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| This 12 story building houses the library, archives and special collections along with a number of departments. The billboard announces "You Belong Here". Perfect! |
On June 3, I drove 3.5 hours (each way) Northeast to Kent State University to attend the SCAIG Spring 2015 Workshop:
Special but not Specialized: Special Collections and Archives Do it All. The overall theme/purpose was getting to know our special collections and archives colleagues from around the state and hold conversations about the most pressing issues affecting our work. The informal presentations "Reference and Instruction", "Let Them Build It: Working with Students to Curate Digital Exhibits" and "Problems? What Problems? Attitude is Everything for Lone Arrangers" were extremely encouraging and insightful. I learned great strategies for getting faculty "buy-in" for including digital objects and archives in their courses, how to match assessment to learning outcomes, ideas for designing the library page at Payne, how to use social media effectively to share our collections, and development events that benefit the entire institution (Business Card Exchanges and Alumni Library Sponsorship).
One new cool feature of the workshop were the
World Cafe Style Conversations. I brainstormed with colleagues about Instruction/Assessment, Outreach, and Preservation/Digitization/Born Digital/Technology.
I also had the opportunity to spend lunch with a 2 colleagues who presented at SOA about their archival move a few weeks ago and ended up sitting with two other NC Library School alums at lunch (North Carolina State and UNC-Chapel Hill). Small World!
One word: BABAR. Imagine walking to room bursting with color and whimsy and BABAR. It's available and within reach.
Kent State is home to the one-of-a-kind collection, bequeathed to Kent State University in 1992 by John L. Boonshaft of Las Vegas, Nevada, containing books and artifacts relating to
Babar, the fictional elephant created by Jean de Brunhoff in 1931 and perpetuated by his son, Laurent, after Jean died in 1937.
But honestly, the very best part of the conference was connecting with La'el Hughes-Watkins, University Archivist, Assistant Professor, Kent State University Libraries. After touring
The Kent State Shootings and Their Aftermath" Through The Media's Lens exhibit curated by La'el we chatted about our paths to archives and what it meant to be women of color in administrative positions in the library world. We were encouraged by one another's journey's and made fast friends (even attending RibFest in a few weeks!). I was fascinated to learn how La'el pulled from her background in journalism to curate the
Through The Media's Lens chronological exhibit which highlights some of the major newspaper headlines, magazines, photographs, newsletters, posters, flyers and comic strips produced in light of the Kent State Shootings. The exhibit and meeting her alone were worth the 7 hour road trip. Check out the pics from this wonderful day:
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| Me and Rockwell "Rocky" K. Squirrel, University Libraries Official Spokes-squirrel (who has his own business cards) |
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| Through the Lens |
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| I love how the exhibit "bleed" into the hallway outside the reading room where the exhibit is house. These display cases are exceptional! |
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| Life sized BABAR! |
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| They even made Babar labels! |
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| Huge in house scanner for library signage and other paper production. I wish! |
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| In the archives stacks |
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| Two Dynamic Overachieving Archivists making our mark in the field |
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ReplyDeleteI genuinely enjoyed meeting Shanee', she too is an inspiration. She kicked my butt and told me to also start a blog discussing my time and work at Kent State as an archivist. She reminded me that we are beacons on a path less traveled by people of color and that story needs to be documented!
ReplyDeleteThanks Shanee. See you soon!