Kia ora koutou, welcome to Inside Out #15
Te Rua Makerspace
Crafternoon packs are small packs of crafting supplies with the aim to be a fun study break activity of around 15 minutes, paired with a Weekly challenge, and/or Zoom Crafternoon for something more social. As soon as she heard of many isolating students in the halls, our Engagement and Learning Librarian Jessica contacted Accommodation Services to see if they would like Crafternoon packs for their isolating students. This is a great opportunity for us to work together to improve the well being of students. Since then this developed into a more coordinated approach – involving Student Care, Accommodation services who provided some of the funding and finding people to help package, and Student Volunteer Army who organised volunteers to help pack 500 crafting packs, which were delivered last week, with other items to students in the halls that are isolating in their rooms. 300 more will be packed next week for those isolating at homes and flats, which will be dropped off by SVA.
Herea tō waka/O’Day
UC Puna welcomed students for Herea tō waka/O’Day on Friday 18th February. The events team set up a self-service information table on level 2 of PJH with handy resources for students to browse and collect as they ventured into the library. 1 of 5 branded UC hoodies were up for grabs to students who entered the Puna passport challenge (visit all 3 libraries + Te Rua Makerspace to collect the 4 unique stickers). It was a successful day with many engagement opportunities.
Summer Starter Expo
Last week we represented UC Puna at the UCSA Summer Starter Expo. We had our stall set up with library info brochures, Puna passports, Te Rua invitations, badges that were made in Te Rua, plus more. We also had our newly designed UC Puna banner and our very eye-catching Te Rua Makespace flag. Over the day we engaged with 85+ students, while hyping up our current promotions (the Puna passport challenge and the ‘UC Library 101’ Kahoot quiz) – as well as promoting our key library services.
Pride Week (11-27 March)
We will use the large billboards between the lifts in PJH to display Pride posters, and we have a selection of Pride books and colourful Pride bookmarks. We will also use our social media channels to promote pride e.g. inclusive posts, and updating temporary Pride profile and cover pictures for the week.
Library puzzle of the week
We are bringing back our popular ‘Library puzzle of the week’ segment on our Facebook page. The first puzzle will be in the style of the popular ‘4 pics 1 word’ smartphone game, so stay tuned!
UC Library Basics 101’ Kahoot quiz
We are finalising our ‘UC Library Basics 101’ Kahoot quiz which is part of the Orientation induction for new-to-UC students, which will go live very shortly! The Kahoot has a variation of essential library-related information so students can get to know the Libraries even if they’re isolating or unable to study on campus. Plus, this makes learning about the Libraries fun and engaging! To give incentive, UC branded hoodies are up for grabs for the top two players!
Te 
Pātaka
Canopy around the staircase went up over the weekend, the construction faced with delivery delay challenges is in its final stage. Albeit overwhelming long queues in the first week, the number of enquiries at Te Pātaka reception desk increased by 600+ for the month of February, compared to last year when the desk was located in Matariki. Its visibility in PJH likely contributed to this success. More collaborations have been seen across the desks and floors in Te Pātaka. Positive feedback have been sent by new students and their parents:
I just wanted to write a short email to sincerely thank you for your understanding, compassion and help…
We spoke last week …. so after all my tears, everything worked out… So thankful for your help last week and reassurance, I’m glad I could get it all done…
Ngā mihi
Tomo