�鶹��Ƶ College Receives National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Grant</h1> <article> <h1>�鶹��Ƶ College Receives National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Grant</h1> <p>swargo — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 15:21:14 +0000</p> <span>�鶹��Ƶ College Receives National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Grant</span> <span><span>swargo</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-08-17T11:21:14-04:00" title="Wednesday, August 17, 2022 - 11:21">Wed, 08/17/2022 - 11:21</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>�鶹��Ƶ College is one of 62 organizations nationwide selected to receive a 2022-2023 NEA Big Read grant. A grant of $9,400 will support a community reading program focusing on <em>Homegoing</em> by Yaa Gyasi. An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the <a href="https://www.arts.gov/news/press-releases/2021/announcing-new-additions-nea-big-read">NEA Big Read</a> broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience. �鶹��Ƶ was previously an NEA Big Read grantee in 2011.</p> <p>“We are so excited for another chance to bring a program like this to our community,” said Eboni A. Johnson, outreach and programming librarian at �鶹��Ƶ College. “This is a wonderful opportunity to spark community conversations, build new partnerships, and encourage everyone to incorporate arts and reading into their lives.”</p> <p>“It is inspiring to see how NEA Big Read grantees like �鶹��Ƶ College utilize these books as launchpads for their own programming, often creating opportunities for community conversations, new partnerships, and encouraging participants to incorporate art into their daily lives,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.</p> <p>Programming in �鶹��Ƶ is scheduled to begin in September 2022. It will include a public kick-off event, several small-group discussions, and other events centered on forms of artistic expression related to the theme(s) of the book.</p> <p>Partners include the �鶹��Ƶ College Libraries, the �鶹��Ƶ Public Library, the �鶹��Ƶ Heritage Center, the Friends of the �鶹��Ƶ Public Library, and other community groups which are planning to host walks, book discussions, and creative activities centered on the themes of Homegoing.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/2022-2023-NEA-Big-Read-Book-Descriptions.pdf">NEA Big Read offers a range of titles</a> that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses, and new discoveries and connections in each community. The main feature of the initiative is a grants program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports dynamic community reading programs, each designed around a single NEA Big Read selection.</p> <p>“All across America, in communities small and large, the NEA Big Read connects neighbors and inspires creativity,” said Torrie Allen, president and CEO of Arts Midwest. “We're excited to support grantees like �鶹��Ƶ College as they bring the pages of these wonderful books to life through inventive programming.”</p> <p>Since 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts has funded more than 1,700 NEA Big Read programs, providing more than $24 million to organizations nationwide. In addition, Big Read activities have reached every Congressional district in the country. Over the past 16 years, grantees have leveraged more than $56 million in local funding to support their NEA Big Read programs. More than 5.9 million Americans have attended an NEA Big Read event, over 97,000 volunteers have participated at the local level, and over 40,000 community organizations have partnered to make NEA Big Read activities possible. For more information about the NEA Big Read, including book and author information, podcasts, and videos, visit arts.gov/neabigread.</p> <p>Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. Visit arts.gov to learn more.</p> <p>Arts Midwest believes that creativity has the power to inspire and unite humanity. Based in Minneapolis, Arts Midwest grows, gathers, and invests in creative organizations and communities throughout the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. One of six nonprofit United States Regional Arts Organizations, Arts Midwest’s history spans more than 30 years. For more information, visit artsmidwest.org.</p> <p>For more information contact Outreach & Programming Librarian Eboni A. Johnson at ejohnson@oberlin.edu or 440-775-5026.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-08-17T12:00:00Z">Wed, 08/17/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Office of Communications</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">William Bradford</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>A Jazz Legend Returns to the Road</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 13:21:57 +0000</p> <span>A Jazz Legend Returns to the Road</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-06-09T09:21:57-04:00" title="Tuesday, June 9, 2020 - 09:21">Tue, 06/09/2020 - 09:21</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A one-of-a-kind exhibition created by the �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory library tells the story of one of the most prolific jazz musicians of the 20th century: concert performer and session man Milt Hinton, whose seven-decade career intersected with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie and Cab Calloway to Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney.</p> <p><em>Playing the Changes: The Life and Legacy of Milt Hinton</em> initially appeared at �鶹��Ƶ and in several northern Ohio venues, including the Cleveland Public Library. It is now on the road for a tour of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the United States that will extend beyond 2021.</p> <p>A standout bassist, Hinton was also a talented photographer who captured thousands of unguarded moments with his fellow musicians on the road and in the studio, as well as rare glimpses of the segregation faced by black Americans early in his touring career.</p> <p>In 2014, �鶹��Ƶ established a relationship with the Hinton estate that included the transfer to �鶹��Ƶ of four prized basses and countless other artifacts—financial records, correspondence, datebooks, and more—amassed by Hinton throughout his life, as well as the establishment of the biennial <a href="/node/51121">Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass</a> at �鶹��Ƶ. The Hinton Collection at �鶹��Ƶ was inspired by David G. Berger and Holly Maxson, longtime friends of Milt Hinton and his wife Mona.</p> <p>From that collection emerged <em>Playing the Changes</em>, which showcases dozens of Hinton’s finest photographs and tells the story of his life in music. Each host venue also coordinates related academic offerings and other programming, and students at each school take part in a practicum on exhibition installation led by <a href="/node/29821">Heath Patten</a>, �鶹��Ƶ College Library’s curator of visual resources.