Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation
Conference Strand
Outreach and Partnership
Target Audience
Higher Education
Second Target Audience
K-12
Location
Ballroom C
Relevance
Learning can take place in a number of different environments, not just the classroom. By developing outreach programming that has learning outcomes in mind, students can learn in a non-traditional setting. This proposal showcases how we can capitalize on these events to gage student awareness of resources and greater insight to develop new programming.
Proposal
The University of Central Florida hosts one of the largest student bodies in the nation. Just looking at the numbers, it may seem like every library event is a huge success. However, when you compare this with the number of students represented, it becomes apparent that we are only reaching a fraction of the students who attend the university. For this reason, librarians are always looking for ways to reach as many students as possible. One of the best methods to develop meaningful programming is to ask students themselves what they want to experience.
To collect as much student feedback as possible, librarians began creating activities that incorporate student feedback, mostly in the form of short 1 or 2 question surveys. These quick questions can be used in large or small events in various ways. From this feedback, we have been able to measure student awareness of resources in the library, learn what activities students would find interesting, and discover roadblocks to searching the library website.
Librarians will use survey responses to develop future programming and make improvements to library resources. This presentation will showcase multiple events and outreach activities, and how the assessment was incorporated differently into each one. It will provide a snapshot of events that were popular with our students.
This presentation will be of interest to librarians looking for ideas on how to incorporate student feedback during events in clever ways.
Short Description
Hosting an event can be exhausting enough. However, with just a little bit of effort, it can also be a unique opportunity to hear from students what they find interesting, engaging, and impactful. Join Learning Engagement librarians from the University of Central Florida as they discuss how assessment opportunities can be slipped into events. In this session, the librarians will discuss various outreach efforts and how they conducted assessment activities that were part of the event itself.
Keywords
information literacy, events, outreach, engagement, student feedback, assessment, library events
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Montgomery, Renee Cole; Garner, Chereeka; and Miller, Katy A., "Measuring Outreach in Unexpected Places" (2025). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 11.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2025/2025/11
Measuring Outreach in Unexpected Places
Ballroom C
The University of Central Florida hosts one of the largest student bodies in the nation. Just looking at the numbers, it may seem like every library event is a huge success. However, when you compare this with the number of students represented, it becomes apparent that we are only reaching a fraction of the students who attend the university. For this reason, librarians are always looking for ways to reach as many students as possible. One of the best methods to develop meaningful programming is to ask students themselves what they want to experience.
To collect as much student feedback as possible, librarians began creating activities that incorporate student feedback, mostly in the form of short 1 or 2 question surveys. These quick questions can be used in large or small events in various ways. From this feedback, we have been able to measure student awareness of resources in the library, learn what activities students would find interesting, and discover roadblocks to searching the library website.
Librarians will use survey responses to develop future programming and make improvements to library resources. This presentation will showcase multiple events and outreach activities, and how the assessment was incorporated differently into each one. It will provide a snapshot of events that were popular with our students.
This presentation will be of interest to librarians looking for ideas on how to incorporate student feedback during events in clever ways.
