May 2017 255 C&RL News

In today’s digital environment, connecting with students in a meaningful way can be 
difficult. Our recent whiteboard project at 
the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) was 
a successful way for us to engage students 
in the physical space of the library. UCA’s 
Carnegie classification is “Master’s Colleges 
and Universities (larger programs)” and had 
a total enrollment of 11,487 students for the 
fall 2016 semester. For the fiscal year 2015–
16 our gate count was 482,934 students. The 
UCA Library operations are managed by 11 
faculty members and 30 staff members, plus 
the assistance of 35 student workers.  

UCA students use the library as both 
an academic and a social place. While we 
constantly remind them about our electronic 
resources, we do not often highlight our 
physical resources, such as study rooms and 
comfortable furniture. We can easily count 
database usage and book checkouts, but 
sometimes it is a challenge to understand 
how students are using the physical space 
in the library. 

Our library has no room to grow physi-
cally, so we wanted to make the most effi-
cient and effective use possible of the space 
that we do have. The whiteboard project 
afforded us an unobtrusive way to engage 
with students while also offering a way to 
understand their use of the physical space. 

Student-use whiteboard project
In the first iteration of our project, we 
mounted whiteboards to the walls in our 

large group study rooms. However, we 
quickly discovered that the students need-
ed more space as their scrawlings contin-
ued onto the glass windows of the study 
rooms. In response, we painted the large 
study rooms with whiteboard paint. Upon 
receiving positive feedback from the stu-
dents, we painted the smaller study rooms, 
as well. As we built new study rooms, we 
automatically included whiteboard walls. 
Once we saw the popularity and success 
of the whiteboard paint in study rooms, we 
extended into the rest of the library study 
spaces, purchasing mobile magnetic white-
boards that could be wheeled around the 
library.

As we all know, student engagement is 
just as much about the digital environment 
as it is about the physical library space. In-
corporating the whiteboard project into our 
social media is important to us. While we 
discuss specific engagement efforts below, 
we were able to entwine the student-use 
whiteboards and social media by creat-
ing #UCALibraryArt, allowing us to share 
student art we found throughout the study 
rooms. Sometimes these are simply doodles 
that we find. Other times, students attempt 

Karen Pruneda is instructional services technician, email: 
kpruneda@uca.edu, Amber Wilson is education and 
outreach librarian, email: amberc@uca.edu, and Jessica 
Riedmueller is instructional services librarian, email: 
jriedmueller@uca.edu, University of Central Arkansas
© 2017 Karen Pruneda , Amber Wilson, and Jessica Riedmueller

Karen Pruneda, Amber Wilson, and Jessica Riedmueller 

Writing on the walls
Engaging students through whiteboards

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C&RL News May 2017 256

to encourage and motivate other students 
through their art. For example, one student 
drew a picture of 
Dory from Find-
ing Nemo that said, 
“Just Keep Studying 
. . .” and we wanted 
to share that with 
all students. We 
also feature aca-
demic work such 
as math problems, 
chemical equations, 
conjugated verbs, 
and anatomy dia-
grams.

Library 
engagement 
whiteboard
We kept a few of the mobile whiteboards 
near a high-traffic area in the front of the 
library that could 
be used to gener-
ate interaction or 
to display impor-
tant library infor-
mation. We often 
pose light-hearted 
questions on the 
mobile white-
boards such as the 
popular, “What 
mythological crea-
ture would you 
want to be?” or 
“What’s your fa-
vorite old-school 
video game?” 
This ensures that 
students are al-
ways checking 
the boards and 
will see any new 
services or infor-
mation we want 
to share with them. Sometimes the only 
engagement we ask them for is to make 
a tally mark indicating their opinion on 

something like “Who do you think will win 
the NCAA Basketball Final Four?” A simple 

choice is likely to 
garner engage-
ment because it 
is quick and easy, 
although some-
times we still get 
written comments 
on such questions. 
At the beginning 
of a semester, we 
feature tips and in-
formation for new 
users such as how 
to check out items, 
how to print, how 
to access our on-
line resources, or 
how to get help 

from a librarian. We also share new ser-
vices and products offered in the library 

on whiteboards 
throughout the 
year. We usually 
leave magnets 
with our social 
media accounts, 
website, phone 
number, and our 
“Ask Us” link on 
the whiteboards.

Social media 
p r o m o t i o n  o f 
whiteboard im-
ages has had a 
m a r k e d  i m p a c t 
on UCA Library 
engagement and 
awareness of ser-
vices and events. 
We often tag re-
lated departments 
on campus with 
the whiteboard 
posts to extend 

our reach to those other departments. 
Whiteboard images posted on social media 
fall into several categories: publicity of library 

Example of a fun UCA whiteboard poll.

Dory drawing on UCA whiteboard.



May 2017 257 C&RL News

services, events, whiteboard questions and 
answers, student art, or contests. 

In terms of whiteboard publicity, we have 
informed students about Banned Books 
Week readings outside the library, and read-
ings by the creative writing department. We 
also used our mobile whiteboards to create 
displays. For example, for African American 
History Month, we used magnets to display 
photos of individuals at UCA from our ar-
chives. We asked students to go on our social 
media to learn more about each photo, and 
then revealed 
the information 
on the board 
the following 
day. Students 
responded well 
to these proj-
e c t s .  F o r  i n-
stance, when 
we celebrated 
National Poetry 
Month students 
wrote poems 
or phrases us-
ing the magnets 
that other stu-
dents later add-
ed to or altered. 
The lower half 
of the board 
e n c o u r a g e d 
s t u d e n t s  “ t o 
take or leave a 
poem” thus creating a shared poetic space. 