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Students at each host institution play a pivotal role in the exhibition's installation.<br> Photo courtesy of �鶹��Ƶ College Library</figcaption> </figure> <p>“We encourage the students to think about how they can take an installation a step further,” Patten says of the course. “It’s a conversation about audiences and how people interact with exhibitions and why we choose certain elements of design and flow, how we want people to move through an exhibit, and what they want that experience to be. We also have to consider the uniqueness of the space, and that becomes fundamental to what we can do.”</p> <p>In recent years, Patten has been part of the �鶹��Ƶ teams that have created exhibitions on civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell, Class of1884, and �鶹��Ƶ’s historical support of coeducation and the suffrage movement.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>The Hinton exhibition's first tour stop was the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in summer 2019.<br> Photo courtesy �鶹��Ƶ College Library</figcaption> </figure> <p>In July 2019, <em>Playing the Changes </em>began its scheduled two-year tour with three months at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. From there it took up residence at Morgan State University in Baltimore through December. The exhibition was on display at the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina when the COVID-19 pandemic forced museums and galleries everywhere to close their doors. Its travel plans remain in flux as cities and states across the U.S. continue to assess guidelines for reopening.</p> <p>When the tour is cleared to resume, the exhibition will appear at Hampton University in Virginia, North Carolina Central University in Durham, Fisk University in Nashville, and Howard University in Washington, D.C.</p> <p><em>Playing the Changes: The Life and Legacy of Milt Hinton</em> is generously supported by the Berger Family Foundation so that �鶹��Ƶ College can help ensure that the Hintons’ legacy will be passed to future generations. The exhibition’s current tour of colleges and universities is organized by Caryl McFarland, director of the HBCU Alliance of Museums and Galleries.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-06-09T12:00:00Z">Tue, 06/09/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>�鶹��Ƶ exhibition honoring bassist Milt Hinton visits historically black institutions across the U.S.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3450">Conservatory Library</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/heath-patten" hreflang="und">Heath Patten</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Milt Hinton’s seven-decade career included an extended stint in Cab Calloway’s touring orchestra. Hinton (left) is seen here in a 1951 performance with Calloway in Cuba.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>History Design Lab Institute Advises How to Launch an Oral History Project</h1> <p>hhempste — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 19:33:39 +0000</p> <span>History Design Lab Institute Advises How to Launch an Oral History Project</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-01-30T14:33:39-05:00" title="Thursday, January 30, 2020 - 14:33">Thu, 01/30/2020 - 14:33</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>More than 70 people participated in the History Design Lab Institute, including students, faculty, and staff from on-campus winter term group projects, as well as community partners.</p> <p>Organized by Tamika Nunley, assistant professor of history and comparative American studies, and <a href="/tania-boster">Tania Boster</a>, assistant professor of history and executive director of integrative and experiential learning, the History Design Lab Institute is an intensive, two-day, winter-term workshop that is an extension of Nunley’s <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/history/history-design-lab">History Design Lab</a>.</p> <p>Instead of the typical written history paper, projects created through the History Design Lab devise innovative ways to answer questions about history. Those approaches include digital humanities, exhibit design, oral history, podcasts, historical fiction, and public history. The lab also provides a space for those who are working on collaborative history projects to workshop their ideas.</p> <p>The pair saw the institute as a way to bring together students, faculty and staff, and community members who are working on these collaborative history projects. As such, the History Design Lab Institute served as a launch point for several on-campus winter term projects, including Practicum in Exhibit Design, Podcasting �鶹��Ƶ News, and Sonic Arts in Society.</p> <p>“We were delighted by the range of faculty from different departments and staff from different parts of campus who attended and are working on community collaborative projects,” says Boster. </p> <p>Participants heard from speakers who presented on a variety of topics, including Liz Strong ‘09, coordinator for the Obama Presidency Oral History Project, who covered core ethical practices of oral history, and Brooke Bryan, assistant professor of writing and digital literacy at Antioch College, who presented on oral history in the liberal arts. Academic Engagement & Digital Initiatives Coordinator Megan Mitchell led a technical session on how to use open source web publishing platforms.</p> <p>Senior history major Nancy Handelman says the pairing of her interests led her to participate in the History Design Lab Institute. “The project merged two things I am interested in: history and storytelling. As a senior, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do post-grad, and this institute was a good opportunity to learn about broader fields within history that also resonated with me personally.”</p> <p>Project participants learned skills such as the basics of interviewing, which included methods on how to successfully structure interviews, storytelling, and career pathways for those interested in public and oral history.</p> <p>“The institute got my creative gears turning in terms of how to go about interviewing someone correctly, with the right ethics, techniques or strategies, and how to hone in on a subject to pursue,” says Handelman.</p> <p>The institute also featured three ongoing historical research projects, including the Shirley Graham Du Bois Project, the Latina/o/x Orla History of Northeast Ohio Project, and Remembering �鶹��Ƶ Public Schools/Harvesting School Stories Project, as a means of exploring collaborative historical research methods. </p> <p>“The project presentations are really important because some of the participants want to launch a project and had been collecting stories, but they weren’t sure how to get started,” says Nunley. “This gave people the opportunity to ask questions such as, ‘where did you even begin?’”