a luau in the library?
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This article was downloaded by: [The Aga Khan University]On: 09 October 2014, At: 19:07Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK
College & UndergraduateLibrariesPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wcul20
A Luau in the Library?Ellysa Stern Cahoy BA, MLS a & Rebecca MerrittBichel BS, BBA, MLIS ba Penn State University , 308 Pattee Library (Tower),University Park, PA, 16802, USAb Penn State University , 208-J Paterno Library,University Park, PA, 16802, USAPublished online: 22 Sep 2008.
To cite this article: Ellysa Stern Cahoy BA, MLS & Rebecca Merritt Bichel BS, BBA,MLIS (2004) A Luau in the Library?, College & Undergraduate Libraries, 11:1, 49-60,DOI: 10.1300/J106v11n01_06
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J106v11n01_06
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A Luau in the Library?A New Model of Library Orientation
Ellysa Stern CahoyRebecca Merritt Bichel
ABSTRACT. Penn State University Libraries’ Open House is a uniqueconcept in library orientation. Rather than focusing on orienting new andfirst-year students to print and electronic resources, the event instead ad-dresses students’ affective feelings about using the library. A colorfulparty theme, decorations, and fun activities break down barriers betweenstudents and library faculty and staff, and encourage students to return tothe library when they need help. This article offers a blueprint for plan-ning and hosting a program like this, discussing the value of thishigh-touch, user-centered approach. [Article copies available for a fee fromThe Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address:<[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>© 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
TEACHING TIPS
Ellysa Stern Cahoy, BA, MLS, is Information Literacy Librarian, Penn State Uni-versity, 308 Pattee Library (Tower), University Park, PA 16802 (address e-mail to:[email protected].)
Rebecca Merritt Bichel, BS, BBA, MLIS, is Social Sciences Librarian, Penn StateUniversity, 208-J Paterno Library, University Park, PA 16802 (address e-mail to:[email protected]).
Manuscript submission for “Teaching Tips” can be submitted directly to the journal ed-itor Inga H. Barnello, Noreen Reale Falcone Library, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY13214-1399, or via e-mail: [email protected].
College & Undergraduate Libraries, Vol. 11(1) 2004http://www.haworthpress.com/web/CUL
2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J106v11n01_06 49
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KEYWORDS. Library anxiety, library orientation, library instruction,academic libraries, open house, library tours, bibliographic instruction,outreach, first-year students, freshmen, college students
Walk into the Penn State Paterno and Pattee Libraries at the begin-ning of the fall or spring semesters, and you may see students creatingballoon animals with a library staffer, trying their luck at a Stock MarketTreasure Hunt Game, bowling with coconuts, or outracing a library ad-ministrator in an “Aloha Sack Race.” The Penn State University Librar-ies Open House is a unique two-day library orientation that focuses onfun, play, and personal interaction to reduce students’ fear of the library.This article discusses the advantages of this Open House orientationmodel and describes how you can implement a similar, successful li-brary orientation at your library.
Prior to 2001, new Penn State students were introduced to the li-brary’s services during a multi-day University orientation program,where students received a brief 15-minute overview of the library in alarge auditorium setting. In fall 2001, a scheduling error led to an excit-ing opportunity. Because the library was not added to the campus-wideorientation schedule for that semester, a separate orientation event hadto be created. The expectation was to plan a traditional orientation fea-turing a tour of the physical building and a demonstration of some of thelibrary’s online resources. Instead, it became an opportunity to replacePenn State’s existing library orientation structure with a radical, newapproach.
The first step was to develop an overall vision for the event. Whatwas the problem that a new approach to library orientation would fix?The answer was the students’ fear of using the library. In the past, we of-ten began library instruction sessions for new students by asking whattheir impression of the library was, what experiences they had had withlibraries in the past, and if they were looking forward to using the libraryfor their research. Their answers were consistent. The students that wespoke with were afraid of the process, the librarians and library staff,and overwhelmed by the size of the building.
