Accessible, Sustainable Outreach: New Priorities for an Online Orientation Program

Abstract

When paradigm-shifting events like the COVID-19 pandemic disrupt planning, as usual, libraries must rethink how they conduct traditional marketing and outreach activities like new student orientations. At Trinity University’s Coates Library, the traditional in-person orientation shifted to an asynchronous, online format. This article will detail how this change led to the development of new and reusable digital content for sustainable teaching and outreach, prioritized accessibility, and offered an alternative means of program assessment. Further, these changes provided an opportunity to reexamine some of the library’s previous goals and methods for first-year student outreach.

Keywords

• new student orientation
• covid-19
• accessibility
• asynchronous
• virtual outreach