</p> <hr> <p><em>The History Design Lab Institute was sponsored by the Bonner Center for Community-Engaged Learning, Teaching, & Research; �鶹��Ƶ College Department of History; Gertrude B. Lemle Teaching Center; and the History Design Lab.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-01-15T12:00:00Z">Wed, 01/15/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Hillary Hempstead</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The two-day project during winter term offers an intensive look at how to launch a collaborative oral history project, along with methods of project design and presentation.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2496">�鶹��Ƶ History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2381">Bonner Center</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25381">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25311">Comparative American Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/history" hreflang="und">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/comparative-american-studies" hreflang="und">Comparative American Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Attendees listen to a presentation in the History Design Lab Institute.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>App-based Tour Illuminates �鶹��Ƶ’s History</h1> <p>hhempste — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 14:00:38 +0000</p> <span>App-based Tour Illuminates �鶹��Ƶ’s History</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2019-01-15T09:00:38-05:00" title="Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - 09:00">Tue, 01/15/2019 - 09:00</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Some of the most repeated �鶹��Ƶ College history tidbits may be these: that it was the first college to admit all students without respect to race, and it was the first to admit women alongside men. But in addition to those defining features, the college and town have a rich history that bears additional explanation.</p> <p>“�鶹��Ƶ has an interesting, contested heritage,” says Gary Kornblith, emeritus professor of history. “The town looks very different to those who are connected to the college and very different if you’re part of the town that lives below the poverty line. It’s different if you’re a tenured professor or part of another group.”</p> <p>Kornblith, along with several other �鶹��Ƶ citizens including Library Archivist <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/libraries/oberlin-college-archives/about/our-staff" target="_blank">Ken Grossi</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span>; Emerita Professor of History Carol Lasser; Laurel Price Jones ’70; former �鶹��Ƶ Associate Professor Rhys Price Jones; Liz Shultz, director of the <a href="http://www.oberlinheritagecenter.org/" target="_blank">�鶹��Ƶ Heritage Center</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span>, <a href="/node/32566">Annessa Wyman</a>, president of the �鶹��Ƶ <a href="http://oaaghg.com/" target="_blank">African American Genealogy & History Group</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span>; and group member Phyllis Yarber Hogan, endeavored to chronicle various experiences in the city.</p> <p>So they banded together to create the <a href="https://serve.oberlin.edu/agency/detail/?agency_id=88564" target="_blank">Coalition for �鶹��Ƶ History </a><span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span>, whose purpose is “to tell �鶹��Ƶ’s stories in the plural,” says Kornblith.</p> <p>While the coalition explored the idea of creating a brick and mortar museum to tell the city’s stories, finding a location to house the project proved to be a challenge. But during a sculpture garden tour that used an app to educate users, Kornblith and Lasser stumbled upon the technology they realized could be useful in educating about history—without the expensive overhead of a physical museum.</p> <p>“We saw great possibilities with using an app—we could easily create multiple tours. I looked into the cost, and the app was free to use. So the price was right,” says Kornblith.</p> <p>The app’s structure also provided an ideal way for the coalition to easily serve various audiences. Because of �鶹��Ƶ’s varied history, it was important to the group to highlight a range of �鶹��Ƶ experiences.</p> <p>As of now, the group has created <a href="https://izi.travel/en/united-states/city-guides-in-oberlin" target="_blank">four tours</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span> that focus on the following: �鶹��Ƶ schools, Westwood Cemetery, Groveland Street’s African American community, and �鶹��Ƶ College.</p> <p>A fifth tour, led by Lasser and a current �鶹��Ƶ student, covering the history of the town is in the works. Kornblith says the group has discussed producing additional tours in the future. </p> <p>Produced by Kornblith and Grossi, “�鶹��Ƶ College: The First Century” takes users on a walk on and around Tappan Square, with eights stops in total. It introduces visitors to the early history of the college, including the founders’ decisions to admit women alongside men and the role of students and faculty in the struggle against slavery in the decades leading up to the Civil War.</p> <p>The tours are not only a resource for the public. Grossi, who provides instructional sessions for classes including first-year seminars and a history research methods course, also sees a place for them in the classroom.</p> <p>“It is my intention to either reference or use the tour during instructional sessions or presentations when discussing 19th century �鶹��Ƶ history,” Grossi says. “The tour would provide another method to share our history with students. I would also encourage students to try all the tours created by members of the Coalition for �鶹��Ƶ History.”</p> <p>Each of the �鶹��Ƶ tours can be accessed for free on the <a href="https://izi.travel/en/united-states/city-guides-in-oberlin" target="_blank">izi.Travel website</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span> or by downloading the izi.Travel app from your smartphone’s marketplace.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2019-07-15T12:00:00Z">Mon, 07/15/2019 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Hillary Hempstead</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>What began as an aspiration to open a history museum in �鶹��Ƶ morphed into a series of app-based tours that aim to represent the city’s diverse history.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2496">�鶹��Ƶ History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2597">Faculty and Staff</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25381">History</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/history" hreflang="und">History</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">A historical marker in downtown �鶹��Ƶ, overlooking Tappan Square.