C&RL News January 2020 10 Libraries have been successful at focusing their outreach efforts to users, but may not be as strong with communicating to their own staff. In recent years, libraries have acknowledged this siloed nature of their organizations, and have sought to break down barriers through a variety of methods. Meghan Kowalski recommended four strategies, one of which is sharing success “at meetings, through emails, or on bulletin boards.”¹ This article will focus on how two Syracuse University Libraries’ (SUL) staff members from different departments took success sharing one step further by applying a successful outreach tradition to an event that would celebrate staff achievements. Spring Fest was an event de- signed to convene library staff from across the organization to acknowledge combined efforts and embrace the value of community. Institutional context SUL supports the teaching and research needs of Syracuse University (SU) through the efforts of more than 200 employees, spread across a variety of physical spaces on and off campus. Bird Library houses the majority of staff and is host to several campus partners, including a stu- dent tutoring center, an entrepreneurial inno- vation space, an undergraduate research space, and is currently the temporary home of the LGBTQ and Multicultural Affairs offices. Staff in each department are charged with sup- porting student success in a variety of ways. Because each effort takes a varying amount of time, staff members seldom have the op- portunity to learn from each other, celebrate accomplishments, and share challenges. How we came up with the idea Every year, SUL hosts Welcome Fest, showcas- ing the staff, services, and spaces in the librar- ies for the wider SU community. This is a fun, collaborative effort representing contributions from nearly all units within SUL.² While work- ing the event, we noticed that we are good at promoting our services to users, and won- dered why there was no similar event for in- ternal success sharing between departments. The only events that give all staff the oppor- tunity to come together are the dean’s State of the Libraries addresses that are delivered each fall and spring. These addresses allow the dean to outline the strategic priorities for SUL, and include a small portion of time for celebration of individual library successes. While staff are given the opportunity to submit questions and feedback for the dean to address, there is little time for us to talk to each other informally as a community. We saw an opportunity to trans- form the spring address into a more inclusive, celebratory occasion, and chose to use the “Welcome Fest” format as a pilot model. Planning the event In January 2019, we successfully pitched the idea of Spring Fest to our dean of libraries. We put out a call for proposals using a LibWiz- Kelly Delevan and Natalie LoRusso Library outreach as a model for staff inreach A method for sharing success Kelly Delevan is information literacy librarian, email: kkdeleva@syr.edu, and Natalie LoRusso is reference and user experience librarian, email: nclorus@syr.edu, at Syracuse University Libraries © 2020 Kelly Delevan and Natalie LoRusso mailto:kkdeleva%40syr.edu?subject= mailto:nclorus%40syr.edu%20?subject= January 2020 11 C&RL News ard form, and encouraged all units to consider participating. Individuals or groups from any unit could create posters, handouts, or other creative displays that the rest of the SUL com- munity could explore during an afternoon in the spring semester. We reserved the largest space in the library and began to communicate the idea to the entire staff through multiple announcements on the organization’s listserv. We recognized that the event could not happen without staff involvement across all units, so we relied on administrative buy-in. Having the dean’s sup- port was crucial but we also needed unit man- agers and department heads to be on board. We presented our idea at a SUL management team meeting and were successful in gathering support. Submissions trickled in at first, but ultimately ended up in- cluding proposals from all units. In addition, three of our library part- ners signed up to table at the event to market their services. Running the event Spring Fest was decorated and catered with the theme in mind, including fresh flowers and colorful festoons. To keep with the fes- tive atmosphere, we planned to raffle off the fresh flower decorations at the conclusion of the event. We estimated that attendance was at or near full capacity (75 people) for the two-hour duration. There were stations representing a variety of units across SUL, including Access and Resource Sharing, Ac- quisitions and Cataloging, Learning Com- mons, Preservation, Program Management, Research and Scholarship, Special Collec- tions, and University Records Management. Apart from brief opening remarks from the dean, we kept the event informal so individuals could come and go as their schedules allowed. Attendees viewed a wide variety of creativ- ity and ingenuity on display in many of the projects. Among them were a group from Acquisitions and Cataloging who created their own version of the “Chutes and Ladders” game to explain the tricky acquisitions process. Members from the Belfer Audio Archive and Special Collections curated an incredible set of rare archival materials that would rarely been seen outside of their secure spaces. The Access and Resource Sharing team com- piled a video examin- ing the lifecycle of a book. A library techni- cian from Acquisitions and Cataloging made a tabletop display to showcase a series of interesting items found