Owl About That? The use of animals to engage students with library services

Since 2015, Middlesex University holds a biannual Student Success Festival (SSF) that seeks to showcase support services from across the university in a fun and engaging way. The “festival” lasts a week and uses a variety of games, competitions and free gifts to engage with students and let them know where they can go to ask for help on a whole range of topics, from academic writing to wellbeing or employment issues. The event is popular and helps create a sense of community at the university. It takes place in the main University building, outside the library, to reach the largest number of students. The SSF is an important event as it gives an opportunity for library services to step outside the confines of the library building and become embedded within the cultural life of the university. It demonstrates that the institution values the support services and reinforces the message that the library is an important service the students should engage with. Leach & Zepke perspective on student engagement outlines ‘Engaged, proactive academic libraries that play a vital role on campuses are strong signals of an institution’s commitment to student engagement.