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Bringing Science to Life Through Journalism</h1> <p>hhempste — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 15:00:45 +0000</p> <span>Bringing Science to Life Through Journalism</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2018-06-19T11:00:45-04:00" title="Tuesday, June 19, 2018 - 11:00">Tue, 06/19/2018 - 11:00</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When Dyani Sabin ’14 began at �鶹��Ƶ, she was almost certain of her future career, and aspirations of becoming a veterinarian placed her on the premed track.</p> <p>But during the premed information session meeting at Orientation, Sabin was confronted with a difficult truth. The already defined roadmap of classes that prepare students for medical school didn’t quite fit the picture of what she imagined for her liberal arts college experience. Sabin wanted the latitude to explore a variety of topics and take diverse classes.</p> <p>“I knew that I craved broad experiences,” says Sabin. “So when I learned that a predefined set of classes was what was required to [be premed], I opted out.”</p> <p>Instead, Sabin found her home in the biology department. One of the first courses she took was Biology 101, to which she attributes her love of the field and eventually becoming a biology major. During her time at �鶹��Ƶ, Sabin worked in various labs and conducted research with Associate Professor of Biology <a href="/node/5201" target="_blank">Angie Roles</a> for a project studying crayfish.</p> <p>“As soon as I entered her lab, it all just clicked for me. I got to work with Professor Roles for years doing research, but also while exploring the things I wanted at �鶹��Ƶ—such as taking a class about ancient Olympics.”</p> <p>Following Sabin’s senior year, the �鶹��Ƶ native took a gap year and worked as a night supervisor in the main library while contemplating her next move. At the library, she discovered science journalism—a pursuit that combined both her love of science and a broad range of topics—so she decided to apply for the master’s program in Science, Health, and Environmental reporting at New York University.</p> <p>After graduating from the program, Sabin worked for several publications, including <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/"><em>Scientific American</em></a> and at <a href="https://www.inverse.com/"><em>Inverse</em></a>, an online science and technology media company. While reporting, she covered such topics as an electric car race in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood and the logistics of how autonomous cars are tested at a transportation research facility outside of Columbus, Ohio.</p> <p>“The best thing about science journalism is that I get to have a breadth of experiences,” says Sabin. “And I get to go places where others aren’t allowed to go [and do] once in a lifetime things.”</p> <p>Sabin enjoys her work in journalism and she doesn’t see that changing any time soon.</p> <p>“I love science journalism. But I also think it’s a very hard time to be a science journalist—or a journalist in general. But right now I’m not ready to leave. I want to make this into a career that I can do, even if it has to be supplemented with other work.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2018-06-19T12:00:00Z">Tue, 06/19/2018 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Hillary Hempstead</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A love of the sciences, paired with a stint at �鶹��Ƶ College Library, led Dyani Sabin to a career in science journalism.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2360">After �鶹��Ƶ</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25251">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=181496">Journalism</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/angie-roles" hreflang="und">Angela (Angie) Roles</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/biology" hreflang="und">Biology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Dyani Sabin</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Main Library Will Be Named for Activist, Alumna Mary Church Terrell</h1> <p>hhempste — Tue, 22 May 2018 19:09:19 +0000</p> <span>Main Library Will Be Named for Activist, Alumna Mary Church Terrell</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2018-05-22T15:09:19-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 15:09">Tue, 05/22/2018 - 15:09</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When Director of Libraries Alexia Hudson-Ward moved into her spacious, bookshelf-lined office on the main library’s first level, she was playfully warned by library staff there were ‘ghosts’ present in the building. But when one particular book title continually fell from its shelf, she had to wonder, archly, if there might be something to the good-natured advisory.</p> <p>“I have so many books, but one particular title kept falling onto the floor. Even College Archivist Ken Grossi, in witnessing this phenomenon said to me ‘Someone is trying to tell you something.’ I thought it was likely just caused by vibrations, but no other books ever fell—except for the book by Mary Church Terrell, <em>A Colored Woman in a White World</em>. This happened long before the Board of Trustees made the announcement that the main library was going to named in her honor. So I don’t know what it was—if it was Terrell or just someone else saying, ’you need to read this book.’”</p> <p>Nearly two years later, the occurrence seems it could have been foreshadowing. An exhibit focused on Mary Church Terrell’s life will open during Commencement/Reunion Weekend, and a naming ceremony will take place during the October 6 inauguration of President Carmen Twillie Ambar.</p> <h5>Mary Church Terrell: Educator, Feminist, Activist</h5> <p>Considered one of the progenitors of the modern civil rights movement, Mary Church Terrell was born in 1863 to mixed-race, formerly enslaved parents. An 1884 graduate of �鶹��Ƶ College, Terrell was an educator, feminist, and activist who worked to further social justice during a pivotal time in which one’s gender and race were limiting factors. She was a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and signed the charter that established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).</p> <p>Terrell was also a prolific writer who used her prose to further her social and political concerns; her scholarly articles, poems, and short stories appeared in numerous journals and magazines. In 1940, she published her autobiography, <em>A Colored Woman in a White World</em>, which details her struggles with gender and race discrimination in the United States.</p> <p>“We have pictures of her [in the �鶹��Ƶ College Archives] as an older woman on the picket line with signs, protesting,” says Hudson-Ward. “Mary Church Terrell really did embody the spirit of the institution around social justice and how one person can change the world.”