Student Veteran Engineers and Academic Libraries: A Review of Recent Literature

Since the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill was passed by Congress in 2008 and implemented in 2009, over 750,000 veterans have used its expanded benefits to obtain or extend their education. However, academic librarians have only recently begun to fully conduct research on this population and its needs, both inside and outside the classroom. This process is made even more difficult by the fact that more than half of all student veterans are receiving their education through virtual or online programs. To the author's knowledge, there has been no significant attempt to conduct an in-depth review of the literature that has been published since the passage of the bill. This paper reviews recent studies published about the educational choices and preferences of student veterans. It will also look at current research on the experience of veterans in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) majors. Finally, there will be an assessment of outreach programs and other events sponsored by academic libraries for this often-overlooked population, with a focus on events designed to encourage or assist STEM student veterans. Trends, successes, and failures will be noted. The intent is to understand the needs of veteran students, as well as learn what has been done by librarians in the past, so that college and university libraries across the country are better able to plan, implement, and assess potential outreach and assistive programs for veterans on their campuses, both residential and virtual.