ARLD Presentation

On Friday, April 25th, I had the privilege to co-present at ARLD Day. ARLD stands for Academic Research Libraries Division of MLA (Minnesota Library Association) . Emily O'Connor and I hosted a session entitled: Capturing the Captive Audience.

Summary (courtesy of the MLA blog):
Hundreds or thousands of students are wandering around campus who need your information about library resources & Information Literacy – so why do we have so few attendees at open workshops and programs? The speakers will discuss several marketing and incentive tactics, from posters to faculty collaborations, designed to increase attendance and improve the quality of library workshops and programs. The floor will be open for attendees to share questions and best practices.




This was my first time presenting at a library event in front of fellow academic librarians. Hopefully there will be many more.




Our topic was very well received. Many academic librarians had the same concerns about low attendance at open workshops. I spoke specifically about my success with hosting a workshop called APizzaA.





Rasmussen College uses APA citation style for ALL classes. Therefore, students are not switching back and forth from MLA, APA, Chicago, etc. This is librarian HEAVEN. Why? Because students learn 1 citation style throughout their academic career at Rasmussen. We have found that students struggle with citing their sources. Some students have difficulties with in-text citation, some struggle with reference page, and some have trouble showing the differences between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.




There is a need for a library workshop on this topic. I tried hosting a few library workshops called "APA Workshop." Does that workshop title make you Yawn? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Wake up! Barely anyone came to my "APA Workshop." I would email the student body.. paint the campus with signage.. and then I would have about 4 students show up for my workshop. I wanted to cry.




Then, everything changed. The name of my workshop evolved into APizzaA Workshop! Students were enticed by the pizza. APA + Pizza = FUN!

Now, you may be thinking- "Amy, the students were just attending for the FREE FOOD."

My reply, "DUH."




Let me tell you a little about myself... I am a self-proclaimed: Tough Love Librarian. I got the students in the door by providing pizza, BUT I made the students work! I prepared a PowerPoint instructing them how to do in-text citation, create a reference page, paraphrase/summarize/quote, and I had them all use our subscription citation tool: Noodlebib. So, before the students could get their paws on the pizza, they had to complete the task of creating a reference page from the tools that I had provided.




Other things that contributed to a successful workshop: collaboration with faculty and better marketing. I sent faculty printed reminders and email notices about my upcoming workshop, and they were extremely supportive about informing their students of the benefits of attending my workshop. I bombarded the students with signs, emails, advertisement on the student homepage and the student newsletter.

Now, I have done 2 APizzaA workshops, and I intend to do 1 every quarter. The name has a reputation, and I think that has really helped. APizzaA is now a staple on my campus.


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