From the Nominator

Sunday evenings are busy for academic libraries, as students struggle to catch up on a weekend's worth of work and hit midnight assignment deadlines. Diane Dallis-Comentale, Dean of Indiana University (IU) Libraries, noticed the contrast between Sundays and Fridays and saw a unique opportunity to help students succeed. By encouraging students to be productive on Fridays before relaxing for the weekend, IU Libraries hoped to improve student academic success, while alleviating the mental stress of procrastination. Incentives are thoughtfully used to encourage students to work at the Herman B Wells Library, home to not only study spaces and resources but also many student-support offerings, such as tutorial services, technology help, large-format printing, advising, and more. The Friday Finish kicks off at 10 a.m. with donuts and coffee, feeds students 600 slices of pizza at noon, and wraps up the day with a special send-off snack at 3 p.m. The Wells lobby is ground central and features additional productivity and reward activities, such as wellness consults, financial advisors, exotic animal shows, DIY make-it-and-take-it projects, seated chair massages, inflatable games, bingo, and much more. Weekly sponsors (campus academic units) fund the incentives and the Chaos Crew (student staff) in exchange for opportunities to promote programs and activities to the thousands of students in the building each Friday. Measured results are an increase in use of academic support programs, a return toward pre-pandemic building usage numbers, increased library Instagram followers, and high levels of student and sponsor participation and appreciation.

From the Judges

Great idea--free food is always a big hit with college students. Getting students into the library and making Friday studying part of the culture is good way to promote learning and fun on campus.