It was necessary to create an orientation event that would reduce stu-dents’ fear and make them more confident when the time came to tackletheir first research assignment. With that purpose in mind, the OpenHouse was created as a self-guided library tour with a number of re-quired stops throughout the library. The two-day event is held each falland spring, welcoming nearly 2,000 students each semester. Penn
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State’s Open House is a fun, welcoming environment where studentsinteract with library faculty and staff in a nonthreatening atmosphere.Based on our experience planning a student-centered, exciting, interac-tive Open House, we have developed a list of ten recommendations tohelp you develop a similar program at your college or university.
1. CREATE A SELF-GUIDED TOUR
At Penn State, everything about the Open House is self-guided. Stu-dents are given a map of the library and a certificate bearing the namesof each area of the library that the student can choose to visit. Thosecompleting the Open House for a class need to visit at least seven differ-ent areas of the library, including individual subject areas (such as So-cial Sciences, Arts & Humanities, and Special Collections), the MainCirculation Desk and Reserves. At each stop, staff use fun craft punchesto mark each student’s certificate. At the conclusion of the self-guidedtour, students come to the “prize room,” a gaily decorated space thatmore than one student described as a discothèque–the final stop on theirquest. Here, they receive more library information, candy, and give-aways, play games with staff and faculty, register for a chance to winlarge prizes, and complete a brief survey. Library staff volunteers alsosign the students’ certificates, to be presented to instructors as proof ofattendance.
2. USE THEMES TO CREATE EXCITEMENTAND TIE TOGETHER THE EVENT
Each Open House is organized around a party theme that is reflectedin the giveaways, staff costumes and decorations. Past themes have in-cluded the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, Luau, and Mardi Gras. This past fall’stheme was ‘Luau in the Libraries.’ In accordance with the theme, stu-dents had brightly colored leis placed around their necks as they begantheir tour. Additionally, the entire library complex was decorated withtropical colored balloons, palm trees, tiki torches, and more. For theMardi Gras or Winter Carnival theme in the spring, each student re-ceived a strand of colorful beads as he or she began and could earn morebeads at activities and festively decorated stops throughout the tour.
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3. MAKE IT FUN!
Once Penn State students have begun their self-guided tour, they en-counter a variety of entertaining offerings throughout the library. Eachdepartment or subject library that is a featured stop on the tour is en-couraged to host fun activities, and various locations have music, mov-ies, candy, games and prizes. We also bring in campus “celebrities” andadvertise their presence. Penn State’s mascot, “The Nittany Lion,” at-tends, and student and community entertainment groups are invited toperform. At the most recent Open House, Penn State’s President, Gra-ham Spanier, joined in the fun, performing magic tricks, signing stu-dents’ certificates and calling out prize winners for the “Cake Walk.”
At a typical Open House, some of the different games and diversionsthroughout the library include: a personality test, a roulette wheel cover-ing library subject areas, Twister, performing magicians, and more. Allhelp to form connections between students and library faculty and staff.The activities also encourage students to linger at stops and interact withfaculty and staff. These safe, fun interactions break down barriers andencourage students to return in the future.
4. OFFER INCENTIVES–MAKE STUDENTS WANT TO ATTEND YOUR ORIENTATION
Every good party has to have prizes and giveaways! At Penn State’sOpen House, students receive a wide variety of giveaways throughoutthe event, including items donated by database vendors such as pens,pencils, highlighters, notepads, key chains and baseball caps. Addition-ally, each student attending receives a special leak-proof coffee mug foruse when in the library. Area merchants are also solicited for prize do-nations which students can sign up for a chance to win. Some of theprizes given away at past Open Houses have included Penn State mem-orabilia and clothing, gift certificates to area restaurants, a DVD player,and a textbook scholarship, enabling a lucky student to forgo the cost ofbuying books for an entire semester.
