Every summer since 2016, I have been involved in staffing and organizing of the Biomedical Library's Medical Student Information Fair, which is geared towards first year medical students. In 2016 along with an intern, I gathered donated items from neighboring eateries and shops to raffle during the event.
During Summer 2016, I was a part of a team of 4 library staff members who planned various library-oriented programs during New Student Orientation (NSO) week for over 2,000 incoming students. My main responsibilities included gathering information about various outreach activities that departmental libraries participate in during NSO. While providing input for library orientation programs, I planned the first annual Libraries Showcase, an event where each library has a table to showcase various services and cool things they provide.
While I coordinated the inaugural Penn Libraries Showcase event, I also organized the STEM Libraries table from set up to staffing to clean up. I designed a poster, which includes a map to showcase the locations of the STEM Libraries in relation to the event location as well as STEM librarians, the contact information, and subject areas. I also designed a STEM Libraries banner. I recruited fellow science librarians and interns to assist me in staffing the table.
Since 2016, I have enjoyed staffing the Penn Libraries table during the Student Services Expo, an multi-day event, where incoming students and parents learn about the various campus resources provided at Penn.
Each summer since 2017, I have been invited to a panelist during Q&A sessions during the NSO Penn Libraries Showcase. Following NSO, I attend the engineering graduate student orientation to greet first year master and graduate students at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. I also make an effort to visit as many cultural resource center events during NSO to meet with students who identify as people of color, LGBTQ, and First Generation/Low Income (FGLI).
In my subsequent position as the Community Health & Engineering Librarian, I served the Science Libraries representative on the 2018 Penn Libraries NSO & Fall Events Planning Team and hope that I am asked to continue my involvement in outreach to new students each year until I transitioned into my position as the Health Literacy Librarian in 2022.