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Follow the Silk Road to Orientation Success: Promoting Miami University's Brill Science Library

Eric Resnis
Engineering Librarian
Miami University
Oxford OH
resnisew@muohio.edu

Betsy Butler
Special Collections Librarian
Miami University
Oxford OH
butlerej@muohio.edu

Jennifer Barth
Young Adult Librarian
Irondequoit Public Library
Rochester NY
formerly Instructional Materials Librarian at Miami University, Oxford OH
jbarth@libraryweb.org

Abstract

This paper describes "Follow the Silk Road...to the Science Library," a successful orientation event held at Brill Science Library, Miami University, Oxford Ohio. The program combined many important ingredients, including information literacy, outreach, collaboration, and university-wide involvement, all in a non-threatening and fun atmosphere. Included here are details of the concept, requirements to make the event possible, and follow-up plans.

Background

While traditional library orientation staples such as tours and introductory bibliographic instruction sessions are effective in their own right, they still have several shortcomings. Usually these sessions are short, with librarians covering too many topics in too short of a time. Furthermore, most of this information gets lost in the onslaught of orientations that students face at the beginning of the academic year. Branch libraries can also suffer as most orientation sessions are offered exclusively at the main library branch.

New methods of dealing with the aforementioned shortcomings have been devised in previous years. While the general purpose of the orientation (to provide a welcoming and positive first experience in the library) is the same, these new methods integrate concepts which are not usually attributed to the library, such as games and other light-hearted activities. Furthermore, these orientation sessions are usually scheduled several weeks into classes so that it is not necessary to compete with other orientation sessions on campus.

For instance, Penn State University produces an elaborate library orientation session each semester based upon themes such as a luau, the 1950s era and Mardi Gras (Cahoy & Bichel 2004). Others have introduced elements of mystery and games into the orientation. For instance, Cedarville University uses the game Clue as a premise for orienting students to library services (Fawcett & Funtik 2004). Treasure hunt aspects can be found in orientation sessions at Penn State and at Queensborough Community College (City University of New York) (Cahoy & Bichel 2004; Marcus & Beck 2003). The hunts usually involve food and prizes for those who successfully complete the tasks.

These creative methods have resulted in library orientations that inform the campus community about the realm of library services in a way that is relaxing, non-threatening, and fun (Cahoy & Bichel 2004). Attendees leave the session with prizes and full stomachs, but more importantly with a better awareness of the library and its role in their academic lives.

Incorporating ideas from the events listed previously, Miami University's Brill Science Library created an orientation session that was unique to the 18,000-student university located in southwestern Ohio. The Science Library supports eleven science departments at all degree levels, and it is one of Miami's three branch libraries on the Oxford campus. During this period, Brill Science Library was also the temporary home to the library's Instructional Materials Center (IMC).

Since most orientation sessions are based at Miami's main library, the Science Library and IMC have never had orientation sessions of their own. While tours of the Science Library are offered at the end of some of these orientation sessions, the tours are sparsely attended. While bibliographic instructions sessions provide an opportunity for librarians to introduce the Science Library, staff decided that a more interactive, engaging orientation was necessary that would showcase the library and its resources. The event would occur in September, at the end of the fourth week of classes after other campus orientation sessions were long completed.

Before any planning for the event began, we created goals that would help tremendously when planning and implementing the event. These included:

Establishing and fostering relationships with faculty, staff, and students in the science and education departments;
Familiarizing patrons with services available through the libraries;
Promoting a library atmosphere that is non-threatening and conducive to learning; and
Making the libraries an integral part of a university-wide event series.

Planning

Planning for such a large-scale event took a considerable amount of time and required contributions from many individuals. Work began nearly ten months before the event. Starting early allowed the committee time to refine and sculpt the orientation idea into something that would support the library's mission and would appeal to all involved. Furthermore, we knew that this type of orientation would require a considerable amount of money (compared to other outreach events), and that there was no money in the budget for the event. Searching, applying, and waiting for decisions on external funding could also take much time as well. A very positive aspect of the grant process was that it helped us to decide a firm timeline for how event planning would proceed.

