With most colleges and universities moving coursework online for the remainder of this semester due to the coronavirus pandemic, campus libraries are adapting to an increased demand for online services and support. Virtual reference, electronic access to textbooks, assistance for faculty, streaming content â as we make our way in this new reality of social distancing, these online resources feel more vital than ever.
University libraries can't be all work, all the time. In fact, when I entered the University of Tennessee's Hodges Library, one of the first things I saw was a poster advertising a monthly game night in the library. This program, which started in spring 2019, has become hugely popular, with some nights attracting more than 100 students.
The Publishing Writers' Support Group is an hourlong casual meeting for faculty and staff who â regardless of teaching status â may come and talk about current projects, frustrations or ideas in a welcoming and relaxed environment.
Karaoke Study Break was held the second to last week of our fall term. The last two weeks of term is often a time when students feel heightened stress, as exams, projects, research papers and deadlines loom on the horizon. Karaoke Study Break, an hour of turning our library Reading Room into a Karaoke party, was created as an outlet for stress relief.
De-Stress with Doggos is based on the idea that adults would benefit just as much, if not more, from therapy dog sessions as children do. This event included pizza, crafts and games, as well as therapy dogs.
Last year, I wrote about how you can use conditional formatting in Excel to track important deadlines for promoting library programs. In order to ensure that I remember to send something out to the more than 14 communication channels that we routinely utilize at the William H. Hannon Library, these customized spreadsheets have been indispensable.
As an academic institution on the semester system, Banned Books Week tends to be the first big, multi-day event of the programming cycle for the staff at the William H. Hannon Library at Loyola Marymount University. Outside of First-Year Orientation, this is one of our first opportunities to make an impression on our students.
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 werenât 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 âBy the Wayâ column on Page 2 of the Bulloch Times (Statesboro, Georgia) contained several short blurbs on national news. The first item reported that âholding sway over all other mattersâ was the sweltering 102-degree heat in the nationâs capital. The second item congratulated U.S. Sen. William E. Borah of Idaho on his 69th birthday. The third blurb expressed dismay at Hitlerâs June 30 purge of the Storm Troopers, a Nazi Party paramilitary group.
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).
âImmersive virtual reality programming allows for stronger conversations,â says Sharon Whitfield, electronic resources & user access librarian at Rider Universityâs (N.J.) Franklin F. Moore Library. âThese types of programs build empathy and can be used as mechanisms for meaningful dialogue and connection.â
Michigan State University's Gast Business Library partners with the College of Social Scienceâs Go for the Green financial literacy team to cosponsor MSUâs participation in Money Smart Week, a national program sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. As part of this weeklong event, the Go for the Green team hires a financial literacy-focused author to come to campus and speak with students about managing their money.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and the ALA Public Programs Office invite libraries to apply to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition that examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americansâ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.
In early December, the University Library at Sonoma State (SSU) collaborated with the student-run SSU Tea Club to help students de-stress as they headed into the most stressful time of the semester.
Offered during Sonoma State's so-called "Dead Week," the week before finals, the Pop-Up Tea Library comforted library visitors with free steaming mugs of tea, Monday through Friday, from 6 to 9 p.m.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 4,360 colleges and the universities in the United States. More likely than not, there is a college or university close to you â and partnering with them is a great way to bring high-quality health and wellness programming to your library.
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.
