Uncovering Impact: The Influence of Archives on Student Learning

University archivists and special collections librarians offer orientations and assistance to students who use their resources for course projects, but assessment of the impact of these interactions on students has been largely overlooked. We address this gap by presenting the results of a survey of 452 students at two universities who had a formal orientation to the archives as part of their coursework. We assess the impact of their exposure to archives using several measures, including: confidence in finding and conducting research with primary source materials; perception of archival research as relevant to the students' goals; student evaluation of their experience in the archives; and willingness to return to use the archives in the future. The results of this study provide university archivists and special collections librarians with an understanding of the different learning impacts that are possible through exposure to the archives and will be useful in identifying learning outcomes for undergraduate and graduate students using archival and manuscript materials in the future.