</p> <p>In recent years, Terrell has <a href="http://time.com/4196840/mary-church-terrell/">re-entered the spotlight</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span> for her role in <em>District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., Inc</em>. The case brought about a unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that invalidated segregated restaurants in Washington D.C. This decision took place a year before Brown v. Board of Education, the Court’s landmark school desegregation ruling in 1954.</p> <p>In February 2016, Terrell’s activist work was the subject of a campus symposium, <a href="https://calendar.oberlin.edu/event/complicated_relationships_mary_church_terrells_legacy_for_21st_century_activists#.Vssh0owrJaR">Complicated Relationships: Mary Church Terrell's Legacy for 21st Century Activists</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span> . Organized by Jane and Eric Nord Associate Professor of Africana Studies Pam Brooks and Emerita Professor of History Carol Lasser, the event brought Terrell’s civil rights work to the forefront and celebrated a significant gift of <a href="http://oberlinarchives.libraryhost.com/?p=collections/controlcard&id=553">Mary Church Terrell’s letters, diaries, photographs, flyers, and awards</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span> to the college archives.<br> <br> Symposium panelist and trustee Lillie Edwards says the interest in Terrell during the past few years, particularly through the symposium, has affirmed �鶹��Ƶ’s singular position in the history of higher education in the United States, as well as its “complicated relationship” with inclusion, equality, and equity.</p> <p>“The symposium revealed the ways Terrell’s courageous life and leadership embodied �鶹��Ƶ’s legacy of confronting complications and ‘running toward the noise.’ Naming the �鶹��Ƶ main library in Terrell’s honor affirms something more: that Mary Church Terrell has come home to �鶹��Ƶ, not only for the people who will use her papers to shape our understanding of social justice activism, but also to claim the library—and �鶹��Ƶ—as an inclusive personal, intellectual, spiritual, and cultural space,” Edward says.</p> <p>Of the naming, Brooks says she can hardly think of a better person to honor. “Terrell embodied the determination that it took for a young black woman at that time to live and work in a totally white environment. As an educator, activist, and woman, she personifies all of these ideas and understandings of what our school stands for or hopes to stand for. She gave a great deal to the institution and to our country.”</p> <p>“Terrell is a woman of national and international prominence,” says Lasser. “We wanted to honor her. I’d like to acknowledge the students who’ve done research based on the records that are currently in the archives. [These students] have led the way in illuminating the meaning of Terrell’s life and her history with the college.”</p> <h5>Celebration Kicks Off Commencement/Reunion Weekend; Official Ceremony to Follow</h5> <p>As part of the naming, an exhibit honoring Terrell’s life will be unveiled during Commencement/ Reunion Weekend and on view in the Lemle Academic Commons inside Mudd Center. The exhibit will encompass four areas: learning, labor, leadership, and legacy. The intention of this approach is to elevate Terrell’s story around the model of the institution that she really embraced, says Hudson-Ward. “We want to celebrate the educational, learning part of this, when she could have become a socialite. She didn’t have to focus on the things she did; she had the financial means to live a very charmed life. [This exhibit will celebrate] her leadership and the quiet and refined ways in which she did things, as well as her legacy—how she has influenced generations of women and generations of leaders within civil rights.”</p> <p>Grossi says that he is excited for the opportunity to include in the exhibit the rich materials from the Archives that document the life and legacy of Mary Church Terrell.</p> <p>The official main library naming ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. October 6, when the college will also celebrate the inauguration of President Carmen Twillie Ambar. Along with the naming, the library’s main level will undergo an interior refresh, including an update to the green soffit that will bear Mary Church Terrell’s name. Additionally, Hudson-Ward says library patrons can look forward to new pieces of furniture, updated paint colors, and some reconfiguration of the library’s main level. “We want people to know that Mudd Center is not changing its name—but that the main library is being named.”</p> <p>Plans are also in the works for a traveling exhibit focused on Terrell’s life. “The goal is to create a series of educational panels that we would not just showcase on campus, but that local schools, churches, community centers, and organizations could request to learn about the wonderful story of Mary Church Terrell,” says Hudson-Ward.</p> <p>Other initiatives include an online presence to honor Terrell, created by the library’s digital initiatives team. Library staff will also release a commemorative bookmark set in time for Commencement/Reunion Weekend, with another more elevated bookmark set to be released later, along with a 2019 commemorative calendar.</p> <p>"�鶹��Ƶ’s history is steeped in moments of recognition of the College’s landmark achievements in its early years that provided access to higher education for women and African Americans,” says President Ambar. “By naming our library after Mary Church Terrell, we are honoring her incredible courage, her great work, and her historic achievements which have made American society more fair and just.”<br> <br> When thinking about the significance of the naming, Hudson-Ward is exhilarated to be involved in this moment in �鶹��Ƶ’s history. “People are looking for the progenitors of our thinking around protesting, community leadership, community organizing, and social justice—and Terrell has emerged as a very prominent person.”</p> <hr> <p><em>Those who attend the Friends of the �鶹��Ƶ College Libraries reception during Commencement/Reunion Weekend will learn about additional developments for the libraries. Limited edition Mary Church Terrell commemorative bookmarks will also be distributed in the main library during the weekend.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2018-05-22T12:00:00Z">Tue, 05/22/2018 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Hillary Hempstead</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The main library in Mudd Center will be named in honor of 1884 graduate Mary Church Terrell, an educator, feminist, civil rights activist, and a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and the NAACP.