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Fox @ the Fireside
Using Strategic Marketing & Outreach 
to Foster Authentic Scholarly 
Conversations in the Library
Sarah Stevenson, Research & Instruction Librarian 
George Fox University & Portland Seminary

This session highlights the strategic marketing, intentional outreach 
through liaisons, and event planning that went into developing “Fox @ 
the Fireside,” shares about the program, and invites conversations about 
other opportunities that might exist for libraries to host and engage in 
scholarly discussions around campus. Fox @ the Fireside is an event 
hosted by the George Fox University librarians each semester, designed 
to showcase the intellectual and creative output of a campus commu-
nity member or group (student, staff, faculty) and invite the university 
community to participate in conversation centered around a topic of 
campus-wide interest. Past programs have showcased art, books, and 
even LEGO® creations! Through this event, we have created a hospi-
table, inviting, inclusive space for conversation that furthers the library’s 
mission to be a place for holistic connection, innovative creation, and 
authentic contribution.

Poster available at: https://sched.co/NqxX

IDEATION

In 2017, the George Fox University Libraries welcomed a new dean. 
The library went through a staff reorganization process and revised 
the mission and vision statements. Our new mission is to be a place for 
holistic connection, innovative creation, and authentic contribution. This 
new strategic direction prompted us to do some internal reflection: 

https://sched.co/NqxX


236  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

• How do we engage and direct our community towards connec-
tion, creation, and contribution? 

• How can we showcase intellectual output of our amazing 
students, staff, and faculty?

We developed the Fox @ the Fireside program with the vision of 
creating space for the community to come together, connect, learn 
about the work of someone in the community, and discuss a topic 
of interest. We wanted to foster scholarly conversations in a “town 
square” space, and the library fireside—an open, central spot in the 
library—was the perfect location! We also hoped this event would 
address two common perceptions:

• The library is only a storehouse of books and quiet place to 
study. 

• Librarians are purveyors of books and keepers of silence. 

PLANNING AND LOGISTICS

We launched a pilot in April 2018 to test out the event model in 
the library space. After a successful launch, I created the 2018–19 
academic year’s program, scheduling three speakers. As part of this 
process, I created two checklists for library event planning:

Pre-Event Checklist:
• Check possible event dates with campus calendars and other 

partners
• Arrange and confirm speakers
• Order coffee and treats from campus caterer
• Arrange additional furniture/technology with Event Services 

and Information Technology
• Write event messaging for website and all marketing outlets
• Add event to library calendar (we use LibCal)
• Share event messaging with Academic Affairs, campus news, 

and other partners
• Design, print, distribute posters and digital posters (slides) 

for campus monitors
• Design and schedule social media posts
• Create in-library directional signage for the event



Poster  237

• Create LibGuide (if applicable)
• Purchase speaker’s books (if applicable)
• Gather speaker biography introduction and picture for 

marketing purposes
• The host librarian should meet with speaker to discuss format 

and event outline
• Create event feedback survey for participants

Day of Event Checklist:
• Post room reservation signs and directional signage (if appli-

cable)
• Arrange furniture one hour before event
• Meet caterer for set up
• Post getting ready (hype-building) posts on social media 

before event starts
• Get water for speaker and help them get ready
• Greet attendees
• The host librarian runs the program (welcome guests, intro-

duce speaker, facilitate Q&A)
• Share feedback survey with participants
• Post a “thank you” on social media after event

MARKETING

As coordinator for all library marketing, I create all of the print 
and digital marketing materials using Canva, a free online 
design software. However, some campuses have a marketing 
and communications department that manages this work, so my 
recommendation is that you find out what your campus resources 
are before doing the design work. It can save you time! 

If you are doing the designing, here are some additional 
considerations I recommend, especially if you do not have a design 
background: 

• Follow your institution’s brand and design guidelines
• Review basic design tutorials online 
• Follow elements and principles of design
• Tweak templates (like the free ones in Canva) to make them 

fit your brand



238  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

• Schedule social media posts
 — I use Hootsuite to schedule posts for Instagram, Twitter, 

Facebook. There are many free options for scheduling!
• Leverage your network to spread the word: 

 — The library dean promoted this event to the university’s 
Academic Leadership Team, a team made up of other 
department deans and the provost

 — Librarians promoted event to their liaison departments

For this marketing campaign, I created social media posts, posters, 
and digital posters, and sent an info notice to our daily campus news 
editor. Find out what communication channels exist on your campus 
to get the word out. 