It has never been difficult to garner prize donations for the event.Several months prior to the Open House, area merchants are mailed aletter explaining the event and requesting a prize donation. Follow-upcalls are made several weeks later to talk with store management andmake arrangements to pick up prize donations. All prize donors arethanked prominently at the event on a table displaying all available
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prizes, are listed in additional event publicity, and receive personalizedthank you letters after the Open House.
5. PARTNER WITH ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS ON CAMPUS
Throughout the Open House’s history, we have found an unchangeabletruth in planning a library orientation: buy-in from academic departmentsthroughout campus is crucial. At Penn State, we have worked hard to fostersupport for the event within the freshman English, Effective Speech andFirst Year Seminar classes on campus. Certainly, Penn State’s Open Housealways garners a good number of students who are simply interested andwant to participate, but much of the event’s attendance is also dependent oninstructors requiring it for a class. Once the students are at the Open House,however, a festive, warm atmosphere does much to change students’ per-ceptions of library orientation permanently.
Students attending the Open House are primarily asked to attend out-side of class. Many professors choose to grade attendance as a home-work assignment. This saves a class period for a hands-on librarysession after students have a research assignment. This also does awaywith the danger of classes filing through the Open House in sheep-likehordes.
6. RECRUIT AND INVOLVE VOLUNTEERS
When students arrive, they are individually greeted by a library vol-unteer dressed festively in beads or leis at one of the greeting stationsplaced at the library’s entrances. At the greeting stations, students inter-act one-on-one with faculty and staff volunteers; they are asked whattheir major and/or research interests are, and are given feedback on dif-ferent areas of the library that they might want to visit based on their ac-ademic program and/or interests. For the first Open House, we hadsome difficulty in finding enough volunteers, but now library staff andfaculty members enjoy participating, and we have more volunteers andmore hours contributed per volunteer than ever. It is important to treatyour volunteers well and make sure they feel vested in the success of theevent. A training session is offered for volunteers to give them confi-dence in their important roles. A thank you reception is hosted for allvolunteers after the event.
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7. PUBLICIZE HEAVILY
While the Open House is publicized heavily across campus throughflyers and other promotional materials, some less traditional means ofpromotion are also used. An announcement of the event is sent to localnewspapers and radio stations, and flyers are stuffed in every first-yearstudent’s campus mailbox. Flyers are also sent to the dorms, and OpenHouse banners are hung outside the library.
Because our goal is to increase awareness as well as attendance, fly-ers and oversized posters are distributed to first-year faculty and learn-ing support programs across campus. Publicity strategies designed toquickly grab attention are also used. For example, Mardi Gras beadswere sent with a flyer and letter to faculty encouraging them to wear thebeads while announcing the Open House to their students. Happy stu-dents leaving the Open House are some of the event’s best publicity.Students wear their beads or leis throughout the day around campus andtown and bring back friends to the event.
8. CHANGE THE TIMINGOF YOUR LIBRARY ORIENTATION
Traditionally, library orientations occur at the very beginning of thesemester, at a time when students are experiencing information over-load, and are overwhelmed with the process of beginning classes andnegotiating their way around campus. Penn State’s Open House beganas a program held during the first days of the semester. However, afterconferring with the coordinators for the freshman English and EffectiveSpeech courses, it was decided to hold the Open House several weeksinto the semester. This ensures that instructors are able to discuss theOpen House with their students and explain the purpose of their atten-dance. At that point in the semester, students are starting to research top-ics for assignments, making the information gained at the Open Housemore timely and pertinent. While the Open House makes it easier for thestudents to know where to get started in the library, it is not a replace-ment for in-class research instruction. Instructors are encouraged tobring their classes back to the library for a focused, tailored instructionsession. An additional benefit to holding the Open House later in the se-mester is that it is easier from a scheduling standpoint. Library facultyand staff have had a chance to weather the beginning of the school year,
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and more part-time and work-study staffers are in place to help out withthe event.