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2394">Commencement/Reunion Weekend</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25381">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4821">Africana Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/history" hreflang="und">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/africana-studies" hreflang="und">Africana Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Mary Church Terrell</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">�鶹��Ƶ College Archives</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Reunifying �鶹��Ƶ’s Natural History Collection</h1> <p>hhempste — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 17:22:49 +0000</p> <span>Reunifying �鶹��Ƶ’s Natural History Collection</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-08-29T13:22:49-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - 13:22">Tue, 08/29/2017 - 13:22</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Inside King Hall, Associate Professor of Anthropology Amy Margaris ’96 sifts through bins of plastic sleeves. In each is a carefully preserved object from the department’s ethnographic collection. Margaris gingerly holds a colorfully threaded <a href="https://danglingcollections.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/heart-sack/">sack</a> made from the pericardium—the membrane that surrounds the heart—of an animal. The once pliable bag, Margaris explains, used to flex and bend to hold whatever was placed inside.</p> <p>Alongside the delicate bag are other objects, including a bentwood cedar box, whose purpose was likely for berry collecting, and an oblong wooden bowl whose dark stains suggest it was a vessel for holding meat.</p> <p>These are just three items of 36 in �鶹��Ƶ’s Arctic collection, an assemblage of ethnographic items that came to the college in 1889 as part of a collection exchange with the Smithsonian Institution (at that time called the United States National Museum). Each of the pieces in the collection was obtained by a who’s who of 19th century Smithsonian naturalists who travelled to various Native communities in Alaska and eastern Canada to meet Yup’ik, Inuit, and Innu peoples.</p> <p>“Their sister objects are still at the Smithsonian in a <a href="http://alaska.si.edu/">famed collection</a>,” Margaris says.</p> <p>And while this collection is noteworthy, it is not the only impressive collection that exists on campus. It’s just one of many that Margaris has dubbed the college’s “dangling collections”— objects and specimens spread across various campus buildings that at one time had a home in the college’s natural history museum. You may even walk past artifacts from the former museum without even realizing it. Those bird specimens you see in the hallways of the Science Center? Part of the museum. The fossils on the fourth floor of the Carnegie Building? Those too were once in the museum.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-left"> <figcaption>Objects in �鶹��Ƶ's Arctic collection were once part of the Smithsonian Institution and still possess their handwritten tags. Photo by Jennifer Manna.</figcaption> </figure> <p>So why do we have these collections? And what happened to the museum?</p> <p>In the 19th century, there was a campus museum called the �鶹��Ƶ College Museum, explains Margaris. It began as a small-scale natural history “cabinet” and was administered by Albert Wright, a professor of geology. Wright gathered the bulk of the early items from Northeast Ohio and from trips to Jamaica in 1863, to the West in 1868, and to upstate New York in 1869. All of the items were kept in what was termed the “College Cabinet.” (Collections of natural history specimens and curiosities were called “cabinets” in the 18th and early 19th centuries.)</p> <p>Contributions from �鶹��Ƶ alumni, many doing missionary work across the globe, helped the collection expand rapidly. In 1875, the collections were moved to <a href="http://www.oberlinlibstaff.com/omeka_oca/items/show/32">Cabinet Hall</a>, a structure built specifically for exhibition and recitation space. The building caught fire three times but, miraculously, no specimens were damaged. The collections continued to grow, and the College Cabinet was eventually termed a “museum,” as was the fashion in the 1880s.</p> <p>The collections were moved to various locations after that, including to a “fireproof” building at <a href="http://www.oberlinlibstaff.com/omeka_oca/items/show/151">Spear Library</a> on Tappan Square. When the collections outgrew the space in the library, there were attempts to fund the museum and erect a dedicated building to house the collections, but plans never came to fruition.</p> <p>“Many schools at the time were building these kinds of collections,” says Margaris. “But like at a lot of colleges, the �鶹��Ƶ museum eventually faded away. As the sciences changed and methods of inquiry changed, they were seen as out of date and as taking up too much space. Those collections that were retained were dispersed among departments. The taxidermied bird specimens went to biology, the mineralogical specimens went to geology, and anthropology received the ethnological objects.”</p> <p>Margaris along with other faculty and staff members on campus have embarked upon an effort to bring these objects to the forefront and assemble them—at least digitally—into a “Cabinet 2.0.” While this effort actually began in the early 2000s when Margaris’ advisor, Professor of Anthropology Linda Grimm, and Albert Borroni ’85 the director of �鶹��Ƶ Center for Technologically Enhanced Teaching (OCTET) digitized the Ethnographic Collection, there has been a renewed interest in digitization. Now, with Margaris’ students working on the initiative, this project has spanned decades.</p> <p>Digitizing objects from the long-dispersed collections presents numerous opportunities. “We not only make it possible for researchers at �鶹��Ƶ and beyond to find and use our collections in research, we can also learn more about what we have,” says Digital Initiatives Librarian Megan Mitchell. “We’ve been contacted by scholars abroad who have used our digital collections and provided us with additional information about objects. There’s a lot of potential for making connections with people, places, and things.”</p> <p>Professor of Geology Karla Hubbard is one such faculty member who has been part of the digital initiative. Hubbard is working to digitize the thousands of objects in the paleontology collection of the former �鶹��Ƶ College Museum.<br> <br> “It is a very slow and careful process,” says Hubbard. “The collection has been languishing without serious curatorial attention for a very long time, so as we work on digitizing the specimens, we also update the information associated with each [object]. The database we create will be available to students for research projects and laboratory exercises, as well as something available to the global research community interested in fossil specimens from all over the world.”</p> <p>As for the 36-piece Arctic collection, the Department of Anthropology and Mudd Center library staff plan to work with a student research assistant in this fall to incorporate the objects into the online database in the <a href="http://www2.oberlin.edu/library/digital/ocec/">�鶹��Ƶ College Ethnographic Collection</a>, a hub for �鶹��Ƶ’s many ethnological materials that were once housed in the former museum.