End of Semester Update

The last half of the semester has been a flurry of activity. I planned an event, created a book display, attended an awesome conference, started applying to grad school, etc. In this post I'll give a brief overview of my various activities and share what is in store for the spring semester. 

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC),  Philadelphia, PA

The view from our hotel room

The Director of Special Collections invited me to attend this conference at the end of August. It was a great opportunity because I am interested in perusing an archives concentration in grad school.  One of the highlights of the conference was tour day. We were able to sign up for behind the scenes tours of many of the city's archives and conservation centers. I visited the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts and the American Philological Society. The American Philological Society has some pretty crazy stuff: the Lewis and Clark diaries, a transcript of the Apollo 11 moon-landing signed by Neil Armstrong, and the only document with the first four president's signatures! 

The sessions were interesting. My favorite was Primary Sources Education in Higher Ed.... it was a pleasant surprise. Archivists and educators talked about how they integrated archival material into a class or inspired faculty to visit the archives. There were some good ideas that could be applied to the Gettysburg archives. In addition to sessions and tours, I ate at a microbrewery and had Afghan food for the first time! Ahh the diversity of city life. Overall, it was an excellent time with great people. 

One day...

Grad School 

In case you didn't pick up on it before... I want to be a librarian. One of the great parts of this internship is that an assignment in the fall is to look at grad school, revise your resume, create a teaching philosophy and write a personal statement. I've also been considering where to apply. My primary choice is Drexel University. It's ALA certified, has an archives concentration, and its near my family and friends. Perfect. I've also been going back and forth between online v. on campus. Its an on-going debate, but I'm leaning towards on-campus.  

Stress Relief table

just keep coloring

 This finals season the librarians wanted some de-stressing activities for the students. I created the stress relief table with a craft, coloring sheets, clay & play- dough, comic books and bubble wrap. The table was heavily used during its two weeks. The students made tiny sculptures out of the clay and colored like crazy. They left so many finished coloring sheet on the table that I hung them on the wall and created the "Musselman Stress Relief Gallery" so all could appreciate the art. I also advertised the table using memes... and college students love memes. Since the table was a success, I plan on going big in the spring: yoga sessions, therapy dogs, and a stress art contest. 

Dystopian December

A librarian had an idea to do a dystopian themed book display. With the latest Hunger Games movie and new Divergent book, we all had dystopian fiction on the brain. For an academic library, Musselman has a good deal of popular fiction. So I set out to give people a depressing read for the holidays- get your Ba'humbug on. 

Finals Study Break

Every semester the Holley intern plans a study break in the library. This year brought a cupcake decorating activity to the study break. Thanks the library staff 300 cupcakes, students were provided with plenty of cupcakes to decorate! Icing, sprinkles, chocolate chips, cookies crumbles, and colored sugars were provided for the students. In addition to the cookies, veggie and fruit trays, as well as hot and cold drinks were provided to help revive the stressed out students.While decorating their cookies, students were given many opportunities to de-stress by playing board games, constructing a 3-D snowflake and coloring holiday themed coloring sheets. A festive atmosphere was provided by twinkle lights, a roaring yule log on the projector screen and holiday music. 

As for Spring, I'm trying to figure out a semester project. I'm considering an anthropological  study or some type of unique library programming. 

Get them in the door

                 If blowout sales bring crazed shoppers to department stores on Black Friday and the perfect 75⁰ day draws people outside to enjoy the fresh air, then what brings the students to the library?  With countless books, journals, and videos available at the click of a button, it might be easy or obvious to suppose that the library building would be an empty space gathering dust.  It might be surprising, but quite the opposite is true.  What makes a college library appealing?  How can the academic library, as a place, continue to be important to the life of campus?  
                  Although plenty of students may freely come to the library for a multitude of reasons, there are plenty who might not willingly stop by without a good reason or incentive.  On an academic campus, no department has all the resources or man power they may need or desire.  Libraries can increase the opportunities for attracting students by having campus partners.  Through partnerships,the word can be spread more effectively, reach more students, and meet diverse needs.
For example: 
                   I can imagine teaming with career services to offer job searching workshops.  In a one hour session, a member from the Center for Career Development and a librarian could help showcase the wealth of sources each entity can offer.  For example, the library has the resources to help upperclassmen write the perfect resume, CV, or cover letter, while the career center has the expertise to perfect it in order to help you obtain the perfect job.  Likewise, underclassmen can utilize resources about choosing the right career path and searching for internships.   The library has books like these seen below that would be helpful to a student's job or career needs:

 

       Another learning opportunity could be found in hosting wellness workshops, and possibly partnering with the health center.  Yoga, Pilates, zumba, tai chi, or any number or fitness routines could be paired with a short conversation or discussion on how to find more library resources.  The library could provide the space for the instruction, and also casually feature relevant health, nutrition, and fitness resources found at the library. The library offers everything from current yoga journals to nutritional books to fitness DVDs.   The activity would be fun and utilize library resources. Students would likely be surprised at the wealth of tools available to them that are not just class related.  

  

 

    

        How about partnering with Residence Life to offer any number of library/resource related hall programs to students in the residence halls?  The librarian can bring the library to the residence hall through an interactive presentation or host an information literacy game about finding sources, plagiarism, or a zillion other specific topics related to researching and library resources.  How about showing off how to access the hidden gems of the library--all the recreational ebook, DVD, and music collections?
        Finally and purely for fun, the library could partner with clubs and organizations to host any number of experiences that encourage students, community members, professors, and others to come in the doors.   These fun activities allow students to interact with librarians and come to the library with an informal purpose, yet through this, hopefully students will feel more comfortable in the space, learn to be familiar with the faces found in the library, and utilize the help of librarians more frequently.  This week at Gettysburg, the library is host to a worthwhile campus event.   All this week (12/2 to 12/6/13), the brothers of Sigma Nu have been selling hot chocolate and cookies on the main floor of the library from 7-11 PM.  A tasty study break during the always-busy last week of classes benefits the Helping Hands organization.  
       College libraries are meant for acquiring knowledge, but this is not restricted to academic or curriculum based learning.  Libraries are scholarly, recreational, and social spaces that meet the diverse needs of users.  Just as the library building is used to meet these varied needs, so too can library programming.  Through partnerships across campus and engaging all aspects of the campus community, the library, its staff, and its resources will be more utilized, relevant, and familiar.  

**Note** All of the resources featured above can be found at Musselman Library in MUSCAT.