Pop-up library 13 September 2018 – organised by the Faculty Library for Humanities and Theology & Religion

A ‘pop-up library’ is currently one of the best outreach mechanisms available to the Library to reach  students outside the physical library and within their social sphere. It is the brainchild of our dedicated Marketing & Quality Assurance team member, Elsabe Olivier.

On 13 September, our team hosted the pop-up library for the second time this year. It was a sunny, busy day at the Piazza and the three-hour session passed quickly. Ours was the perfect location because there are usually many students about in the area.  Our fellow library colleagues helped us – from the Learning Centre, and the EBIT and Natural Sciences Faculty Libraries. Following a solid, well-established plan, we were able to reach many students, with a lot of enthusiasm, and to “sell” our library’s services. Lindiwe Soyizwapi, one of our Deputy Directors, also popped in for a chat.

A dedicated group of colleagues had come out from behind their office desks to man the pop-up Library, and we worked together as a library team. We connected with the students by explaining the library’s services and showing them the library app, and how easy it is to use.

Everyone loves competitions and free stuff!  We handed out a variety: chips, ice-cold cool drinks, mineral water, and (somewhat melted) chocolates, to the delight of the students.  Students could also enter a competition to win coffee vouchers. They could use their devices to scan the QR code and complete the entry online or fill in a printed entry form.

On the entry forms, students could also make comments and suggestions to improve the library’s services. We recommend that enough forms should be prepared beforehand, as we ran out of forms more than once, and had to delegate a runner to go and make more! This in itself is considered a good sign, as it seems we’ve found a way in which we can get the students to engage.