How can a small college library encourage its undergraduate students to use the archives for research and to house student group records? Slides from a presentation by Elizabeth Andrews and Matthew Francis at the SUNY Librarians Association conference, June 2013.
4. LITERATURE
REVIEW
“It is interesting to note that
students are continually the
most important target group
for outreach. No one else
comes close” (18).
- Chute 2002
5. LITERATURE
REVIEW
Outreach
Activity
Participating
Respondents (%)
1 Presentations to classes or
groups inside the archives
87.1%
2 Exhibits 86.2%
3 Giving tours of the archives 85.3%
4 Presentations to classes or
groups outside the archives
(on/off campus)
82.8%
5 Brochures 80.2%
Top 5 Archives Outreach Activities:
table recreated from Chute 2002, p. 14.
7. GOAL: For undergraduates to
learn how the archives can
serve them.
Outcomes hoped for:
¡ Increased undergraduate
use.
¡ Increased student group
donations.
PLANNING OUR OUTREACH CAMPAIGN –
THE ARCHIVIST’S PERSPECTIVE
10. GAME
PLAN
1. Create an Undergraduate Archives
Research Award.
2. Increase student record donations.
3. Market the College Archives directly
to undergrads.
23. ASSESSMENT
Bring it to the Archives Week
• 7 total donations (5 during
event, 2 after)
• 5 new student groups
represented in the collection
24. ASSESSMENT
Student Research in the
College Archives
Academic Year Number of Visits
2010-2011 22
2011-2012 56
2012-2013 72
• 29% increase between last year and this year
• 32 unique users in 2012-2013
• 41% of students came twice (or more!)
25. ASSESSMENT
Student Research:
How did you hear about us?
• class/instructor + library (3)
• signage (1)
• library (3)
• library signage + word of mouth (1)
• class/instructor + word of mouth (1)
• word of mouth + self-referred (1)
• library + word of mouth (1)
• 4 unknown (e-mail contacts, no data gathering)
31% of visits prompted by the library,
library signage, or word of mouth!
28. WORKS
CITED
• Burckel, Nicholas C. “The Expanding Role of a College or
University Archives.” College and University Archives:
Selected Readings. Chicago: Society of American
Archivists, 1979.
• Chute, Tamar G. “What’s in a Name? Outreach vs. Basic
Services: a Survey of College and University Archivists.”
Journal of Archival Organization 1.2 (2002): 5-40.
• Swain, Ellen D. “Connecting Students of the Present, Past,
and Future: an Activist Approach to the Collection and Use
of Student Documents in the University Archives.” Journal
of Archival Organization 2.1/2 (2004): 39-54.
• Taylor, Anne et al. “College Students, Cookies and
Collections: Using Holiday Study Breaks to Encourage
Undergraduate Research in Special Collections.” Collection
Building 25.4 (2006): 145-149.
29. WORKS
CONSULTED
• Ericson, Timothy L. “Preoccupied With Our Own Gardens:
Outreach and Archivists.” Archivaria 31 (1990-1991):
114-122.
• Greene, Mark A. “Using College and University Archives as
Instructional Materials: a Case Study and an Exhortation.”
Midwestern Archivist 14.1 (1989): 31-38.
• Luedke, Jill E. and Sarah K. Laleman Ward. “It All Started
with a Button ...” Urban Library Journal 15.1 (2008): 1-8.
• Prom, Christopher J. and Ellen D. Swain. “From the College
Democrats to the Falling Illini: Identifying, Appraising, and
Capturing Student Organization Websites.” American
Archivist 70.2 (2007): 344-363.
30. CONTACT US
Matthew Francis
College Archivist, SUNY Potsdam
francimr@potsdam.edu
@archivingmatt
Elizabeth Andrews
User Services Librarian, SUNY Potsdam
andrewec@potsdam.edu
@eandrews