On college campuses, students seek out common spaces where they feel a sense of ownership. By giving students a voice in the library, we can help to fill this need and develop a shared sense of space. Like many librarians, we increasingly spend more time on outreach. But we have found the most success observing students to see what’s trending, then striking while the iron is hot. Recently, this has revolved around two things: a well-loved “Question of the Week” (QOTW) board, and a cardboard cutout of our building’s somewhat stodgy namesake.
Last year, while punching up our Recreational Reading area, we used a big whiteboard to ask students which magazines to purchase. The results were surprising not in their choices, but in their desire to participate. We had no idea that writing on a whiteboard would bring such delight. The QOTW board was born.
We have had a life-sized cardboard cutout of our namesake for years. Students have long had just a smiling affection for him. But when one student made off with him, that all changed. Leveraging that event and the campus “whodunit” associated with it, we built a series of activities that somewhat anthropomorphize the library. This helps convey the warmth that students desire, and helps make librarians more approachable. We know our core services and programming are solid. But what we needed was more engagement. Giving the students a role to play has given us that, and we look forward to more.
