Type of Presentation

Panel (1 hour and 15 minutes presentation total for two or more presenters)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

Room 212

Proposal

Advertising and promoting key services and resources is crucial to the mission of any academic library. But successfully engaging with the student body of any large university is a challenging and problematic task. What does an academic librarian do? What does an academic library have to offer its students? Do undergraduates (or even graduate students) really know what libraries and librarians have to offer? Librarians at The University of Alabama and The University of North Carolina-Greensboro have attempted to bridge this gap by moving out of the physical confines of the library in order to engage with students on familiar turf. Whether it’s bringing workshops to on-campus residential communities, offering research help at the Starbucks on campus, setting up research “office hours” at various university locales, or offering alternative student services like voter registration, we have made a concerted effort to promote our services and resources in non-traditional ways. In this panel, we will discuss some of our outreach strategies, our successes and failures, while also hopefully promoting a productive discussion about the future of campus outreach!

Short Description

In this panel, librarians from The University of Alabama and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will discuss some non-traditional approaches to student engagement, campus outreach, and reference services. We will provide examples of specific outreach and engagement strategies, while also hopefully promoting a productive discussion about the future of campus outreach!

Keywords

Information Literacy, Outreach, Research, Student Engagement, Academic Libraries, Academic Librarians, Higher Education

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Sep 30th, 10:00 AM Sep 30th, 11:30 AM

Drinking Coffee with Undergrads: Non-Traditional Approaches to Outreach, Reference Services, and Engagement in an Academic Library Setting.

Room 212

Advertising and promoting key services and resources is crucial to the mission of any academic library. But successfully engaging with the student body of any large university is a challenging and problematic task. What does an academic librarian do? What does an academic library have to offer its students? Do undergraduates (or even graduate students) really know what libraries and librarians have to offer? Librarians at The University of Alabama and The University of North Carolina-Greensboro have attempted to bridge this gap by moving out of the physical confines of the library in order to engage with students on familiar turf. Whether it’s bringing workshops to on-campus residential communities, offering research help at the Starbucks on campus, setting up research “office hours” at various university locales, or offering alternative student services like voter registration, we have made a concerted effort to promote our services and resources in non-traditional ways. In this panel, we will discuss some of our outreach strategies, our successes and failures, while also hopefully promoting a productive discussion about the future of campus outreach!