9. KEEP IT SIMPLE:CUT DOWN ON THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION
Penn State’s Open House has a primary aim: for the students to havefun and see the library faculty and staff as accessible, friendly, and help-ful. Academic libraries can be overwhelming to new students. TheOpen House reduces the level of library anxiety present in Penn Statefreshmen and transfer students, intimidated by either the size of the li-brary, the challenges of academic research, or both. With this in mind,we have consciously avoided formal instructional activities, such asdemonstrations of any databases or the library catalog, during the OpenHouse. It is simply an opportunity for students to get acquainted withour faculty, staff and facility, and know that we are here as a ready re-source to help them with whatever they need.
This focused approach is working. A survey taken at the fall 2002event indicated that of the over 2,000 students attending, 89% agreedthat the Open House helped them learn about the basic services, collec-tions, and facilities, 85% felt that as a result of the Open House, theylearned something about the library that they considered valuable, and87% of students felt that attending the Open House will make it easierfor them to use the library for research and other course work in the fu-ture.
10. ENGAGE STUDENTS:MAKE IT PERSONAL, ASK QUESTIONS
The commitment to the success of the Open House by library facultyand staff is integral to the event. With nearly 2,000 students in atten-dance each semester, however, it would still be easy for the Open Houseto be a depersonalized, rote experience. To keep this from happening,volunteers attend a short orientation in the week before the event to dis-cuss the importance of interacting individually with students. Thisachieves the Open House’s aim to have each student attending make apositive, personal connection with at least one library faculty or staffmember. This also humanizes the library to our students and makes it
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more likely that they will come back for assistance throughout their aca-demic careers.
CONCLUSION
Two years of experience (and five Open Houses) have shown thatthis new model of library orientation is a winner. It has brought kudosfrom students, faculty, and staff throughout campus.
Quotes from students attending have included:
The Open house is a great idea!! Without it I would have been tooscared to ask for help and would have always been lost!
I wish they had conducted this tour my freshman year, because itwas the most fun I had in a library, while learning anyway. I foundthings that I didn’t know existed but interested me very much! Iwould come again next year.
Everyone was very friendly and nice. I feel so much more comfort-able about coming and doing my research. I am not worried aboutasking for help.
Consider replacing your existing library orientation with an OpenHouse. It is a wonderful way to connect with students while dazzlingthem with your collections, services, and terrific faculty and staff!
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APPENDIX A
Open House Volunteer Training Materials
Fall, 2003 Open House:
THE GREETING STATIONS
There will be TWO greeting stations, one in Pattee by the Lion exhibit and one in Paterno bythe service desk. As students come into the library, greeters should:
• WELCOME the Open House participants to the University Libraries with a lei!
• HAND OUT a libraries map, a certificate, a “Welcome/Subject Libraries by College”handout, and a PSU bag to all participants. (The bags will allow students to collect in-formation and giveaways along the way.) Items will be prearranged into stacks on thetables for your convenience.
The Welcome sheet is self-explanatory, but please take a moment to orient students.For example, point out the Paterno elevators or West Pattee to help them get started.There will be a volunteer stationed by the art wall in Pattee at most times to help in di-recting and orienting participants.
• EXPLAIN and REVIEW briefly the requirements of the Open House and how it works.(All of the following information appears on the certificates as well.) Participants will berequired to collect a total of SIX punches on their certificates. To collect these punchesthey will visit:
� BOTH the GATEWAY LIBRARY and ACCESS SERVICES� AT LEAST TWO of the FIVE special areas: THE WARING ARCHIVES, MICRO-
FORMS/NEWSPAPERS, RESERVES, PRESERVATION, DEAN’S OFFICE/HR� AT LEAST THREE subject libraries; this includes the Branch Libraries (with the
exception of the Math Library). (Students can end or begin their tour at any branchlibrary, excluding the Math Library.)
• ADD that anyone who visits ALL OF THE STOPS on the Open House tour will receivea SPECIAL PRIZE at the end of the tour (a PSU Libraries water bottle or Frisbee).
• REMIND students that at the different stops on the tour they will not only receivepunches on their certificates but also may have opportunities to play games and winextra prizes.
