In December 2013, some of the staff at the Murray Library, with help from our neighbours at the ULC, piloted “Take a Break with US”. We set up room 102 as a break room for students, filled with fun games and activities, where they could go to “de-stress” from all their studying. The room was very successful, we got tons of positive feedback, and we’re already starting to think about what we can do during the next round of finals in April.

We hope that people from other branches will join in the fun and maybe do similar things themselves. Keep reading to get all the details of what we did. You can also contact Lara or Eva to see lots and lots of pictures that we have saved. You may just get inspired!

We had a poster with our calendar of events that was used for promotions. It was hung throughout the library and was posted online in the Library News & Events, the PAWS Bulletins, the University Events Calendar, and the SESD student newsletter. SESD even put a website together about all the stress-less events going on around campus!

We put up some signs and some decorations:

The biggest draw (of course) was the snacks that were donated by the alumni association.

We were able to use some old forgotten office supplies to create a crafts table.

We had a table of board games (some brought over from the Education Library and some that staff members brought from home).

Library employees were kind enough to bring supplies from home to make other fun stations, like LEGOs, cards, and Play-Doh.

These stations were set up so that people could come and play whenever the room was open. But we also had scheduled activities every day. Some were more successful than others. We think that since it was the first time we’ve held anything like this, people just weren’t aware of it at first. However, those who did come had lots of fun. We hope to have more participants next time.

Anna-Belle the therapy dog was by far the most popular activity. We had over 100 people come to visit her the first week, and then around 60 the second week. (There were less people around the second week, as they finished their exams.)

The ULC organized cookie decorating. ULC staff donated all of the supplies. All of the cookies were eaten by the end of the afternoon!

The following events were less popular, but still fun: Making Christmas ornaments and decorating Christmas boxes, learning how to fold origami, and playing JENGA.

We had two movie afternoons, where we streamed classic NFB shorts onto the projection screen (because they have public performance rights!). We also had music playing each day.

One of our best ideas was to have a box near the snacks where students could leave their feedback. We received tons of positive feedback! In fact, in the only comment that was even vaguely negative, someone suggested that we should provide coffee along with all the rest of the snacks.

Hopefully learning about what we did will give you some ideas about what you could do yourself. If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to call or email any of those of us who organized the event: Eva, Lara, Jo Ann or Jen.