91 SPEC Kit 361: Outreach and Engagement Libraries administration approved the event. The budget was about $15,000. However, for 2018, the Libraries did not contribute funding for the event and the costs were covered by grants from the NCSU Foundation and the NCSU Sustainability Fund. One representative from each of the units collaborating on the event served as the core planning group, which included one member from the Libraries. During the event, the Libraries supported the audio visual setup and operation with a staff member, librarians provided instructional support for the workshops portion, three Makerspace staff members (and multiple student workers) supported the build sessions on the Saturday of the event, and three members of library administration served as judges of the final projects. The core planning team oversaw evaluation and volunteers from the Villages help support the event. Libraries External Relations provides some publicity of the event. The event was promoted in the NCSU Libraries Makerspaces, in our newsletter and on our website, and on digital signage. A significant number of participants were recruited through the living and learning villages, which were able to promote the event directly to students through email, hall meetings, and signs. The living and learning villages (Albright Entrepreneurs Village, EcoVillage, Engineering Village, and Women in Science and Engineering Village) are residential programs that bring students of similar interests together. The NCSU Sustainability Office has established programs to engage students with their mission of education and collaboration in support of sustainability-related information and activities. The NCSU Libraries were searching for avenues to conduct a hacker or maker-related event and discussions quickly led to these partners who have very similar interests of interdisciplinary collaboration. Success of the event was evaluated through the following: Number of participants at Make-a-thon and during the pre-events. Feedback from judges and event mentors. Social media (students were incentivised to document their solution through the offering of two social media awards). Post-event survey and evaluation. Post-event follow-up with student teams about whether their project is being pursued at the next level (e.g., other campus events such as eGames, Sustainability Fund, beta-testing on campus, etc.) Case Study 20 NARA has been organizing a social media series called the Archives Hashtag Party on Fridays in 2018. NARA invites archives, libraries, museums, and the public to share their collections related to a specific hashtag theme. NARA management approved the theme. The budget was $0. Planning involved various offices at the National Archives including Presidential Libraries, web, and communications staff. Ongoing promotion occurs in the week leading up to each event. The new theme is shared with a call to action to feature collections related to the theme. There is no paid advertising. Over 750 cultural organizations have participated in the Archives Hashtag Party to date. The National Archives posts from our different social media accounts that are managed by different NARA offices and locations. We also have reached out to peer organizations to “co-host” themes. Co-hosts have included the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Zoo, the Folklife Festival, American Antiquarian, LAPL, and more. Partners have either pitched ideas to us and asked to be co- hosts, or we have approached organizations with collections related to a specific theme. After the hashtag parties, we look at the social media analytics data to measure the success of the hashtag and participation. We also look at the comments themselves to review the quality of the interactions. Each theme is followed up by a brief report on the impact of the digital event.
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