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Outreach Group

Outreach Group Minutes
September 20, 2012
1:30-3:00 pm
LIB 428

Present : Sarah Brown, Nancy Collins (Chair),  Alex Dyck, Marian Davies, Eva Dodsworth, Patrick Miller, Jamie Reilly, Eljos Samara, Laurie Strome

Regrets: Esther Millar, Sara Perkins

  1. Welcome and Introductions
    The group welcomed its new members:
    • Jamie Reilly
    • uWaterloo co-op students Alex Dyck and Eljos Samara
    • Western MLIS co-op students Patrick Miller and Sarah Brown


  2. Overview of Outreach for new members
    Nancy provided an overview of Outreach:
    • Terms of reference
    • Membership
    • Types of activities in recent years

  3. Events – Past and Upcoming
    • Past events: 
      • New Faculty Event – Wednesday, September 5 from 10:30am to 11:15am in RCH 308. Jennifer and Annie staffed this event. It went well, although the set up was awkward (the Library’s booth was on a stage, which was awkward for talking to faculty). Nancy has passed along feedback for next year.
      • Super Services Event for new Dons - Thursday, August 30 from 10:30am –12:00pm in Village 1. Laurie and Nancy staffed this event. It was successful and they received a lot of great feedback from the Dons (upper-year students) about the Library.

    • Upcoming events:

      • Services Fair for Students – Monday, September 27 from 11am-2pm in the SLC. This event is for all students. It is usually held at the start of the term during Orientation Week, but the Student Success Office has pushed it back this year, as part of their “first six weeks” program. Laurie has plenty of volunteers for this event.


  4. Buttons Campaign
    • It’s official: The student-designed buttons are a hit!  All locations have run out of the first two designs. http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/buttons/
    • We will continue with the staggered distribution throughout the term, alternating designs every 3 weeks.
    • Sarah Martin is coordinating with casual staff to continue punching buttons.

  5. Library Day
    • All library locations will be participating in Library Day this year. Nancy will coordinate with the various locations about how they will get their food etc.
    • Food:
      • Carolyn will coordinate ordering apples (13 bushels), cookies, cider.
      • Eva and Jamie (and possibly Nancy) will pick up the apples.
    • Geospatial Centre activities:
      • Eva updated the group on the activities that the Geospatial Centre is planning for Library Day. Activities include:
        • Photo shoot of students in front of green screen, then photo-shopping  image within any location of choice . Picture/ image will then be e-mailed to students as time permits.
        • Minimal decorating of the GC as a haunted house, i.e. cob-webs on the map cabinets, maybe some jack- o – lanterns
        • 4 sets of historical air-photos laid out for students to guess the location
        • GIS computer screen displaying Google Earth loop of graveyards/ tombstone scary scenes – i.e. u-tube video of staff dressed up in scary costume promoting G.C.
        • Maps on the display screen of some scary maps created in GIS
    • Signage. We need signage to draw people up to the Geospatial Centre during Library Day. The group decided to use balloons leading to the Geospatial Centre with longitude/latitude values. We will also include signage in the elevators (either around the button for the 3rd floor or on the floor ticker.
    • Communications. Nancy will contact Library staff next week, to alert them of Library Day and encourage them to dress up. Laurie will follow with an email to solicit volunteers. Nancy will draft a communications plan for Library Day.
    • Laurie will get plastic latex-free gloves for food servers to wear during Library Day.
    • A count-down to Library Day ticker was suggested for the Library’s homepage.

     

  6. Outreach – future directions
    • Nancy reviewed Outreach members’ answers to the following questions:
      • What are 3 things you like about Outreach?
      • What are 3 things that Outreach could improve on?
      • Do you have any other comments, ideas, suggestions?
    • Answers for the first two questions clustered around these themes:
      • What are 3 things you like about Outreach?
        • We’re a great team!
        • We’re focused on students
        • We have a library-wide focus
        • We create opportunities to connect (events, networking etc.)
      • What are 3 things that Outreach could improve on?
        • We need to reach out more to Library staff
        • We need to reach out more to campus groups and departments
        • We need to get organized
    • In coming months, Outreach will be looking at how we can make the necessary improvements listed above, while also continuing to generate and execute new ideas and initiatives.
Outreach Group


June 12, 2013