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS

One of the challenges with Fox @ the Fireside was figuring out how to 
find speakers and discerning what topics might interest the commu-
nity.

One way that we went about this work was through strategic 
listening. Librarians shared with me what conversations they were 
aware of on campus with faculty and students and what things 
people in various departments were working on. One of the benefits 
of embedding librarians in academic departments is a heightened 
awareness of interesting projects faculty and students are working 
on. These connections led to some exciting opportunities!

In addition to leveraging our partnerships with departments, we 
also are intentional about looking for partners and collaborators on 
campus. For example, I work with student life, the academic resource 
center, and other campus groups to engage with the community and 
find spaces for collaboration on mutually beneficial, innovative 
projects that ultimately help us achieve exceptional life outcomes 
for our students.

The pilot event was born out of this kind of connection. In 2018, 
faculty and staff were participating in book discussion groups, read-
ing Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2015). A staff member 
(and artist) participating in a group created an art show in response 
to the book and its impact on her. The Associate Provost of Local and 



Poster  239

Global Engagement asked the library if we had a venue to have her 
display her art work. We said yes, and offered an opportunity to not 
only display the work, but also share with the community and foster 
further discussion as a Fox @ the Fireside guest.

As the program gains momentum, we are looking at ways to make 
the process for bringing in speakers equitable across departments.

THE 2018–19 PROGRAM

Our 2018–2019 academic year featured two faculty speakers and 
one student, on a variety of topics.

• November 2018: Guadalupe García McCall, Professor of 
English & Author

 — This event featured her award-winning Young Adult fiction 
novels, one which published at the time of the event.

 — Books featured:
• All the Stars Denied (Tu Books, 2018)
• Shame the Stars (Tu Books, 2016)
• Summer of the Mariposas (Tu Books, 2012)
• Under the Mesquite (Lee and Low Books, 2011)

 — She talked about Latinx fiction and the fiction writing 
process, discussed themes from her novels such as Mexico 
and Texas border history, and shared some tips for aspir-
ing authors.

• January 2019: Melanie Springer Mock, Professor of English 
& Author

 — This event featured her book, Worthy: Finding Yourself in a 
World Expecting Someone Else (Herald Press, 2018).

 — She discussed themes from her book including identity, 
self-worth, and how all people are worthy of love.

• April 2019: Grant Davis, George Fox University College of Engi-
neering Student

 — This event featured his LEGO IDEAS Pop-Up Book creation.
 — He discussed the process of designing the pop-up book and 

his journey to working with LEGO on this project. 



240  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

RESULTS AND RESPONSES

Assessment is a key aspect of library programming. For the 2018–19 
year, we created a guest survey for event participants. 

Survey Questions: 
• I am a ___ (student, faculty, staff).
• How satisfied are you with the event overall?
• Did you check out the resource page created for this event 

(LibGuide)?
• How did you hear about this event?
• Did you learn something new?
• How engaging was the topic of conversation?
• How likely are you to attend another Fox @ the Fireside?
• Any questions for us? 
• Anything else you would like us to know?

Informal Qualitative Assessment:
We had few survey results, but did record a number of positive 
comments from faculty. Here are some examples: 

• “I can tell the library has been really intentional about being 
a part of the community. Thank you for your work support-
ing students.”

• “I appreciate your work this year engaging with the scholarly 
life of George Fox and highlighting the work of my colleagues.”

For the 2019–20 year, we plan to look at other options for 
gathering survey results such as using a guest list, so that we can 
send the survey to participants following the event, or administering 
paper surveys before guests leave.

REFLECTION 

Finally, I met with the dean at the end of the year to reflect on the 
2018–19 program and discuss how effective we were at achieving 
our objectives. Some key observations we made about the Fox @ the 
Fireside Program:



Poster  241

• We did successfully engage faculty, staff, and community 
members with the events.

• The events were hosted right at the center of the library and by 
the last event of the year, people were engaging in the margins 
of the room, grabbing coffee and chatting about the conversa-
tion in progress.

• Event attendance grew and student participation increased 
with each event.

• We want to continue building the conversational aspects of the 
event, looking for more ways to engage the audience.

The event was part of a larger initiative to welcome students to 
campus, and engage more intentionally with faculty partners, build-
ing relationships with them and establishing trust. We believe the 
program effectively raised the visibility of library faculty this year on 
campus, and we look forward to expanding involvement of students, 
finding more student presenters next year!


