Ursula Le Guin, in her meditation on the power of speech, says, "Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it."
Talking Truth was initiated in fall 2015 to support and build on understanding of climate disruption. Our experiential workshops employ storytelling, reflective writing, discussions and mindfulness exercises that foster a world that is socially transforming.
A one-mile walk in Boise, Idaho, on April 18 took an unusually long 90 minutes. The 103 walkers weren’t merely out for an evening stroll on this Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). They were participating in a Holocaust Remembrance Walk that visited three key sites, hosted by multiple community partners who collaborated to make the event happen.
On July 5, 1934, the “By the Way” column on Page 2 of the Bulloch Times (Statesboro, Georgia) contained several short blurbs on national news. The first item reported that “holding sway over all other matters” was the sweltering 102-degree heat in the nation’s capital. The second item congratulated U.S. Sen. William E. Borah of Idaho on his 69th birthday. The third blurb expressed dismay at Hitler’s June 30 purge of the Storm Troopers, a Nazi Party paramilitary group.
Book Bathing provides an opportunity for library users to reimagine the physical space of a library and engage all of their senses through a guided mindfulness audio experience.
Humanities topical immersion programming engages college communities regarding social issues. The immersions consist of a three-pronged approach of a VR experience, a film screening and an online/in-person discussion.
Southwest History: Preserving Chicanx, Latinx and Indigenous Peoples Stories is an adult program/Summer Institute that was offered in-person at Colorado State University Pueblo and streamed online.
Focused on educational programming dedicated to the study and preservation of Chicanx, Latinx and Indigenous Peoples and environments of the Southwest, the full-day program consisted of panels of Colorado educators, presentations by museum and archives professionals and interactive exhibits to spotlight oral histories and artifacts.Â
Community engagement is a key component to the work of all library types. In fact, knowledge of the community is one of the 9 Core Library Programming Competencies as identified by NILPPA (the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment).
“Immersive virtual reality programming allows for stronger conversations,” says Sharon Whitfield, electronic resources & user access librarian at Rider University’s (N.J.) Franklin F. Moore Library. “These types of programs build empathy and can be used as mechanisms for meaningful dialogue and connection.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many academic libraries were faced with the challenge of supporting academic success while most students were off-campus and taking online classes. Many outreach librarians turned to virtual programming.
Pet Grams were developed as a way to reach out and connect virtually with patrons, no matter their location. The main outcome for Pet Grams is to share kindness and motivation during a stressful time in the semester, especially for students but also for other community members who may also need support.
Often, those of us who work in academic libraries (or maybe it’s ALL libraries) get asked the question of whether or not libraries are even a thing anymore.
Students at beachside University of California, Santa Barbara have a reputation for working hard and playing hard.
UNF's Thomas G. Carpenter Library’s Literary Contests invite students, faculty and staff to virtually participate and share their creativity for a chance to win a prize. Contests include a Haiku Contest in April, a 2-Sentence Horror Story Contest in October, and a First Line Literary Contest in June.
For National Bookmobile Day 2017, my coworkers and I borrowed a cargo-bed golf cart from the university’s facilities department and converted it into a bookmobile. We decorated it with Hawaiian luau-themed party decorations and loaded the cargo bed with new books and DVDs.
We partnered with the university’s marketing department to announce the bookmobile’s campus route via Twitter. Over six hours, we made 12 stops on campus, rotating shifts with 11 library employees.
We have been hosting Fridays before Finals since October 2014. This program is held twice a semester: the Friday before midterms and the Friday before finals.Â
Normally our library closes at 5 p.m. on Fridays. On these occasions, we stay open until midnight and the library hosts quiet study upstairs and pizza and games downstairs.
ALA's Public Programs Office, the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) and the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) invite academic library professionals to attend a free learning series that teaches several dialogue facilitation approaches and helps librarians position themselves to foster conversation and lead change on their campuses and beyond.
This post was co-written by Rachel Deras, Librarian-in-Residence at Loyola Marymount University, and John Jackson.
A common perception on campuses is that students will attend programs if free food is part of the deal. Well, that may be true. Instead of an afterthought, food can be the main focus and still not cost a fortune. Two recent food-focused events helped us invite students to come see Storytime Censored, a fall exhibition of challenged or banned children’s books.
The University of Dayton Libraries’ exploration of program models continued during the fall 2016 semester with a trio of new history-focused workshops. In support of University of Dayton’s Housing and Residence Life curriculum (see The Swipe is Right for more details), these workshops identified and addressed connecting students to personal and local histories as an important learning outcome.
