Program
Trish Campbell, Exhibits and Program Coordinator at the Pollak Library with CSUF graduate students and Exhibit Program Assistants, Emma O’Halloran and Cristina Omidsalar, will present on a successful library history exhibit that engaged the campus community in the life, work, and mission of a university library.
Pollak Library: 60 Years of Community Service ran in early 2018 and involved close collaboration and planning with several community partners. The resulting exhibition highlighted the library's role in intellectual advancement, cultural enrichment, and even social activism. The idea is to consider the library as a living breathing entity, a member of the grander community. An estimated one quarter of our students, faculty, staff, and emeriti visited the library exhibition, meaning roughly 12,000 visitors. The exhibit sparked interest far beyond the campus, as the local press reported on it and the Library History Round Table's newsletter called on other libraries to create similar displays. The showcase of Pollak's history helped remind patrons in the present, both locally and elsewhere, that libraries play integral and diverse roles in the lives of communities.
In sharing Pollak's experiences, this presentation provides insights into the conception, development and installation of a library history exhibit. Presenters will discuss exhibits as educational tools and student intern perspectives in context with exhibits as high impact practices. The session will also cover logistics, budgetary, marketing, and outreach considerations. The audience should come away with a basic understanding of the time, personnel, money, and effort necessary to create a library history exhibit. Ideas for selecting artifacts and primary sources for displays will also be offered. The audience will learn practical tips that they can compile into an exhibit-building toolkit for their own libraries.
Exhibit Web Site:
http://www.library.fullerton.edu/visiting/exhibits/exhibit-2018-60th-anniversary.php
Press Coverage:
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/21/heres-something-to-check-out-at-the-cal-state-fullerton-library-and-its-not-a-book/
ALA Library History Round Table Coverage:
https://lhrtnews.wordpress.com/2018/04/11/showcasing-library-history-through-an-exhibit/
ALA Unit/Subunit: ALA
Meeting Type: Program
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Closed: Open
Emma O'Halloran
Graduate Student in Anthropology and Exhibit Program Assistant
California State University, Fullerton
Cristina Omidsalar
Graduate Student in Education and Exhibit Program Assistant
California State University, Fullerton