</p> <p>Moving these objects online not only allows for access to the collections by students and researchers, but it also give access to those people whose ancestors created the objects.</p> <p>“These objects are cultural treasures,” says Margaris. “What we see happening more and more is Native people are visiting collections such as this as a way to learn old techniques and gather new knowledge. They’re not repatriating the objects. Instead, they’re repatriating the associated knowledge so that young people can learn about their ancestors and how they lived and carry that knowledge forward into the future.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2017-08-29T12:00:00Z">Tue, 08/29/2017 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Hillary Hempstead</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2583">College of Arts and Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25296">Archaeological Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=24656">Anthropology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25366">Geosciences</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/amy-margaris" hreflang="und">Amy Margaris ’96</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/anthropology" hreflang="und">Anthropology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/geosciences" hreflang="und">Geosciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/archaeological-studies" hreflang="und">Archaeological Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Associate Professor of Anthropology Amy Margaris ’96 sits amid objects in a 36-piece Arctic collection that she’s leading the effort to digitize. </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jennifer Manna</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Alexia Hudson-Ward Fills Azariah Smith Root’s Very Big Shoes</h1> <p>anagy — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 19:22:58 +0000</p> <span>Alexia Hudson-Ward Fills Azariah Smith Root’s Very Big Shoes</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-06-22T15:22:58-04:00" title="Thursday, June 22, 2017 - 15:22">Thu, 06/22/2017 - 15:22</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Alexia Hudson-Ward likes to brag about her namesake and endowed title, Azariah Smith Root, because anyone in the world of librarianship knows about his legendary career.</p> <p>For the uninitiated, Root (�鶹��Ƶ graduate of 1884 and 1887) was the college’s first professional librarian from 1887 until his death. He is often referred to as the <a href="http://www.anb.org/articles/09/09-01050.html">Dean of American College Librarians</a>. He led the growth of �鶹��Ƶ's collection through gifts and exchange programs, and by 1924 <a>he</a> had established �鶹��Ƶ's library as the largest college library in the nation. He was also a leader in the library profession and served as the college’s interim president. That cafe in Mudd Center? Named after him. The second floor meeting space in Carnegie? Also named after him. He was a pretty big deal.</p> <p>Hudson-Ward gleefully shows off Root’s walking cane, a piece from the library’s special collections that was presented to her when she took over as director of libraries one year ago in July. (She may have been seen taking it around campus with her.) Root’s picture hangs on her office wall, and she keeps some of his books on her shelf.</p> <p>“Azariah Smith Root was someone who believed in equitable access to information in a time in which that was a radical idea because in America, people of color and women were not allowed in public library spaces. Or, if they had access to resources, it was typically aged material or not germane to advancing education. To have someone like Azariah Smith Root say regardless of the edifice you reside in—be you man, woman, or person of color, that this space was a space for you to grow—was powerful.”</p> <p>To be the second woman and first person of color in this position is equally exciting for Hudson-Ward.</p> <p>“I believe that all of us are the sum total of experiences that we bring. To be welcomed to provide a different cultural lens, being a woman of color, and <a>being </a>a so-called younger library director, is truly a blessing. I could not be more happy or more proud.”</p> <p>A typical day for the library director can go from delving into big-ticket issues like digital humanities, faculty engagement, information literacy, and haptic learning (interactive learning through touch), to administrative and facility issues.</p> <p>“I will come to Mudd Center to take it all in and see how people are using the space. That occupies a lot of my thoughts,” she says. “I start the day with a long list of things I want to achieve, but throughout the day that list gets shorter and shorter. I’ll feel good if I can achieve 15 things, but it gets whittled down. I try not to be so dogmatic and allow myself the opportunity to engage with faculty, staff, and students.</p> <p>“I tend to be in quite a few meetings, many of which are very interesting. We have our day-to-day process, things like facilities management. For example, we had a resident skunk that would appear during the busiest parts of the day! Or, we could be talking about what’s going on in Azariah’s Cafe. Then there’s the really intriguing work in terms of how our different facilities support curricular engagement and faculty engagement. In what ways can we further enhance collaborative engagement for all of these very unique academic communities that desire physical or virtual space in the library? That is something that’s on my mind every day.”</p> <p>Hudson-Ward came to �鶹��Ƶ from Penn State University Abington College, where she was a tenured librarian. In fact, she had just finished a sabbatical when she was contacted about the opportunity. “I kind of vacillated because Pennsylvania is my home, and I just became a grandmother. My husband and I talked about it, and he said, ‘Ohio, here we come.’”</p> <p>Throughout the interview process, “I was extremely impressed with the students. But I was also impressed with the libraries and the institutional commitment to excellence in all realms, including the development of the student as the whole person,” she says. “Institutions talk about it, but here, you can actually see it in the various ways we guide students through their educational experiences, including winter term. It made me super excited that we were really putting some mettle behind this notion of full-person development.”</p> <h4>What’s at stake for libraries</h4> <p>It’s is an interesting time to be a library director—this being an era when the legitimacy of information is constantly called into question.