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University Libraries

Summer of Programming

By Katy Kelly

The University Libraries’ faculty and staff continue to be nimble, creative, efficient and supportive with their COVID-19 strategies. You may have already read how metrics from spring semester show heavy reliance on library expertise, materials and services, including a standout contactless pickup service introduced by Amanda Black’s access services team. Throughout the summer, Libraries faculty and staff continued this engagement trend and developed new virtual programming for the campus community.

For teaching faculty and graduate students, three themed Zoom series covered a variety of topics.

Good, good, good ... good citations

In June, Joan Plungis, Bridget Garnai and Jason Wardell hosted sessions about free citation management software, enabling researchers to save bibliographic information with a click of the mouse.

Data galore

In July, Tina Beis, Hector Escobar and Heidi Gauder taught about social demographics resources such as census data, national statistics and data visualization tools.

collections for all kinds of classrooms

In August, Kayla Harris, Gauder, Stephanie Shreffler and Kristina Schulz shared how to incorporate UD collections and primary sources in live and virtual classrooms.

remotely Orienting new students

University Libraries were well-represented throughout the virtual new-student orientation this year. Student success librarian Zachary Lewis designed several virtual programs for new-student orientation: drop-in sessions with faculty; overviews of library spaces, services and resources; and an interactive version of our puzzle activity book. Beis, Ann Zlotnik, and I created a new promotional campaign for the Book a Librarian service, featuring librarians as Bitmoji characters.

Fun and games

Lewis, Wardell and Gauder created a fun June Madness book bracket, and Shreffler, Gauder and Jillian Ewalt developed a virtual escape room, shared widely to incoming students and parents. Over 200 people had “escaped” as of Aug. 28. Try it out!

More to come

Another program that’s free and online is about visual literacy and Internet memes, hosted by Ewalt and Garnai. An upcoming virtual reading series hosted by Henry Handley will feature campus community members reading aloud from their favorite titles. This fall, Marian Library faculty are teaching a mini course about Mary’s connection to miracles and medical cures. 

Programming connects librarian interests to the community we serve and the mission of the University. This summer lineup shows the creativity and expertise of our library faculty and staff. Keep up to date on the variety of upcoming programming on the University Libraries and Marian Library blogs, which also include articles by librarians about their daily work and research interests. 

— Katy Kelly is an associate professor and the University Libraries’ coordinator of marketing and engagement.

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