89 SPEC Kit 361: Outreach and Engagement The physical sciences, engineering, and technology (PSET) Libraries division head approved the ideas and passed on the budget to the dean. The budget for the year was a little under $4,000, but that included purchasing the Inventables Carvey, the wood cutting machine, which was a one-time purchase. The PSET division head asked the engineering technology information specialist to organize and run the events. She asked the libraries instructional developer, a library assistant, a library assistant IV, and the libraries graduate assistant from civil engineering, to brainstorm ideas and collaborate on running the events. Regular meetings were held with the group to assess the effectiveness and success of the events. The plan for next year is to have a Qualtrics survey ready for students to take before leaving each event to gather data for better assessment. The event was promoted through social media, the Libraries’ main website, the Libraries Data- Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue (D-VELoP) webpage, through the university’s newsletter (Purdue Today), and the digital signs/screens behind the reference desks in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center (where the Library of Engineering and Science is housed). We collaborated with Archives & Special Collections, the Krannert Leaders Academy, Summer Transition, Advising and Registration (STAR), Purdue Engineers Week, and the Hicks Undergraduate Library’s activities (“Study Breaks”) for the end-of-the-semester prep and final exam weeks. We reached out to each of these collaborators, with the exception of the Krannert Leaders Academy, who asked us to host an event for their class. Regular meetings were held with the group to assess the effectiveness of the events. At a few of the events, we handed out a paper survey to participants. We regularly forgot to hand them out to participants, so we decided to start fresh and be consistent with surveying participants for the 2018/2019 academic year. The plan for next year is to have a Qualtrics (online software we use at Purdue) survey ready for students to take before leaving the events to gather data for better assessment. We learned this was successful from the handful of participant surveys we collected, and by talking with students that spent time at our events. The response was all positive. We were consistently asked to offer more, especially with 3D printing. Students regularly asked how much it would cost them to participate. Students often approached with skepticism, thinking they had to pay for something. We never received negative feedback, all feedback was positive, and there was a lot of appreciation with many thanks for the events. Case Study 16 Library “Open Doors Event”: Part of a weekend event for alumni, provided a reception and a few “stations” for alumni to visit (media lab, archives, digital scholarship). The tours were self-guided and stations were staffed to provide information and giveaways. The goal was to showcase what the library has to offer current students, in hopes of encouraging donations. University librarian, office of alumni affairs Alumni, library communications team, university librarian and executive assistant, co-op students, department heads Website, campus signs, social media, e-newsletter, special invites to past donors Alumni, library communications team, university librarian and executive assistant, co-op students, department heads. Collaborators were selected based on the areas in the library that would be involved in the events of the day. No assessment plan Anecdotal reports from interactions with participants. No formal assessment reports were developed.
Previous Page Next Page