Coffee and Conversation: Librarians Offer Time To Sit With Students

The Jerry Falwell Library plans a new event to connect with students by leading discussions around students’ hobbies and interests while enjoying a cup of coffee.

Coffee & Conversation will be held on Feb. 10 in the library’s lower atrium from 4 to 5 p.m.

They hope to provide students a place to meet and chat with library staff and faculty concerning topics outside of both the students’ and the staff’s academic and professional life.

 Hannah Lowder, an outreach librarian and coordinator of Coffee & Conversation, said this new event is for students and staff to express their shared interests while making connections with new people.

“This is our first time hosting something like Coffee & Conversation. We are trying to come up with new events that are more engaging to students,” Lowder said. “The premise for this is to make connections with library staff and faculty who have interests outside of their professional work here, and we can tap into those connections with students.”

Tables will be set up for group discussions to be enjoyed with coffee and snacks. Coffee & Conversation is one of many activities that the library event coordinating team wants to bring to the students. 

According to Lowder, this event will be a great place for people to come together and enjoy what the library has to offer.

“The event is to promote the library as a space to have conversation and discussion and make connections,” Lowder said. “I think Liberty really likes to interact with the student body in a lot of ways and definitely in a more personal level than I have experienced in other places. So, I think that an event like this kind of taps into that as trying to reach out to students and get to know them personally outside of academics and outside of our professional career.” 

The library has gathered several topics by asking the student body over social media and conducting an internal poll of the library staff. Responses show that many are interested in discussions revolving around sci-fi and fantasy novels and movies. Other top picks included travel and arts and crafts.

Lowder said the discussion will be narrowed down to a couple of conversation topics. There will be cards with conversation starters set up on various tables.

Lowder said that the goal for events like these is to build upon them, and the key contributors are the students who participate in them.  

The aim of Coffee & Conversation is to provide students and staff the opportunity to learn about one another and build new relationships in an environment outside
of academics.

For more information, students can visit liberty.edu/library/events.

Licari is a news reporter.