ARLIS/NA 54th Annual Conference

Libraries curate and host exhibitions for a range of contexts and purposes, and exhibitions are a popular means of public scholarship and outreach. For many library workers, however, these responsibilities are often secondary to their primary duties or job functions, requiring additional labor and frequently with limited or no formal training. This panel will explore how four different librarians, representing museum, academic, and art spaces, began working on exhibition projects and learned curatorial practices. Additionally, the panel will discuss how curatorial projects fit into their standard library work and broader library goals.

Curation and exhibition design are intersecting skills that draw from a variety of disciplines to advance information literacy, visual storytelling, and pedagogical practice in physical and digital spaces. In these spaces, library workers serve in multiple roles, including student mentors, visual educators, creative designers, and program managers. By translating our expertise and talents into exhibitions, we can create transformative experiences for our communities, whether through works of art or library resources. This viewpoint, which highlights creativity, authorship, and collaboration, serves as an act of resistance against the framing of librarians as customer service drones. More than a display of objects, exhibition work provides an important avenue of expression, scholarship, and creative growth.

A Library Exhibition Program for Everyone: Coordinating Both Library- and Community-Led Exhibits
Speaker: Heather Koopmans

What does one need to lead an exhibits program that includes library-initiated exhibits as well as those developed by members of an academic community? Heather Koopmans will share how she learned on-the-job to review and select exhibits as part of a program, co-plan exhibits with faculty and library peers (bridging departments and disciplines), showcase faculty- and student-generated art in the library, and evolve the program in alignment with changing priorities.

Back to School: Library Lessons in Museum Studies
Speaker: Jacob Lackner

How do museum studies and librarianship intersect in the world of exhibitions? Jacob Lackner will discuss leading a museum and exhibitions team, curating exhibits alongside students and faculty, and the experience of learning as a student in a museum studies MA program.

The Art of Museum Library Exhibitions: Combining Diverse Skills to Foster Creative Curation
Speaker: Rebekah S. Boulton

Rebekah Boulton is a museum librarian working in a public-facing reading room, and curates exhibitions of library materials within the museum’s exhibitions program and hosts related public programming. Like many librarians, Boulton came to this work with no formal exhibitions training, and draws from her background in art history and library studies to consider all aspects of curation to be able to convey the meaning and merit of materials to audiences.

Learning on Display: Curatorial Praxis in an Academic Art Library
Speaker: Courtney Hunt

Speaking from experiences at a public R1 university, Courtney Hunt will share how she learned to curate through the staging of a semester-long exhibition containing library and special collections materials as well as art. Hunt will also speak about running an exhibitions program of student/staff work in a standalone fine arts library.