Shift #41 (1 hour) - Exhibits Office & Informal Learning Office Webinar

Shift #41 - Exhibits Office & Informal Learning Office Webinar

Tuesday, July 2, 2024 | 12-1 pm CST/1-2 pm EST (1 hr)

Details

Michelle Hurt, student/intern

Jennifer Gonzalez, practicum supervisor

This is a picture of Betsy Miller, the host for the first part of the webinar. On the left, we introduce ourselves in the chat (which is something we do at each webinar for Library of Congress interns).

Though I had really no prior knowledge of what this webinar was going to be about, after attending, this is now one of my favorites this summer. The webinar consisted of talks about two different offices - the Exhibits Office and the Informal Learning Office. I so wish I lived in or near D.C. in order to experience with both offices have to offer the public! This first part was led by Betsy Nahum Miller who began her talk speaking about the office's work to promote the Library of Congress's mission by bringing collections forward thru exhibits and interpretation of collections - all so that the general public can experience these collections. The Exhibits Office is actually part of the Center for Exhibits and Interpretation, created in October 2018; the CEI also includes the Design Office and the Publishing Office. The CEI has a pretty small staff, especially for a museum staff, consisting of the director, chief of interpretation, and 14 other staff members (1 deputy chief, 5 exhibition directors, 1 production officer, 3 production specialists, 1 digital projects coordinator, 3 registrars and 1 other staff member). The entire team is involved in the entire life-cycle of an exhibition, which includes other people and teams like the custodial division, the curatorial team, library management, conservation division, communications office, fabrication contractors, and more. Betsy talked about the different stages of the exhibit process, like the development stage (generating ideas, review of ideas, fundraising – this is very important because there are no appropriated government funds to build the exhibit – and research/object selection), the design stage (physical design of space & experience, objects review, audio/visual development), the production stage (fabrication of cases & walls, exhibit furniture components, purchase & installation of AV hardware, object installation), the object review stage (making sure exhibits are physically stable and ensuring that they are showing original objects if at all possible; if items are too fragile, then they will become digital displays), and the install stage (including checking to make sure cases are clear and arrived in good condition, labels are sent to the fabricator for printing, and brochures and other materials are printed). 

Apparently, this process can take several years from start to finish! Betsy also talked about how the library generates ideas, topics and themes for their exhibits. She said that exhibit ideas often come from an anniversary, some kind of remembrance (impactful current events), a donated collection that is significant and enriching, or even from a publication. 

This is an example of an exhibit at the Library of Congress, the Rosa Parks exhibit. The collection was donated but unfortunately, the exhibit didn't get its full run due to the pandemic. Thankfully all exhibits are archived online and is accessible by the public! 

The second part of the webinar was about the Informal Learning Office, led by Jennifer Ezell (Programs Specialist). This office is even smaller than the Exhibits Office, with only nine people. The ILO focuses on programs done onsite like the Young Readers Center and Programs Lab (which is part of the Jefferson building). This program is for people under the age of 16 to view books (since they are not allowed to in the Library of Congress's reading room); the books in the Library of Congress are reflected here but for younger audience. What's really neat is that children and youth can touch books and enjoy them during their visit. There are also film displays they can view as well as a story cube (with a collection of items from the library's general collections that they have digitized, with different themes based on what is going on at the Library of Congress). The ILO also hosts Family Days where the public can attend for free - past family days have involved square dancing and percussion demonstrations, but all events are geared towards families. In addition to onsite events and programs, the ILO has an offsite program like the Baseball Outreach (with the Washington Nations) related to the library's baseball collection - what a neat gateway for children and their families to learn about the collections at the Library of Congress! Lastly, the ILO also has online resources so that kids and families (and other members of the public) around the world can engage with them, like with their blog called Minerva's Kaleidoscope (where 84% of the audience is outside of the DC area), virtual student workshops (free for kids around the United States), and loc.gov/families for other online resources. 

I'm so glad I know about these two offices now; even though I live in Denton, I can still access lots of resources and show them to my kids!