• ENCOURAGE students to visit the libraries that correspond to their major or interests.This information is included in the packet you will be handing out, but help them deter-mine the appropriate library, if necessary.
• CONCLUDE the welcome session by reminding students that they should finish theirOpen House visit in the Mann Assembly Room to get their certificate authenticated andregister for a number of prizes (DVD player and book scholarship among them).
• HAVE FUN . . . your enthusiasm will be contagious!
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APPENDIX B
Open House Instructions for Student Participants
How to participate:
• What’s a luau without leis? Grab one!• Do you have your map and a certificate? Turn this sheet over for a list of Subject Librar-
ies by College and try to visit the subject library that corresponds with your major.• Start the tour!• Stop by both THE GATEWAY LIBRARY and ACCESS SERVICES. (Stopping by both
is mandatory.)
• Stop by AT LEAST TWO of these three special areas:° THE WARING ARCHIVES (3rd floor, West Pattee)° RESERVES (1st floor, West Pattee)° MICROFORMS/NEWSPAPERS (ground floor, West Pattee)° PRESERVATION (near Pattee Library mall entrance)° DEAN’S OFFICE/HUMAN RESOURCES (5th floor, Paterno)
• Visit at least THREE of the following subject libraries:° ARCHITECTURE (207 engineering Unit C)° ARTS & HUMANITIES (2nd floor, Central and West Pattee)° BUSINESS (3rd floor, Paterno)° EARTH & MINERAL SCIENCES (105 Deike Building)° EDUCATION & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES (5th floor, Paterno)° ENGINEERING (325 Hammond Building)° LIFE SCIENCES (4th floor, Paterno)° MAPS (ground floor, Paterno)° POLLOCK LAPTOP LIBRARY (Undergraduate Library–Pollock Road)° SOCIAL SCIENCES (2nd floor, Paterno)° SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (1st floor, Paterno)
• Receive a punch on your certificate at each stop. You might even win prizes!• Come to the PRIZE ROOM when you’re done to get your certificate signed and enter a
prize drawing! This room is near the elevators on 1st floor Paterno.• Tour ALL OF THE STOPS to win an extra prize!
HAVE FUN!
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Welcome to University Libraries’
Fall ’03 Open House!
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APPENDIX D
Open House Student Survey
Please help us to evaluate the Libraries’ Open House by answering the questions belowand writing your comments.
Please tell us your opinion in relation to the following statements:
1. This tour has helped me learn about the basic services, collections, and facilities of theUniversity Libraries. (Select One)
___Strongly Agree ___Agree ___Neutral/Undecided ___Disagree ___Strongly Disagree
2. As a result of this Open House, I will feel more comfortable asking someone for help inthe library. (Select One)
___Strongly Agree ___Agree ___Neutral/Undecided ___Disagree ___Strongly Disagree
3. As a result of this Open House, I will feel more confident using the library for researchand other coursework. (Select One)
___Strongly Agree ___Agree ___Neutral/Undecided ___Disagree ___Strongly Disagree
4. Would you recommend the Open House as a useful activity for other students to attend?
___Yes ___No
5. What were your favorite parts of the Open House? (Check all that apply)
___ Meeting librarians and library staff___ Receiving giveaways and registering for prizes___ Touring the library___ Playing games at some of the Open House stops___ Learning about the different areas of the library
6. What is your class level? (Select One)
___Freshman ___Sophomore ___Junior ___Senior ___Special Student/Other
7. Were you required to attend the Open House for a class?
___Yes ___No
8. If you answered ‘Yes’ to #6, which class(es) required you to attend?
___CAS 100A ___ENG 015 ___First Year Seminar ___Other
9. How often do you use the Pattee or Paterno Libraries? (Select One)
___Daily ___Weekly ___Monthly ___Once or Twice per Semester ___Never
10. Do you have any additional comments about the tour today or the Pattee and Paterno Li-braries in general?
THANK YOU for helping us to evaluate our services by filling out this questionnaire.
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