Virtual Conference 2020

ARLIS/NA Ohio Valley and Midstates Chapter Virtual Conference 2020
Friday, November 13, 2020
10 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. EST

Cost: Free
Registration required
Registration closes November 11th at Noon EST

All times listed below are EST.

Conference Program
10 a.m. GreetingsCaitlin McGurk, ARLIS/NA Ohio Valley Chair
Christine Mannix, ARLIS/NA Ohio Valley Vice-Chair
Sarah Carter, ARLIS/NA Midstates Chair
Mackenzie Salisbury, ARLIS/NA Midstates Vice-Chair

10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Lightning round presentations

  • Flip It! Adapting In-Person Instruction to the Online Environment, Courtney Hunt,
    Art & Design Librarian/Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University

Responding to a new all-virtual environment during a pandemic has required flexibility
and increased collaboration with faculty members of liaison departments. It has also
required increased outreach, to remind faculty that we are still available for synchronous
and asynchronous library instruction. For the Art & Design Librarian at The Ohio State
University, numbers of instruction sessions have decreased for the fall 2020 semester,
but other opportunities have also presented themselves, with effects that will outlast the
current pandemic.

This lightning talk will outline a flipped instruction model for an introductory course in
Contemporary Art, with 80 students enrolled. Working with the faculty member teaching
the course, we were able to create an interactive synchronous experience for students
resembling a workshop using breakout rooms, after they viewed an asynchronous
pre-recorded library demo. The advantages revealed in teaching library resources this
way can be applied to future library instruction sessions, even when we are back on
campus. This talk will briefly outline the main assignment for the course and how we
went about designing the library session based on the aims set forth by the faculty
member.

  • Fillings Gaps and Building Bridges: BIPOC-Centered Collection Development in
    the Visual & Performing Arts, Leah Sherman, Visual & Performing Arts Librarian,
    Florida State University

In summer 2020, the Visual & Performing Arts Librarian at Florida State University
undertook a two-fold review of their Fine Arts collection in consideration of BIPOC titles
and authors. Partially in response to contemporary Black Lives Matter protests and also
as a complementary project to the recent overhaul of the Library’s domestic approval
plan, the Arts Librarian approached this review in two-phases. During the first phase, the
librarian assembled a selection of visual and performing arts titles related to BIPOC
topics and reviewed the current library holdings to determine trends in collection gaps. In
the second phase, the librarian presented these findings to their faculty colleagues within
the College of Fine Arts as a means of soliciting BIPOC-centered materials suggestions
for future collection development. The results of this initiative confirmed the Librarian’s
suspicion that FSU Libraries’ general collection requires more strategic attention in
building up its visual and performing arts research holdings with the principles of
diversity, equity, and inclusion in mind. This project also revealed that gaps remain in the
Arts’ collection development process, despite a robust approval plan being in place. In
addition to this knowledge, another positive outcome of this review derived from new
partnerships and more open lines of communication with departmental faculty, not only
about their role in FSU Libraries’ collection development but also in respect to their
teaching and research needs and interests. This lightning talk will describe the Visual &
Performing Arts Librarian’s methodology in greater depth, including a discussion of the
feedback received from the College of Fine Arts. Attendees will also hear the Arts
Librarian’s plans for next steps on this project and several takeaways for how to
implement similar work at their own institutions.

  • Art of Images in Premodern Books: An Inaugural Symposium of Two Chicago
    Special Collections, Stephanie Fletcher, Technical Services & E-Resources Librarian,
    Dominican University and Christopher Fletcher, Assistant Director, Center for
    Renaissance Studies, Newberry Library

On November 14th, 2019, the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries hosted a daylong
symposium entitled The Art of Images in Premodern Books, co-organized with the
Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library and colleagues from the
Department of Printmedia at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). The
symposium highlighted the libraries’ complementary collections by presenting premodern
and early modern woodcuts and engravings from the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
along with medieval manuscripts from the Newberry’s extensive premodern holdings.
The day also featured a printmaking demonstration in the SAIC printmaking facility and a
hands-on session about medieval manuscript illumination at the Newberry.

This pre-pandemic event was a landmark for the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries for
several reasons. First, in an effort toward equity, attendees gained free admittance to the
library (which is situated beyond the ticket counter at the Art Institute of Chicago).
Second, this collaborative event was the first to offer a staff-guided comparison of
collections from both libraries over the course of a single day, effectively introducing
attendees to two major special collections in Chicago. Finally, the demonstrations by
SAIC printmakers and Newberry conservators allowed symposium attendees to learn
about printmaking, vellum production, and manuscript illumination firsthand and
immediately apply this knowledge to the prints and illuminations in the libraries’ special
collections.

This ten-minute lightning talk will explore the libraries’ efforts to introduce their special
collections to new audiences and to establish an institutional relationship that promotes
the study of art in printed books and manuscripts in Chicago and the greater Midwest.

  • Shared Reflective Practice in the Early Days of the Pandemic, Kate Joranson, Head
    Librarian, Frick Fine Arts Library, University of Pittsburgh and Alison Langmead, Clinical
    Associate Professor and Director, Visual Media Workshop

For the past five years, we have run a series of face-to-face “Toolshops” for members of our
academic community that were designed to bring us together in semi-structured settings to
explore our individual and collective relationship to technology. As art historians, artists,
digital humanists, and librarians, this community has come to value these toolshops as a
space that cultivates the social practice of shared metacognitive reflection.

