Archival Exhibits as Interdisciplinary Teaching Tools: A Case Study

This case study describes a recent exhibit of archival photographs at the University of Dayton and how it was used as a teaching tool in an undergraduate course. The exhibit, Faith, Reason, and One-Hour Processing, showcased archival photographs from the Marian Library, a special library on campus devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This article outlines how the project was developed in conjunction with a campus-wide theme, Faith and Reason, and used as a teaching tool in an interdisciplinary undergraduate course, Development of Western Culture in a Global Context (ASI 120). This article also suggests the interdisciplinary potential of Catholic archival collections and several ways to leverage archival exhibits, including partnerships for promotion and curricular integration

Exhibiting library collections online: Omeka in context

This case study describes Indiana University Libraries’ use of Omeka for online exhibits of digital collections. Omeka is placed in the context of other online exhibit tools being used by galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM). Omeka provides many benefits for different types of digital library collection exhibits and different levels of technical expertise but is currently limited in the ability to manage multiple exhibits of separate digital collections. Describing Omeka in the context of other online exhibit tools shows the need for this kind of evaluation to improve these tools for the GLAM community

Picture This: Using photo-research exhibits as science outreach

Is a picture worth a thousand words? This paper discusses a unique science outreach initiative–provocative photo-research exhibits on sexism in science. Gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is not only a concern from a social justice perspective, but also has negative consequences for scientific innovation and the economy, given that lack of workplace gender diversity is associated with lower revenue and returns. Science outreach (i.e., public outreach by scientists) could be particularly impactful in Waterloo, Ontario – a region known as ‘Canada’s Silicon Valley’ that contributes over $30-billion annually to the global economy. Portraying complex social issues using a visual medium has the potential to be accessible to a diverse audience. Images from two photo-research exhibits #DistractinglySexist (2015) and #DistractinglyHonest (2016) were based on social-psychological literature and findings from research by two of the authors (Hennessey and Foster) on the social costs of confronting sexism in science. Feedback indicates that these exhibits are effective outreach tools, and appear to facilitate discussions on sexism in science, and expand the social network of women in science by connecting those in the series and people who engage with exhibit materials

Beautiful Connector: Collection Showcase Exhibits as Teaching Tools and Community Builders

Libraries’ quest to strengthen connections with their constituencies often finds expression in new services and repurposed user spaces. Some literature portrays libraries as focusing away from collections toward new trends in library portfolios, but showcasing collections can prove very effective in bringing the library and user communities closer together. This article recounts two recent library collection showcase exhibits as successful examples of bolstering stakeholder connections: The first collections exhibit showcased books on Chinese language, literature, culture, art and architecture, history, and medicine received through the Window of Shanghai program. The second collections exhibit showcased scholarly books, U.S. government publications, citizen engagement and civic education kits, and illustrated research strategies in honor of Constitution Day

Always be Teaching: Reading Room Exhibits and Displays as Instructional Tools

A university\u27s special collections is often a featured stop on campus tours, whether for visiting dignitaries, prospective students, or guest lecturers. This poster presentation highlights successful planning that has allowed a special collections without dedicated classrooms or galleries to utilize limited exhibit spaces in the reading room for rotating and long-term exhibits that align with library-wide initiatives while also focusing student and visitor attention on curatorial strengths, cross-disciplinary opportunities, emerging research trends, and hidden collections. This study outlines the exhibiting of the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections. Founded in 1967, the department is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The collections have grown tremendously over five decades since the initial designation of the Libraries few rare books and accumulation of faculty papers and small assortment of historical document to include more than 28,000 linear feet of material, 2,100 processed collections, some marquee rare books, and rich Arkansiana holdings. There are several significant archives including the papers of Senator J. William Fulbright and Fulbright Program-related collections; Arkansas architects such as E. Fay Jones, a few significant literary figures such as John Williams and John Gould Fletcher, an invaluable collections related to civil rights and social movements in the state. While there are “treasures” in the stacks, the department must provide access and instruction and promote itself as research destination with limited reading room space, no dedicated classroom space, no dedicated gallery or event space, and just a few antiquated exhibit cases. Despite those limitations, outreach and exhibiting has seen a great deal of recent success. In 2011, the department redefined a faculty position as “research and outreach” and hired a full-time architectural archivist with years of professional experience in design fields. Since then the department as mounted at least six exhibits a year, greatly expanded its on-campus instruction, provided numerous pop-up and temporary exhibits outside of the library and off-campus, and vastly increased the awareness of both the breadth and depth of its holdings and its strong service orientation

Planar Hall effect in the Weyl semimetal GdPtBi

Observation of Weyl and Dirac Fermions in condensed matter systems is one of the most important discoveries. Among the very few available tools to characterize Weyl semimetals through electrical transport, negative magnetoresistance is most commonly used. Considering shortcomings of this method, new tools to characterize chiral anomaly in Weyl semimetals are desirable. We employ planar Hall effect as an effective technique in half Heusler Weyl semimetal GdPtBi to study chiral anomaly. This compound exhibits a large value of 1.5 mohm cm planar Hall resistivity at 2 K and in 9 T. Our analysis reveals that the observed amplitude is dominated by Berry curvature and chiral anomaly contributions. Through the angle dependent transport studies we establish that GdPtBi with relatively small orbital magnetoresistance is an ideal candidate to observe large planar Hall effect .Comment: Updated text