The Faculty-in-Residence Program at OU “Effective learning environments blur boundaries between classroom and out-of-class experiences, making learning a more seamless process. Residence halls are the place to make this happen.”

The Antell-Riggs FIR Family

Home Sweet Dorm! This ain’t the dorm room I lived in during college!

The Alphabet Soup of Housing Governance CC – Center Coordinator RD – Resident Director PA – Programming Assistant RA’s – Resident Assistants PC’s – President’s Council HCSA – Housing Center Student Association

Programming Requirements for Housing Staff RA’s – 16 programs per semester, with at least one in each category Community Building Healthy Lifestyles Multicultural Community Service Faculty-in-Residence Adopt-A-Faculty Intellectual Discussions Academic Success

Library Programs in the Dormitories: “Intellectual Discussions” “When Books are Outlawed, only Outlaws Will Read Books: A Conversation in Observance of Banned Books Week” A highly successful program – about 50 participants Guest speaker from library school Display of 100 challenged books Discussion – has your favorite book been banned?

Library Programs in the Dormitories: “Intellectual Discussions” “African American Fiction Book Club” A not-so-successful program – a good idea that I didn’t implement well Students and parents loved the idea Students did not have the time or energy to read for pleasure during the first few months of their freshman year Might try this again in the Spring with better planning

Library Programs in the Dormitories: “Academic Success” “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Bizzell Library” Mixed success Library tour followed by refreshments and discussion Students are somewhat reluctant to give up an evening for a library tour

Library Programs in the Dormitories: “Academic Success” “Research Rescue” Highly successful event One-on-one help with library research, using laptops and wireless internet connections in the dorm social lounge

Bringing the library into the dorm... through the magic of laptops and wireless internet. Research Rescue, April 2004

Librarian Twila helps Jennifer and her friend with a paper. Research Rescue, April 2004

The Momentum of Successful Relationships with Housing Staff Housing staff members have started coming to me with requests for programming and instruction Headlands summer institute for Native American pre-med students Informal instruction sessions and reference requests, both in and out of the library “Cookies & Milk Story Hour”

The “children” gather in their pajamas to hear the story. “Cookies & Milk” Storytime with “Mama Liz,” Fall 2003

A Few Random Ideas for Future Programs Program on avoiding plagiarism Instruction on specific databases (using the Housing computer lab) Information literacy instruction

The Live-In Librarian’s Tips for Taking the Library to the Dorms Find out the structure of Housing governance at your college or university – especially who is responsible for programming Find out the staff’s programming requirements

The Live-In Librarian’s Tips for Taking the Library to the Dorms (con’t) Pay a visit to the dormitories on a weekday evening. Check out the spaces, the technology, the “traffic flow.” Eat a meal in the cafeteria. (Really!)

The Live-In Librarian’s Tips for Taking the Library to the Dorms (con’t) Offer ideas to the staff who do programming, but accept lots of input from them They know their residents – so they are in the best position to know what content, format, and time of day is most likely to result in a successful program

The Live-In Librarian’s Tips for Taking the Library to the Dorms (con’t) Always include food! Use all available publicity avenues – flyers, press releases to the campus newspaper, lists, website announcements Let your housing “partner” help with publicity inside the building – flyering, making posters, word-of-mouth