Library Lights Out. A creative collaboration between the library, students, and university housing
| Pages | 192-208 |
| Date | 08 August 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-09-2015-0018 |
| Published date | 08 August 2016 |
| Author | Justin L. Otto,Qing H. Meade,Jeffrey L. Stafford,Patricia Wahler |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Records management & preservation,Information repositories |
Library Lights Out
A creative collaboration between the library,
students, and university housing
Justin L. Otto and Qing H. Meade
John F. Kennedy Library, Eastern Washington University, Cheney,
Washington, USA
Jeffrey L. Stafford
Department of Communication Studies, Eastern Washington University,
Cheney, Washington, USA, and
Patricia Wahler
Eastmont School District, East Wenatchee, Washington, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of Library
Lights Out, an annual collaboration between the library and Housing & Residential Life at Eastern
Washington University (EWU). This creative outreach program features collaborative educational and
recreational activities, is a cost-sharing partnership and serves to further the organizational goals of
both the library and Housing & Residential Life.
Design/methodology/approach – The John F. Kennedy Library at EWU was initially approached
by Housing & Residential Life with the idea for an overnight event in the library, which became Library
Lights Out. Student participants in this event spend the night in the library and participate in a variety
of educational, team-building and fun programs, such as a library resources scavenger hunt and
“capture the ag” in the library stacks. Library Lights Out has become an annual event funded
primarily by Housing & Residential Life, facilitated by the library and driven by students.
Findings – Library Lights Out has been a successful partnership that benets the library, students
and Housing & Residential Life.
Originality/value – This paper adds to the limited body of literature on academic library outreach to
residence halls by highlighting three unique aspects of Library Lights Out. First, it is a cost-sharing
partnership which was initiated by Housing & Residential Life and not by the library. Second, it occurs
in the library and not in the residence halls, unlike most library outreach to residence halls. Finally, it is
an overnight sleepover event with a combination of an educational program and recreational activities
and games.
Keywords Budget, Games, Collaboration, Academic libraries, Residence halls, Sleepover
Paper type Case study
Introduction
In recent years, academic libraries have begun to place greater emphasis on building
relationships and conducting outreach with other entities, such as university housing,
as a way to grow awareness of the library and demonstrate its value within the
university community. In most cases, it is the library that initiates these collaborative
outreach relationships. But in the case of Eastern Washington University (EWU), it was
Housing & Residential Life (Residential Life) that approached the library with the idea
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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DLP
32,3
192
Received 14 September 2015
Revised 25 November 2015
Accepted 25 November 2015
DigitalLibrary Perspectives
Vol.32 No. 3, 2016
pp.192-208
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2059-5816
DOI 10.1108/DLP-09-2015-0018
for a collaborative educational and recreational program that became known as Library
Lights Out (also known as Lights Out). Lights Out is an annual overnight sleepover in
the library for students living in the scholar’s oors of EWU’s residence halls. Lights
Out combines educational activities with a variety of recreational games and programs
to produce a fun and educational event.
The event, which has occurred for six consecutive years, benets everyone involved.
It brings recognition to the library and Residential Life from the university’s
administration. It is a productive collaboration that fosters a sense of community among
students and promotes a stronger connection between them and the library. It also
provides student resident advisors with an opportunity to develop their leadership and
project management skills. This article describes the development and implementation
of Library Lights Out, how costs are shared, how it serves as a leadership opportunity
for students, how the event serves the organizational goals of both the library and
Housing & Residential Life and the lessons learned.
Literature review
In recent years, there has been a movement in academic libraries to reach out to students
where they live through collaboration with university housing, which shares the
library’s goal of supporting the academic success of students. A review of recent
literature reveals a variety of ways in which libraries have approached these
partnerships. Librarians have worked with university housing to develop eye-catching
posters and brochures that promote the library to dormitory residents (Cummings,
2007). The library and university housing have worked together on programs in which
it is the residence hall staff and student residents who primarily provide the library
outreach, such as a program that relies on peer training (Rudin, 2008) or one in which
library orientations are provided for residence hall staff in the hope that they will
increase their knowledge of library resources and, in turn, advocate for the library with
their residents (Barnes and Peyton, 2006). Librarians themselves have also been active
in outreach in the residence halls, both through established reference service hours in
residence halls (Hines, 2007) and by offering information literacy sessions for freshmen
in the residence halls (Riehle and Witt, 2009). However, these types of library outreach
efforts have met with mixed success because students who reside in residence halls can
perceive librarians in their personal living space to be “intruders” (Rudin, 2008).
Most recently, to build a sense of trust and foster a closer relationship with
dormitory residents, librarians became fully embedded in residence halls by living
among the students. A librarian at the University of Oklahoma had the opportunity
to live in the residence halls and developed extensive library and educational
programming for freshmen students (Strothmann and Antell, 2010). Similarly, a
Residential Life librarian at the University of Illinois lived in the residence halls and
participated in the daily lives of students, while exploring possibilities for outreach
(Long, 2011). Additionally, the University of Oregon Libraries developed a small
residence hall library, the Library Commons, in the University’s Global Scholars
Hall. A librarian was appointed to manage the library commons, and, while the
librarian did not live in the dormitories, it was their full-time responsibility to
provide outreach to the students in the Global Scholars Hall and the surrounding
residence halls (Tran, 2013).
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Library Lights
Out
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