Hosting Art Exhibits to Enhance Student Engagement: A Case Study at a Commuter College

Abstract

A commuter campus library hosted an art exhibit in November 2019 to increase engagement levels of local high school and university students and to involve them in scholarly activities. The exhibit displayed student, faculty, and staff submissions on campus. The library space on campus features comfortable seating and desktop computers, with a collection robust with virtual holdings, but scant print volumes. Without physical print books, the library lacks the overt visual cues that can prompt students to seek out traditional library services. To increase student interactions, the librarians use outreach efforts to promote library services. Data collected via surveys from the event participants attempted to measure the impact that the event had on awareness of library services by participants.