NCLA Con 2025

Jane McGonigal's keynote address at the 2014 ALA Annual Conference detailing a successful collaboration with the New York Public Library (NYPL) to create a game celebrating NYPL's Centennial inspired a group of academic librarians to create a camp to challenge, engage, and support student writers. The inaugural Camp achieved three outcomes/objectives: engage students in a fun and scholarly activity; showcase the library's Special Collections and Archives (SCA); and the publication of a book, cataloged with participants as authors whose work will be housed in the library's permanent collection. The camp continues to appeal to and serve a diverse group of student writers, giving them a platform for their work and an opportunity to share their work. The librarians believed hosting an intellectually stimulating and creative outreach event with an individual-based component could potentially attract and engage a different audience of students, ones who prefer smaller groups and/or individual, reflective activities. Writing skills are relevant to every discipline of study and to virtually all chosen career paths. Any opportunity to write is an opportunity to become a better writer and to do so without the pressure and/or worry of a grade and negative comments. The creative aspect allowed students to write without restriction in whatever form they chose (e.g., poetry, short stories, essays), to work independently, and to explore and use the library as a place to self-express. It also allowed students to meet and network with others outside their area of study and their usual group of friends. This presentation will chronologically outline the four creative writing camps hosted by the university library beginning in 2016. The evolution and subsequent streamlining of camps will be discussed with a focus on these elements of the planning process: funding/partners, marketing, application submission and review, event preparation, pre-and post-event activities, editing and publication, and post-event survey/feedback.Turning the writers' camp concept into an actionable goal was no small feat as resources, both financial and human, from cross-campus partners were necessary. The first camp was the most challenging, but rewarding because the event concept was proven sound and became the basis for subsequent camps. The librarians made multiple changes thereafter, such as making this a biennial event. We incorporated student feedback so that successive camps met students' needs and interests with available resources. An important theme of this presentation will be the value of flexibility and continued innovation. Learning Outcomes: Participants will explore the experiential learning possibilities of creating their own Writers' Camp event or similar program. Participants will be able to develop a model for a creative writing event and specifically adapt it to fit their community's needs. Participants will receive practical suggestions on logistical elements involved in establishing and implementing a one-time writing event.