Sometimes there isn’t time to visit other libraries or meet other librarians—but then a chance presents itself.  Three Dayton area libraries saw an opportunity to visit one another as a way to introduce new (and veteran) librarians to nearby academic libraries as well as share expertise.  Some of the librarians from Sinclair Community College, University of Dayton (UD) and Wright State University (WSU) gathered two different days during the summer of 2019.

Both UD and WSU recently completed remodeling/redesign projects. The tours allowed everyone to be among the first to see new furniture and new spaces in both libraries.

As we were planning the gatherings, we realized that we didn’t need to limit ourselves to just a tour of spaces.  So we decided to include a show and tell time as well as an opportunity for librarians with similar subject area responsibilities to have time for conversations.

At Wright State, Mandy Shannon arranged a show and tell session that highlighted instruction activities. In addition to the three Dayton institutions, librarians from Capital University, Wittenberg University and Miami University joined. Each librarian had 5 – 10 minutes to demonstrate an instruction activity while those in the audience took the part of students.  There was discussion after each demonstration as participants asked questions and added details about their own twists on similar activities.

At University of Dayton, Heidi Gauder planned a show and tell session about instruction assessment.  Again, each librarian had time to explain assessment activities that have been tried.  These were followed by audience discussion and provided a time for everyone to share concerns and successes while gaining insights from colleagues.

At each session, the group broke up into smaller groups of librarians by subject areas – humanities, STEM, and social sciences.  Each group held its own discussion about topics of interest to them.

Everyone came away feeling it was time well spent and that we increased the collegiality among our libraries and our schools in a relatively inexpensive yet efficient way.

–Julie McDaniel, C2YCLIG Co-Chair, Sinclair Community College
–Mandy Shannon, Wright State University
–Heidi Gauder, University of Dayton