</p> <p>The �鶹��Ƶ College Libraries, along with the Allen Memorial Art Museum, received a $150,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to assist in planning the future of what is affectionately called the GLAM sector, which stands for Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums. With the grant, the library and museum will partner to conduct a series of focus groups with faculty, students, and staff to talk about what it means to have a shared experience—things like a shared catalog and shared curricular goals.</p> <p>“We are at a critical point in the world’s history around the synergistic connection between our past, present, and future in terms of libraries, museums, and archives, and in which ways those three entities can find common synergies and have common goals. Our desire is to not just be custodians of materials in a protective manner, but also ensure that individuals can interact with those materials in a way that can be deeply enriching.”</p> <p>Hudson-Ward says that concept is playing itself out internationally. The Library of Congress has invited �鶹��Ƶ to participate in a project called the World Digital Library.</p> <p>“When you think about some of the turmoil that’s going on in the world, specifically regions of Africa and the Middle East where there is a deliberate effort by insurgents and terrorists to destroy cultural relics and history, how do we capture that history so that it’s preserved in perpetuity? What is our role as an international body who believes in being keepers of the archives, and how do we come together? That’s a huge topic in librarianship.”</p> <p>Another pressing development for the library staff is the responsible use of information and helping users decipher fake news. Hudson-Ward says a group of librarians organized a successful fake news forum in the spring 2017 semester and are planning more educational activities. “There are all these places and social media platforms where you get snippets of information. We want to help you negotiate those bits versus editorial expounding.”</p> <p>Hudson-Ward is also paying special attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion.</p> <p>“We’re having some really rich conversations about our core values and principles surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. We recently had very good talks about gendered experiences and transgendered experiences, and if we are as diverse as we claim we want to be. Our library staff is very self-aware. They worked on a 2014 self study, and they’ve been very open and receptive to talking about implicit bias. That makes me excited as their director because it means we’re preparing to talk to our community about very difficult topics.”</p> <p>Hudson-Ward’s office in Mudd Center is filled with natural light and the aforementioned display of Root’s personal items. Some of her favorite library spaces include the special collections and archives reading room, the conference room in the conservatory library, and the back end of the art library, where “I sit when I feel like being pensive.” Not surprisingly, the Root Room is a personal favorite space on campus.</p> <p>“The powerful thing about libraries is that they democratize learning,” she says. “You can come in here and guide yourself, or you can have someone to guide you. To walk in the very big footsteps of someone who was as visionary as Root and all of my predecessors, who thought so intentionally about my success even before I got here, is really an incredible thing.”</p> <div> <div> <div id="_com_1" uage="JavaScript"> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2017-06-22T12:00:00Z">Thu, 06/22/2017 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After a year on the job, �鶹��Ƶ’s director of libraries shares her vision for the position. </p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2359">Administration</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Director of Libraries Alexia Hudson-Ward holds a cane that belonged to Azariah Smith Root, �鶹��Ƶ's first library director.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Making an Imprint</h1> <p>Anonymous — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 18:44:43 +0000</p> <span>Making an Imprint</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-04-28T14:44:43-04:00" title="Friday, April 28, 2017 - 14:44">Fri, 04/28/2017 - 14:44</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Letterpress Printing has been a mainstay of on-campus winter term projects since it began seven years ago. Led by Ed Vermue, Special Collections and Preservation Librarian, the class introduces students to the basics of letterpress printing—typesetting, page architecture, page setting, and illustration—and allows them hands-on experience with rare printing presses, located on the second floor of Mudd Library. This year, the class crafted a children’s book, a clever take on the 2016 Presidential Election. Vermue and his students were also joined by Bob Keleman, adjunct instructor and alumnus of the Kent State University School of Visual Communication Design.</p> <p><a class="newshub_embed" href="https://youtu.be/u3YTO-g-eks">Letterpress Winter Term 2017</a></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2017-03-02T12:00:00Z">Thu, 03/02/2017 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/ed-vermue" hreflang="und">Ed Vermue</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">�鶹��Ƶ's letterpress printing studio.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Pang Fei Chiang</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Who's That Girl?</h1> <p>Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:01:20 +0000</p> <span>Who's That Girl?</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:01:20-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:01">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A marble statue by American sculptor John Adams Jackson (1825-1879), <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/about/the-reading-girl"><em>The Reading Girl</em></a> has held court in the �鶹��Ƶ College libraries since 1885. She served as a focal point for the central reading rooms of the old Spear and Carnegie libraries before finding a permanent home in Mudd Center, the main library. <em>The Reading Girl</em> is remembered by generations of �鶹��Ƶ students who, over the years, have embellished her with various articles of clothing and props (she sports a size 6 sneaker most of the time).</p> <p>Jackson modeled the sculpture in Florence, Italy, in 1869. It was purchased by Aaron A. Healy of Brooklyn, New York, who later gave it to �鶹��Ƶ College. At the dedication of Spear Library, Healy’s uncle, Professor A.H. Currier, noted her "singular fitness" for the library of the college that "first opened its doors to young women seeking higher education."</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-08-22T12:00:00Z">Mon, 08/22/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">The Reading Girl, a marble sculpture on the main floor of Mudd Center library.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvette Chen</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>