Who says adults can’t take field trips?!
Yesterday, my librarian colleagues here at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay visited St. Norbert College, the private institution in our area, to meet with their librarians. The library directors at UW-Green Bay and St. Norbert thought it would be a great way to collaborate, network, and exchange ideas. Plus, it beats the price of attending conferences!
So, if you’re looking for an easy and cheap alternative to networking: consider your colleagues at a library across town, or somewhere nearby! They need not be similar institutions. Ours is a public regional university with 6,000 students that was founded in the 1960s; theirs is a private Catholic college of 2,100 students founded in the late 1800s.
Meeting with the staff of another library is a great venue for sharing ideas, brainstorming, developing best practices, and getting a “view” that comes from outside your own library. We had a great discussion on library outreach, marketing, and social media activities. We’ll plan on getting together at least a couple of times of year.
One of the highlights during our visit was a tour the new St. Norbert library (opened in 2009). As a librarian, I don’t think I ever turned down a tour of a library! Here are some photos:
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- More Natural Light
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- More Natural Light
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- Classroom (can be scheduled for entire semester). Has lots of flexible furniture.
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- Group Study Room
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- Group Computing Area
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- Innovation Studio – tech space to support faculty & their teaching/learning
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- Library Instruction Lab
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- Natural Light
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- Library Quotes
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- All furniture is easily movable
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- Light – important for Wisconsin winters!
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- Comfy Seating
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- Reflection Lounge
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- Study Area
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- Computer Clusters
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- Study Carrel
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- Directional Signage
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- Information Desk Signage (Ref/Circ/Tech Help)
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- Information Desk Signage (Ref/Circ/Tech Help)
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- “Quick Help” Writing Center Desk, near Reference Area
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- Reference, Periodicals, Seating Area
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- Signage
Very nice. Field trips to network with other nearby librarians is a great idea.
[...] making the most of the experience. I also love this idea from Joe Hardenbrook, or Mr. Library Dude: Library field trips! It’s a mini-conference and networking session, all while checking out another library. What [...]