We have also engaged with national cam-
paigns such as the ALA’s #LibrariesTransform 
Campaign, which provided students with the 
opportunity to note how libraries transformed 
their lives on the magnetic whiteboard with 
printed word bubbles. We took photos of 
these statements and shared them on social 
media. 

Suggestions for other libraries
Occasionally, it is difficult to strike a balance 
between letting students have free rein with 
the whiteboards and keeping content appro-

priate for a university library. When we rolled 
out the whiteboard walls in the study rooms, 
we had a lot of inappropriate drawings both 
on the whiteboard areas and the light switch 
plates, which were not whiteboard surfaces. 
While these problems occurred primarily 
during the first few weeks, it was frustrating. 
We appreciated the students’ enthusiasm 
for the whiteboards, but we were not hap-
py about policing the content. Any library 
considering implementing whiteboards as a 
way to engage and interact with their stu-

dents should be 
aware that stu-
dents often find 
unsuitable con-
tent funny and 
be prepared to 
monitor this. 
When writ-
ing questions 
on the white-
boards, it’s im-
portant to think 
of unintended 
consequences 
and the type 
of responses 
that might be 
g e n e r a t e d . 
Sometimes if 
a question is 
very earnest 
or expected, 
students may 

attempt to inject some humor. Humorous, 
light-hearted, poignant, or timely questions 
tend to be most successful in eliciting stu-
dent responses.

To avoid any implication of censorship, 
we will often erase the entire board or wall 
that has any inappropriate content instead 
of just singling out one drawing or message. 
Other considerations for effecting a white-
board project include upkeep on the walls 
as the finish wears off, fixing or replacing 
wheels on the mobile whiteboards, or the 

(continues on page 268)

Student work on UCA whiteboard.



C&RL News May 2017 268

Saturday, June 24
Instruction Section. Soiree, location TBD, 
no registration required, 5:30–7:30 p.m. 
Contacts: Sue Franzen, srfranz@ilstu.edu.

Literatures in English Section. Social, loca-
tion, TBD, no registration is required, 6:00 p.m. 
Contacts: Meg Meiman, meg.meiman@gmail.
com and Piper Martin, pmarti17@uwyo.edu.

University Libraries Section. Social, Mu-
nicipal Bar & Dining Co., no registration re-
quired, 5:30–7:00 p.m. Contact: Sara Holder, 
shholder@gmail.com.

Sunday, June 25
Community and Junior College Librar-
ies Section. Awards and Dinner Meeting, 
The Berghoff, pre-registration is required, 
6:00–9:00 p.m. Contact: Sandy C. McCarthy, 
mccarthy@wccnet.edu.

Distance Learning Section. Award lun-
cheon, pre-registration required, 1:00–2:30 

possibility of permanent markings due to 
the use of unauthorized markers. 

To avoid this last pitfall, we keep a 
large supply of several different colors of 
whiteboard markers and make them readily 
available to students. However, we some-
times have difficulty meeting requests for 
markers or have had to ration them when 
our supply budget has run low. The cost of 
upkeep on both the walls/boards and mark-
ers is something that we have committed to 
for the foreseeable future, as students now 
expect us to provide these things. 

One final consideration might be to start 
this as a small project, maybe just focusing 
on whiteboard content in a small part of 
the library, before doing it on a large scale.

In addition, it takes some time to main-
tain the mobile whiteboards, which are used 
as a shared intellectual space for library 
information and monthly activities. It can be 
time-consuming to add information, materi-

p.m. Contacts: Rebecca Nowicki, Rebecca.
nowicki@ashford.edu, and Brandon West, 
westb@geneseo.edu.

Science and Technology Section. Din-
ner, location TBD, pre-registration is re-
quired, 6:00–8:00 p.m. Contacts: Rachel 
Hamelers, rhamelers@muhlenberg.edu, and 
Beth Blanton-Kent, bwb9f@eservices.virginia 
/edu.

Western European Studies Section/
Slavic and East European Section. Boat 
cruise, pre-registration is required, 6:00–
9:00 p.m. Contact: Adan Griego, griego@
stanford.edu.

Monday, June 26
EBSS Communication Studies Commit-
tee. Media tour of NBC 5 Chicago’s news-
room, 454 N. Columbus Dr., Chicago, IL 
60611, pre-registration is required, 5:30–7:00 
p.m. Contact: Chimene Tucker, cetucker@
usc.edu. 

als, and questions to the boards. We often 
write a question for students to answer on 
the boards, and it’s important to think about 
who will monitor the boards and create the 
questions. 

In our library, various individuals have 
taken on the task of posting questions in 
a fluid system. Sometimes the board fills 
up quickly, so it might eventually be a 
good idea to designate certain individuals 
who will create questions, and develop a 
process for reviewing the questions, or a 
Google Doc for suggested and planned 
questions.

Overall, the whiteboard project has been 
very successful for the UCA Library. We 
have seen marked increases in both our 
social media following and engagement 
with students. Though we have incurred 
some maintenance and upkeep costs, we 
are excited about continuing the project. 

(“Writing on the walls,” continues from page 257) 

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