ARLIS/NA 46th Annual Conference

As libraries strive to connect users with resources, this panel offers different ways to highlight library materials and connections by discussing a variety of projects.

Jolene de Verges and Beverly Mitchell will talk about the development of a one-year curatorial fellowship program for Hamon’s Hawn Gallery where the exhibits encourage critical discourse with its community. The fellowship offers a career-launching curatorial opportunity for recent graduates to assume a curatorial position. They will discuss challenges and successes of the program and how to use this programming to engage the community.

Emilee Mathews will discuss approaches to foregrounding collections with outreach techniques. To increase constituent awareness and enfranchisement, Mathews piloted strategies such as open houses, gamified reference hours, proactive user feedback, and special collections pop-up libraries. The talk will address planning and assessment of these collection outreach methods.

Carolina Hernandez and Sara DeWaay will discuss the inaugural year of sharing collections outside of the library. By connecting with faculty and events around campus, their pop-up cart brings relevant collections to students, supporting their academic needs and aiming to reach traditionally under-represented groups and specific fields of study. They will talk about the challenges and strengths of the program, assessment, and goals.

Presentations:
Jolene de Verges and Beverly Mitchell, “Extending our Reach: Building a Curatorial Fellowship at the Hamon Arts Library”
Emilee Mathews, “Show Them What You Got: Outreach with Collections”
Carolina Hernandez and Sara DeWaay, “Rollin’ Out: Using a Pop-Up Library to Bring Collections to Users”