in returned books. Librarians from the Learning Commons department reported on the increase in vir- tual reference interac- tions following the implementation of pro- active chat. More than 25 posters, tabletop displays, and videos were shared in a fes- tive environment that inspired the dean to remark that “a new spring tradition had been born.” Assessing the event We created a brief survey to solicit participants’ thoughts and reactions to the event. Attendees were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with the Spring Fest event as a whole on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “excellent” and 1 being “poor.” They were also asked to share their favorite and least favorite aspects of the event, and if they would attend another Spring Fest event in the future. When asked about the overall quality of the event, 92% of respondents ranked the event at “excellent” or “above average.” Attendees were Spring Fest “Chutes and Ladders” game covering the acquisitions process. C&RL News January 2020 12 impressed with the way an environment was created that enabled “a sense of community, connection with other library departments, and a sense of celebration.” One respondent who usually works eve- nings and weekends said, “This was a great way for me to find out what my colleagues who work regular business hours have been working on.” The only negative feedback concerned the need for a larger space. Respondents noted that the room (despite being the largest reservable room in the library) was crowded and difficult to maneuver. Finally, 95% of respondents said they were “very likely” or “likely” to attend another Spring Fest event. Increased collaboration While the main goal of Spring Fest was to foster communication across the organization, an unexpected collaboration emerged, as well. During the event, the director of the libraries’ Digital Library Program approached us individu- ally and suggested that we consider digitizing Spring Fest projects for SURFACE, our institu- tional repository. Since the event, we have met with individu- als from multiple departments to begin collabo- rating on a workflow for archiving and digitizing both past and future Spring Fest projects. We view this collaboration as an added bonus. Implications for other libraries We believe this model can be applied in any library context. The most important aspect is encouraging participation from all units of your library. In our case, we believe the novel- ty of our event contributed to the wide partici- pation throughout the libraries in the first year. In order to keep the energy flowing from year to year, we will need to invest the time and re- sources into designing a sustainable model for implementation, delivery, and improvement. We recommend assembling a team similar to that of the Welcome Fest committee, which has an established workflow and has demonstrated success throughout the years. This committee includes coordinators who shepherd a rotating group of members through the process, which includes creating marketing and assessment communications, space coordination, catering, and serving as ambassadors throughout the year. Because Spring Fest is geared toward success sharing among the libraries, there is an opportunity to preserve staff projects year after year. This way, employees past, present, and future can partake in the knowledge transfer and accomplishments of their colleagues. In our case, we are in the process of building this collection with our Open Publish- ing unit, and suggest that other libraries consider similar collaborations. Conclusion We believe Spring Fest was a successful effort to turn outreach inward. Attendees frequently said they were impressed with the level of participation, celebratory atmosphere, and creative quality of proj- ects displayed across all units in SUL. Many employ- ees said that they enjoyed learning about the an- nual highlights of different library departments and services that are not traditionally reported across the libraries. Further, a number of attendees enjoyed the opportunity to mingle and catch up with their co- workers in an informal academic setting. One person said their favorite thing about Spring Fest was the “chance to see what others have been working on! We don’t usually get enough exposure to other departments’ activi- ties, so this was really interesting.” We look forward to continuing this new spring tradition of success sharing. This is one method for breaking down silos in academic libraries, and we encourage other organizations to adapt this structure for their own contexts. Notes 1. Meghan Kowalski, “Breaking Down Silo Walls: Successful Collaboration Across Library Departments,” Library Leadership and Manage- ment 31:2 (2017), https://journals.tdl.org/llm /index.php/llm/article/view/7202. 2. For more information on Syracuse Uni- versity Libraries’ Welcome Fest, see our Flickr Page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/syracuse- learningcommons/albums/72157694986491050 and the Spring Fest Flickr Page at https://www. flickr.com/photos/syracuselearningcommons /albums/72157704633734092. https://journals.tdl.org/llm/index.php/llm/article/view/7202 https://journals.tdl.org/llm/index.php/llm/article/view/7202 https://www.flickr.com/photos/syracuselearningcommons/albums/72157694986491050 https://www.flickr.com/photos/syracuselearningcommons/albums/72157694986491050 https://www.flickr.com/photos/syracuselearningcommons/albums/72157704633734092 https://www.flickr.com/photos/syracuselearningcommons/albums/72157704633734092 https://www.flickr.com/photos/syracuselearningcommons/albums/72157704633734092