While many grants were considered, we ultimately applied for a grant from the University's Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet studies. The center was beginning a two-year slate of programs on the ancient trading routes of the Silk Road. This grant was especially exciting because it would not only provide the primary funding for the event, but it would allow the Science Library to become a part of a University-wide initiative.

Happily for us, our grant was funded by the Havighurst Center. At that point, planning began in earnest. The group designing the event also grew to six members. The diverse group not only included staff from Brill Science Library and the Instructional Materials Center, but also interested staff from other libraries at Miami, including the Outreach Librarian. The group generally met weekly to discuss progress on initiatives and to plan future directions. These meetings became more frequent as the event approached.

The first challenge that the group dealt with was how to effectively integrate the Silk Road theme into a library orientation. After much discussion, we decided to transform the library to resemble a route along the Silk Road, the historical trade route that once linked Asia and Europe. Three of the library's four levels would be dedicated to the event; the top floor would be untouched to allow a place for those not participating in the event to study and research.

The first goal of the event was to complete a planning document by the end of May. While we were aware that details would certainly be fluid after May, we wanted to have a good schematic of the event that was acceptable to all involved and that would achieve what it planned. It was also during this time that we began to arrange for student attendance and foster partnerships, both of which are discussed more below.

Late summer was spent confirming details for the event: speakers and volunteers were contacted and confirmed; vendors were contacted for gifts and other promotional items; decorations, food, and prizes were finalized and purchased.

Partnerships

The Silk Road Orientation would not have been successful without the many partnerships that were forged during the planning and implementation of the event. These partnerships not only helped to keep our budget low; they also brought attention to many university institutions.

The project began with the partnership between us and our funder, the Havighurst Center. While the Libraries and the Havighurst Center work together on a normal basis, these projects usually involve King Library, where Russian materials are housed. This partnership had positive consequences for both the Science Library and the Havighurst Center. Havighurst chose our orientation to be the kickoff event for Silk Road events in Fall 2005. This not only gave more "meaning" to the event outside the library; it also greatly helped us in advertising to members of the campus community. This event gave considerable publicity to the Silk Road initiative in general. Many who attended the event were not aware that such events were occurring on campus before our event. Furthermore, many indicated that they would attend other Silk Road events in the future as a result of attending our orientation.

Another important partnership included the departments that the Science Library and IMC serve. While fostering relationships with faculty is an important part of our job, we knew that we needed a strong impetus for students to attend the event. While prizes and food would attract some people, we knew that extra credit or required attendance would be important as well. The Engineering Librarian, who had been working with engineering/computer science faculty for months on methods to infuse information literacy into the introductory engineering curriculum, was able to secure required attendance for nearly 250 engineering and computer science first-year students. Required attendance for teacher education students also provided another 100 students. In addition, extra credit was offered by faculty teaching 12 other classes. While most of these classes were in the science and education disciplines, an anthropology professor also offered extra credit to students who attended the Silk Road Orientation.

Other campus partnerships helped the library secure additional content for the Silk Road event. For instance, the university geology museum shared gemstones to be displayed at the gemstones station. With assistance from a faculty presenter, the Miami University Art Museum displayed some Silk Road artifacts during the event. Additionally, the university's greenhouse provided numerous plants for the "reference oasis" station that featured reference services. This was an excellent way to bring attention to university institutions that are not readily known to first-year students, and helped to keep the decoration and display budget low.

A final partnership which deemed to be quite valuable was with vendors. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), mapping company ESRI, and Thomson Scientific were especially helpful in providing handouts and some additional prizes for the event. OhioLINK and the Havighurst Center also provided giveaway items.

Marketing

Once the event was scheduled, the committee began brainstorming ideas to market it to Miami faculty and students. In planning, the committee decided to stress three aspects of the orientation that were likely to draw in students. These included prizes, free food, and extra credit. The committee also decided that all marketing materials would be branded with the Silk Road orientation logo designed by the library's Outreach Office, and the Miami University Libraries logo.

The purpose of the Silk Road event was to introduce the library and its services to undergraduate students. A major initiative of the marketing plan included outreach to faculty in the related science and education programs. Science librarians and the IMC librarian contacted faculty teaching introductory-level courses in both programs. Faculty were encouraged to provide extra credit to students who attended the event. Several faculty went beyond extra credit and required attendance for all students in their classes. This was the most important aspect of the marketing plan. We now had a guaranteed audience of approximately 250 undergraduate students.