The abrupt transition to emergency remote teaching in early 2020 due to the Covid-19
pandemic prompted us to consider how we might transition the core of our metacognitive
Toolshop work to the online environment via the development of a series of Co-Learning
Encounters (CLEs) that would facilitate problem-solving alongside open-ended inquiry. We
wondered together, how can we support one another as we redefine our expectations,
approaches, and identities as both teachers and learners?

Using the topics of critical digital pedagogy, archival studies, and “thinking like a computer,”
we were interested in expressing thoughts in, through, and about technical systems while
also exploring issues such as trust, authority, grief, and temporality. During this 10-minute
presentation, we will share reflections on the transition from Toolshops to Co-Learning
Encounters and also on the production and presentation of the CLEs in the early days of the
pandemic, offering questions and resources for continued study.

11:15 – 11:30 a.m.: Break

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: Business meetings (breakout rooms)

  • Midstates: Agenda forthcoming
  • Ohio Valley: Agenda forthcoming

12:30 – 2:00 p.m.: Lunch Break

2:00 – 2:30 p.m.: Poster Sessions.

    • Supporting Librarians With Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) , Natisha Harper, Howard
      University
      According to a Center For Disease Control report, in 2014, 2.87 million people sought emergency medical treatment stemming from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Additionally, between 2006 and 2014 this diagnosis grew by 53%. As traumatic brain injuries become more prevalent in American workplaces, coworkers should be equipped with ways to support colleagues through this process of  healing. Though symptoms may vary widely, this presentation will outline symptoms, techniques for calming and frustration, and skills that help make everyone’s day a bit easier.

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  • Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Mail Art, Expression, and Living in the Midst of a “Historical Moment,” Autumn Wetli, Undergraduate Collections Librarian and Mariah
    Cherem, Production Librarian, Ann Arbor District Library

    • Mail provides us with a way to connect across distances. Whether six feet or multiple time
    zones away — or even ideologically — 2020 has introduced distance into a lot of folks’ lives.
    Looking for ways to connect in the midst of tumult and upheaval, the USPS is a lifeline — for
    votes, for letters, and for creative expression. The idea of mail art has a long history and a
    specific legacy in our own town. Our university and public libraries joined forces on a mail art
    project that sparked reflection, connection, and even catharsis. Learn about this project and
    our collaboration.     –>

        • DPOE-N: Relaunching the Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Network, Erin
          Barsan, DPOE-N Program Coordinator and Hilary Wang, DPOE-N Graduate Assistant,
          Pratt Institute

    “DPOE-N: Relaunching the Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Network,” will
    introduce the work underway at Pratt Institute and New York University (NYU) on the Digital
    Preservation Outreach & Education Network. In 2018, the Library of Congress entrusted its
    pioneering Digital Preservation Outreach & Education (DPOE) program to Pratt and NYU to
    further develop it into the future and foster a professional network that will endure. To build
    on this promise, the schools are building DPOE-Network (DPOE-N). DPOE-N is a network of
    training resources available to cultural heritage professionals nationwide to enhance their
    digital preservation knowledge with a significant focus on outreach and recruitment. In July
    2020, DPOE-N received a $600,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, allowing
    it to continue development.

    DPOE-N is motivated by the pressing need for cultural heritage institutions to collect,
    preserve, and provide access to born-digital materials. This poster will highlight DPOE-N’s
    efforts to provide microfunds to librarians, archivists, conservators, and other professionals
    for digital preservation training. It will also discuss DPOE-N’s response to the COVID-19
    pandemic—allocating funding for emergency hardware support to small institutions in need
    of new hardware to ensure the persistence of their digital collections. You can learn more
    online at dpoe.network

        • When You’re Forced to Go Digital: Zine-making Online, Stefanie Hilles, Arts and
          Humanities Librarian, Miami University

    In spring 2020, universities found themselves navigating an unprecedented and sudden shift
    to online learning. Librarians have played a crucial role in connecting students and faculty
    with digital tools and resources during this challenging time. However, it can be difficult to
    envision how hands-on, object-based, or maker workshops can be transitioned to online
    formats. This poster will detail how an art librarian translated her in-person zine workshops,
    usually a tactile, object-based experience, into the online world where students no longer
    have the benefit of interacting with physical zines as part of the workshop. Three different
    approaches will be discussed: a purely asynchronous creative writing class that took place
    soon after colleges closed their campuses, a synchronous graphic design class that was part
    of a larger month-long zine assignment, and a synchronous maker event put on in
    collaboration with the university’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. Each of these
    examples required different solutions and tools to effectively move their content online and
    still meet learning outcomes.

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.: Keynote

    Black Lunch Table: The People’s History
    Jina Valentine, she/her, co-founder of Black Lunch Table, Printmedia Faculty at the School of
    the Art Institute of Chicago
    Kevin Whiteneir, he/him, project manager at Black Lunch Table, MLIS student

    Black Lunch Table’s (BLT) primary aim is the production of discursive sites, wherein artists
    and local community members engage in dialogue on a variety of critical issues. BLT
    mobilizes a democratic rewriting of contemporary cultural history by animating discourse
    around and among the people living it. First staged in 2005 at Skowhegan School of Painting
    and Sculpture artist residency, the project has grown by way of contributions from and
    collaborations with artists, digital humanities researchers, and Wikipedians. BLT currently
    includes two roundtable series, an online oral history archive, and a Wikipedia initiative.
    Much like its creation of physical spaces that foster community and generate critical
    dialogue, BLT creates a digital space for art, Black studies, and social justice issues.

    For those who are interested in Jina Valentine’s recent publication, please see her chapter
    in: Reagle, Joseph M., and Jackie L. Koerner. 2020. Wikipedia @ 20: stories of an incomplete
    revolution.

    4:00 – 4:15 p.m. Closing remarks