cause some points of tension and 
potentially significant conflict as noise and food find their way into 
the rest of the facility. Students may find themselves frustrated by the 
noise coming from a writing center. They may also be frustrated that 



274  AT L A 202 1 PROCEEDINGS

they cannot bring their food into the rest of the library. Again, foster-
ing good working relationships with the leadership of both entities 
will allow for better resolution as these conflicts arise. 

Operating hours may be significantly different. Likely the library 
will have more extended hours than the writing center or vice versa. 
One is not likely better than the other, but complaint from patrons 
regarding one or the other regarding hours will always occur. It does 
not matter how many hours each service provides; it will always be 
wrong to someone. 

A major core difference may be that the writing center is focused 
on teaching how to write, revise, etc., and will never do the work 
for the student. Libraries, on the other hand, are more likely to be 
the place to have your information handed to you rather than to be 
taught how to find information. To put this a different way, a writing 
center may be a training program where a library may be a mere 
search engine—or worse, a search assistant. I work very hard to 
make our normal operating procedure in our library interactions 
follow a show-help-let process. Our patrons do not always come 
wanting to learn, but it can be very natural to show them how to 
accomplish their task, help them do it, and then let them do it on their 
own from then on. This does not mean that they will not ask again or 
need to be shown or helped multiple times, because skill acquisition 
requires repetition. Students who go to the writing center are more 
likely to enter a more structured instructional interaction, and their 
expectation is more likely aligned with that modality. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

Avoid the “we’ve always done it this way” trap. Some traditions 
are good, but we need to be more adaptable. Embrace new ideas, 
perhaps embrace them critically, but embrace them all the same. 
Resist the desire to entrench rather than engage in conversation. 

Have resources on writing available for your patrons. There is a 
plethora of sites and resources available. For those of us who do not 
have access to a writing center or even additional librarians to assist 
with these tasks, it can go a long way in helping to point students to 
good resources on writing and writing related topics. 

Seek out the guidelines or manuals from writing centers. It is not 
difficult to search the web for writing center training manuals or 
interaction guidelines. Having a familiarity with what they do and 



Listen and Learn Sessions  275

their methods may help us librarians think through our practices 
and help us guide students in better writing as well. 

Develop a list of paid proofreaders/copyeditors to hand out to 
patrons. There will always be those whose needs are preparing for 
publication rather than a simple term paper. For them, they need to 
pay a proofreader or copyeditor. Have a list of resources for them too. 

A FINAL FRIENDLY WARNING

Theological librarians are uniquely equipped to enter the writing 
center services arena, but only do so if it advances your core mission, 
not because you are trying to prove your worth to your administra-
tion. Let librarianship stand on its own, and maybe increase your 
services where it makes sense in your context. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tippey, Paul A, Thad Horner, and Ginger Stelle. 2017. “‘Won’t You Be 
My Neighbor’: Camaraderie at the Intersection of Research and 
Writing Services.” ATLA Summary of Proceedings 71: 196–99.

FURTHER READING

Hurvitz, Tate, Roxane Benvau, and Megan Parry. 2015. “Collab-
orative Approaches to Deepen Student Learning: Information 
Literacy, Curriculum Design, and Student Learning Workshops.” 
Learning Communities: Research & Practice 3 (1). https://eric.
ed.gov/?id=EJ1112526.

Zauha, Janelle. 2014. “Peering into the Writing Center: Information 
Literacy as a Collaborative Conversation.” Communications in 
Information Literacy 8 (1): 1–6.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1112526
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1112526

