Hello Everyone!

The adult coloring book craze has caught on at Salisbury University, and a colleague and I are looking to add several coloring kits (complete with book, set of colored pencils, and pencil sharpener) to our collection in hopes of providing students with a study break activity to help reduce the stress they experience throughout the semester. The current surge in popularity of adult coloring books has them listed along with activities such as yoga and meditation in their ability to provide someone with a relaxing break from their daily stressors, while also stimulating the creative side of the brain. As we are trying to position ourselves as the heart of the institution, we feel that having as many ways as possible to show ourselves to be a place of both serious study and appropriate ‘play’- a place where you can come to do research, let your creativity out and spur yourself on to new avenues of thinking and exploration, etc.-  can only help our image across campus, something that is of the utmost importance with our upcoming move to our new library that is set to open next fall.  

 

Are any other academic libraries out there offering this opportunity to students, or something similar in terms of a “study break” for them? Has it been successful thus far, and what sort of feedback have you received from users? Additionally, are libraries actively collecting these materials and adding them to their collections, either as teaching materials or general items? Please feel free to email me off-list.

 

Best regards,

 

Caroline Eckardt

Research & Instructional Librarian

Blackwell Library, #127

Salisbury University

Salisbury, MD 21801

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(410) 548-5972