September Member Highlights: Partnerships in Action at Wittenberg University’s Thomas Library

At Wittenberg University, Thomas Library is more than just a study space — it’s a hub of collaboration. We spoke with Amanda McLellan, Director of Thomas Library, about how partnerships with campus colleagues and the local public library are helping students thrive both inside and outside the classroom.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the Thomas Library at Wittenberg University?

A: I have been at Wittenberg for three years now. The staff here at Thomas Library are few but mighty, and I am so proud of the work we all do.

Thomas Library is at the heart of Wittenberg’s campus. That central role — and ample space — has positioned the library as a hub where campus partners can work together to support students.

The building is home to many campus services, such as COMPASS Student Success, the Writing Center, the Oral Communication Center, the Math Workshop, Sip’s Coffee (a student-run coffee shop), and campus IT.

Q: Wow! It sounds like there’s are a lot of opportunities for collaboration. How has the library leveraged partnerships to support student success?

A: The collocation of complementary student services in the library predates me, but I’ve been happy with the space and ability to provide such a synergistic experience. Students know they can come to the library to get help with just about any aspect of their lives at Wittenberg.

In the last couple of years, we’ve focused on partnering with Career Services to connect the work our student employees do with their future careers. We have many student employees, and while few will go on to library careers, they gain transferable skills like customer service and time management.

Wittenberg also has an experiential learning week every spring, and last year the library partnered with the art department to offer a weeklong FIRE Week experience. We went on walking tours of three cities — Springfield, Cincinnati, and Yellow Springs — and discussed the connection of public art and community. Then the students designed and created murals in the library. You can see photos and read the artist statements on our LibGuides. We will be replicating that week again this spring.

We also hold an annual plant adoption event, which started because we had a surplus of plants that a former student employee had propagated that needed new homes. The event was so popular that students asked for it to return. This year, we’re partnering with COMPASS Student Success to provide a whole afternoon of plant- and wildlife-related activities in addition to the plant adoption.

Q: Beyond campus collaborations, how has Thomas Library partnered with the wider community to engage with students?

A: I’m really proud of our partnership with Clark County Public Library (CCPL). As part of an initiative to promote lifelong library use, anyone can request CCPL materials delivered to the kiosk in our lobby. If students, faculty, or staff don’t already have a CCPL library card, we can issue one. Not only do our patrons get to use the physical library items, but we also advertise the electronic resources, programming, and activities available to them at the public library. You can read more about that here.

Q: How are you continuing your work to support students in the upcoming school year?

A: One of the things I’m most excited about is the hiring of Austin McCray, our new Student Success and Instruction Librarian. This is a new position for us; we rewrote a vacant position to focus specifically on student success. Austin started in early August and has already built strong relationships with students and faculty while taking on the bulk of library instruction sessions. He is also working closely with COMPASS Student Success and has brought fantastic ideas and energy to our team.

Additionally, I formed a Library Student Advisory Board a couple years ago to help gather feedback and promote library resources among peers. It went dormant last year, but I’m looking forward to reviving it. The students in that group have been a great resource for bouncing ideas and keeping a pulse on the student perspective.

Q: Do you have any advice you’d give to colleagues who are interested in any of the above strategies?

A: I would say — try it! If something doesn’t work out, figure out what could be done differently and get feedback from your community. For example, I wasn’t sure if students would enjoy our FIRE Week experience, but they loved it. I was very intentional about asking them for feedback that helped us improve their experience along the way.

Have an idea of what success looks like for you, but keep it open-ended so that success can include ideas or outcomes you might not have considered. The only failure is the project that is never attempted. We got the idea for the partnership with CCPL because of Courtright Memorial Library’s Book Nook project at Otterbein University. We approached CCPL about a similar partnership, and they’re the ones who proposed the vending machine. You never know what magic might happen unless you start!

We love hearing from our members! Share more about a recent project or program from your library in OhioNet’s monthly Member Highlights series — contact Jillian Tuttle at [email protected] for more information.

Additional Member Updates –

• Please join us in extending a warm welcome to the following new OhioNet members: Bellaire Public Library, Chillicothe VA Medical Center Library, and Guernsey County Public Library!
• Coffee with Katy continues on September 24. This month’s discussion will focus on teen and adult programming for all library types.
• NEW: We’re partnering with WhoFi to offer WiFi Analytics to OhioNet members. We’re building a group of libraries interested in Wifi Analytics – the more members join this group, the deeper the discount on product pricing. View details on the OhioNet blog, and don’t miss our informational webinar about WhoFi on October 1. 
• Seats are still available for The Renewals Workshop with Kaetrena Davis Kendrick on October 15! This in-person experience, hosted at OhioNet’s Town Hall meeting space in Westerville, is designed to help individuals and groups recognize, reconcile, and recover from dysfunctional workplace cultures and behaviors.
• Registration is open for OhioNet’s Library Facilities Summit on October 28. Join us in-person at OhioNet’s Town Hall meeting space for a day of sessions focused on how libraries can repair, maintain, and design spaces that serve patrons and staff. Learn more and register here. 
• NOTSL invites members to their Fall General Meeting, Tectonic Shifts: Technical Services of Today on October 3, 2025 via Zoom. Visit NOTSL’s website for full program information and registration.
• Library SPARK (an ILEAD 2025 team project supported by the State Library of Ohio, OhioNet, and IMLS) invites all library staff to share how their libraries are responding to the Science of Reading in a statewide survey, open now through December 8. Take the survey here or email the Library Spark team at [email protected] with questions.