Open Dive Activity

For the Open Dive activity, participants were placed in groups and given one hour to explore themes which touched upon Diversity and Inclusion, Open Services and Spaces, Open Access and Resources and Open Teaching and Learning. Within these broad themes, participants were asked to choose a target population and delve deeper into one of the following topics:

Diversity and Inclusion

• Design a library outreach initiative, program, service or event to engage a specific student population.
• Design, address or implement an initiative to help promote and increase
• staffing diversity and inclusion in the library workplace.
• Design an online resource to help support or engage a specific student population.

Open Services and Spaces

• Design, address or implement an initiative or program to help promote and/or increase use of library spaces and resources by a new user group. Example: programming for children in evenings/on weekends to support mature students
• Conceptualize a service point (in-person or online) that improves an aspect of accessibility for library users. Example: Robarts Accessible Info Kiosk

Open Access and Resources

• Create an idea for a college Open Access journal and develop its editorial policy.
• Create a resource (video, library guide, online module, pamphlet, display, tutorial, etc.) to assist faculty unfamiliar with open resources.
• Create promotional material to encourage faculty to contribute to open resources (OERs, open textbooks, institutional repositories, etc.).

Open Teaching & Learning

• Explore the concept of open pedagogy and begin to conceptualize an initiative or program in relationship to the library.

The afternoon break was followed by an Open Browse. For the two 15 minutes, designated group members stayed behind at their tables to share their findings with others while the other group members browsed. After 15 minutes they switched places.

There were a lot of great discussions and ideas that came out of the Open Dive, and each group was encouraged to record their conversations on flip-chart paper or white boards with key takeaways, ideas, or questions for further exploration (see some of the images below). Some groups also summarized their findings in the Open Dive Google Doc which anyone is free to view.