In the summer of 2021, the Head of Reference and Instruction Services (RIS) at the Paul V. Galvin Library at the Illinois Institute of Technology reached out to the university’s First Year Experience Program (FYE) coordinator about a potential collaboration. One of the goals of the FYE program is to introduce incoming students to campus resources, services, and support so an introduction to the library seemed like a good fit.

Study Week and Finals Week can be a hectic time for everyone on college and university campuses. At Illinois Institute of Technology’s Paul V. Galvin Library we remain open 24 hours a day for 12 days straight during this period. It’s become a rite of passage for some of our students, individually or in groups, to study all night in the library at least once during their time with the university. In addition to providing our regular library services the last two weeks of the semester, we also offer de-stress activities for students using the space.

Northern Illinois University has just released its 2022 entry for #ColorOurCollections, an annual social media festival hosted by the New York Academy of Medicine Library between February 7-11, during which libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural institutions around the world share free coloring content featuring images from their collections.

Do you need help demonstrating the value of your library to different stakeholders? Want to know what to say to justify the need for continued/increased library funding or staffing? Would you like to attract new library users? Want advice on how to promote the library’s role in identifying fake news or why libraries are needed more than ever in the internet age?