Cambridge University Libraries had a stand at the Freshers Fair last week and it was staffed by colleagues from the UL, faculty and department and also college libraries. We didn’t offer free pizza, free pancakes or free booze but we did give away lots of CamGuides postcards and pencils, and iDiscover bookmarks. We also had sweets!
Students did try to avoid eye contact but once we’d said “hello, we’re representing libraries at Cambridge”, we were greeted with various enthusiastic responses along the lines of “oh great, a relevant stand”. There was a mixed response in terms of students who had heard of and/or used CamGuides before they arrived in Cambridge but many students reported that college library inductions had mentioned the resource. The best comment I got was from a medical student – “CamGuides was the single most valuable place for advice about coming to Cambridge and what to expect”.
We are collecting feedback on CamGuides via an induction survey and also we would welcome any comments from students, library staff or others, just get in touch via email.
Written by Laura Moss.
