Director of Community Outreach University of Texas at Arlington
This poster will detail the process of establishing an experiential learning based K-12 outreach program for academic libraries. The poster will detail how to expand services from a simple tour to a whole field trip experience for groups. Information about reaching out, what groups to reach out to and how to communicate your program's goals and learning objectives will also be included. Field trip ideas will include low-budget activities as well as activities using a Makerspace. Information about establishing partnerships within the library- including Special Collections trips and Makerspace focused trips will be detailed. Included on the poster will be information about the library summer camp and day camps. This K-12 program has had thousands of kids participate in its two years here at UTA Libraries and other libraries can choose to implement it on their campuses without a dedicated K-12 Librarian. This poster will provide a blueprint for starting a K-12 field trip program at an academic library from scratch.