The Collective at Sea 2024

Who else is tired of traditional library workshops? Based on low turnout, repetitive workshop offerings, and a general sense of being in a rut …it’s not just our patrons but also librarians who would welcome a new approach!

Plugging into our students’ need for quick and practical tips, MSU Librarians challenged the existing library workshop status quo and introduced “Pop-in Workshops.” Long prep times were replaced with the flexibility and excitement to try something new, based on librarian’s existing enthusiasm for relevant topics. One-hour workshops became 15 minutes. Long winded explanations became simple demonstrations of specific skills that attendees could immediately put to use. The standard basement classroom location was replaced with a high visibility first floor space. Join us to see how the MSU library hacked our library workshops and switched out our long-board (or long-bored) format of library workshops for a snappy overhaul, offering enthusiastic quick prep, more flexibility for patrons, and fast paced instruction fun.

In this session, we’ll share the smooth sailing and rough seas of implementing Pop-in Workshops at our library. We’ll guide you through a take-home worksheet, giving you time to brainstorm how to get your library on board, topics you could offer right away, and how to use this format to re-spark enthusiasm for library workshop instruction. A workshop about workshops… it’s all very meta. Jump into the deep end of library workshops with us and make new instructional waves at your library!