Open houses are a great way to introduce your services to your patrons, especially those who may not otherwise be regular visitors. Librarians at the Engineering Library on the Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus developed a tailored open house event to connect with the College of Engineering community and introduce patrons to the resources and services available in the library. The Engineering Library benefited greatly from these events, and students now feel more comfortable approaching librarians with questions. The open houses have also provided a way for the librarians to learn more about the needs of their faculty and students.-Editors W ith several libraries on the Pennsylvania State University's University Park campus, the Engineering Library can be easily missed. The library is one of four smaller branch libraries and occupies a top corner of a large College of Engineering building which makes it difficult for faculty, staff, and students to locate. In addition, historically, the College of Engineering community has considered themselves selfsufficient and use the library infrequently. Engineering researchers have "adapted quickly to the online environment and expect information to be on hand instantaneously."1 As a result, some users may be unaware of the resources and services available in the library. A solution to these problems was to develop a personalized approach to a standard open house event which catered to the distinctive needs of Engineering Library users. Specifically, the plan was to target an individual department in the College of Engineering and showcase the specific library resources that would be most relevant to that unit.There were three primary goals for the open house:1. To get students and faculty to the Engineering Library; 2. To introduce the students and faculty to their librarians; 3. To show students and faculty that librarians are available to help and support them.
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