Recognizing the importance of free food to the college student, the committee decided early on that the orientation would need to include a food station. This station was featured prominently in all marketing materials. As an added incentive, the committee built a raffle into the day's event. Every student who visited five of the 10 stations was entered to win. Prizes included tickets to campus events, t-shirts, water bottles and pens. The committee realized the library would need a grand prize worthy of student attention. Two iPods were purchased and displayed prominently in the library several days before the event.

To get the word out, the library created several marketing tools. Thirty days before the event, a Silk Road countdown poster was displayed in the Science Library entrance. This poster highlighted major marketing points. As each day passed, the countdown was changed to reflect the upcoming event. The countdown poster sparked patron curiosity; circulation staff noted receiving questions about the countdown and the Silk Road.

The second marketing tool was a Silk Road blog. Using the Google-owned tool, Blogger, the Engineering Librarian created a blog to update students and faculty about the upcoming events. The blog provided a vehicle to announce speakers, highlight prizes, describe food to be served, and reminded students to check in with their professors about extra credit opportunities. The blog included a stat counter so the staff could keep track of the number of visitors. Nearly 250 people visited the blog in the weeks preceding the event, with 60 visitors on the day before the event. The blog supplemented other web-based advertising on the main library web site and subject specialist librarian web sites.

The committee also created a small flyer to place at public service points throughout the Science Library. In addition, students and staff working at circulation points were encouraged to place a flyer in each patron's materials. The committee also asked other university libraries to provide flyers to their patrons. The library web site and the electronic bulletin board located in the main library's lobby highlighted the event. The committee submitted information on online campus and community events calendars, prepared a press release for student and faculty newspapers published on campus, and sent an announcement to WMUB, an NPR affiliate housed on Miami's campus. Additionally, the Havighurst Center also provided publicity through its own announcements, publications, and press releases. On the day of the event, a large tent was erected early in the morning to garner interest from those visiting the library in the morning.

Implementation

The natural traffic patterns of the area were transformed into the actual Silk Road route. While silk or fabric had been considered as a way to denote the route, camel's feet (brown paper sprayed with textured paint) were just as effective and did not cause such a high safety concern. Eleven stations or outposts were spread throughout the lower three levels of the library. Each station contained at least one or two personnel who talked about the station and its significance to the library and/or the Silk Road. Each station had a script that gave an overview of the station and what to highlight for a one- to two-minute talk (an example script is in Appendix A). Depending on his/her familiarity with the topic, each person could then elaborate on the script.

A passport was the key document for the event, and it served a multitude of purposes (see Appendix B for example). For the library, it was an easy way to track attendance. For the attendees, it was a way to register for grand prizes and earn extra credit with one document. The inside of the passport contained descriptions of the stations and a place for a stamp once the station had been visited. Ten stations were included on the passport (the opening tent was not included since everyone automatically visited it upon entering). To be eligible for prizes, the attendee had to visit five of the ten stations and complete the assessment. Once this was accomplished, attendees proceeded to the "customs station" at the exit to the library. Customs station workers checked and verified passports, gave attendance certificates, and ensured that students filled out the back of the passport to be entered in a drawing for approximately 40 prizes, ranging from two iPod grand prizes to gift certificates to local merchants and various items from vendors.

Many stations also contained informational posters about the library service or Silk Road subject featured (an example of a poster is included in Appendix D). The following paragraphs describe the eleven stations, including the learning objectives for each.

Station 1: Welcome Station

A portable tent, in the tradition of a yurt, was positioned outside the main entrance to Brill Library. Student employee "ambassadors" welcomed attendees and handed them introductory information about the libraries such as the current year's "Guide to the Libraries." The tent also featured several posters that introduced visitors to the libraries, the Silk Road initiative and the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post Soviet Studies. At the welcome station, attendees were handed a passport that contained a listing of all the Silk Road stations. The welcome station also served as the last stop on the Silk Road orientation route. Here, students traded their passports for an extra credit certificate. The passport, with the student's contact information, was used to register the student eligible for grand prizes.