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I really enjoyed this post Leena. I think that it’s really important for the program facilitators to expand on the” limited to a particular way of engaging with conceptual art”. As the exhibition was all from QUT Alumni it is interesting that the facilitators didn’t draw out different ways of thinkgin about conceptual art. I think artist’s have some responsibility here, but I think a more productive discussion happens when they are drawn into a different conceptual space and have to work through ideas in dialogue with each other and the audience. Otherwise it’s just a series of artist talks…
Great post Rae, I’m firmly in the creativity is really freaking important camp too. I think you highlight the accessibility of makerspaces really well in this post. Makerspaces are a gateway library program and safe space for many marginalised groups, so as you write libraries to have some ethical considerations around including makerspaces, whether they have access to a 3D printer or not.
Hi Kate,
Sorry I wasn’t very specific. We are proposing a digital/ information literacy program for visual arts students. The Project manager and CI librarians would be doing a fair bit of development with faculty, contacting mentors and preparing the program before the semester started. Then when the semester started the CI librarians would be helping to run workshops/ events and assisting/ contributing in the online forum. These programs may not always occur in the physical library. So we were thinking of costing out the project manager’s and librarian’s time in the project development, but not in the program implementation.
The academics involved would be doing extra development work during the semester break too, so we were thought their time in project development should be paid for, but not during the semester. Does this sounds reasonable/ realistic?
Thanks Kate!
Thanks,
Ruth
Hi Chris, great post. I’m glad you expanded on our Twitter Chat discussion about trashy magazines. I know that very little will change in relation to the purchase of trashy magazines, but I think it’s important for librarians to talk about. I wonder whether if public libraries provided online access to these magazines as e-magazines (?) it would encourage more people to learn to use technology. I also wonder whether libraries need to purchase the entire selection of trashy magazines. I feel that by purchasing these magazines it makes the library complicit with the actions of the paparazzi, the misogyny and racism of celebrity “culture” and the questionable ethics of big business.
Hi Paola, I think library tours would be great fun. Every library I’ve been to has something special about it, whether it’s a huge collection of periodicals or access to a specific technology or space. I think tour would be a great way of catering to all levels of users informational needs. I have some students come in to the library who don’t know what a call number is, and the idea that the librarians have organised the resources in a system to make it easier for them to find what they need is equally foreign.
Great post Tracey. I agree with you, interacting with kids and teens is an incredibly important part of a librarian’s job. I don’t think that supervising them is the librarian’s responsibility, mainly for privacy reasons. I think if the library wants to be an inclusive and welcoming space for teens, then it should as you suggest focus on the users’ needs like homework and research help, rather than supervision.
Interesting review Sarah, I must admit I haven’t been to a story-time for a very long time. Did the kids seem to enjoy the program? It seems like a good idea to incorporate craft into story-time so the younger kids become used to the idea of the library as a makerspace.
Thanks for your post Chris, I agree with Luke that is seems like quiet and non-quiet sections are best. I would also argue that the Young Adults section shouldn’t be next to the kids section, especially if there are teenagers coming to the library to do homework. When I used to study at the Indooroopilly Library after high school, I always had to wear headphones to block out the noise of kids being kids. I think that often the YA gets put next to the children’s section, but I wonder whether that really after a careful analysis of the YA needs?
Hi Peldon, I thought your questions were really thoughtful and quite difficult to answer. In response to your first question, I don’t think all HDR students do utilise the research support offered by the library, and those that do I’m not sure that they are using it at the right time in their research. I think that liaison librarians are extremely competent but if their assistance and expertise is not used at the appropriate point in the research, their skills aren’t as useful. Your final question is the hardest to answer. Libraries measure the attendance of these programs, consultations with students and obviously the bibliometrics and altmetrics for publications, but how do you define success? If the librarian teaches the lecturer (who is probably very busy teaching and may not publish that much) who teaches the student (who may not publish anything) that seems like success but how do you capture that success?
Great Twitter Chat reflection Leena. I think you made a great point about ensuring that librarians’ skills are best utilised. I feel like that issue is really fundamental and hard to measure in many ways. I would extend your argument that Universities should try to ensure that librarians’ skills, experience and place within the University and research cycle are fully utilised by the academic staff.
I think these are really important questions to consider Luke, so thank you for this post. Travelling exhibitions cost the Gallery a lot of money, there’s insurance, shipping, negotiating to borrow work from commercial galleries/ trustees etc and of course the time it takes for the gallery staff to do it. Many of the costs around GLAMs are hidden from the public in Australia, so I think the Australian public expects things to be free. Internationally this is not the case at all. It is interesting to think about how programs that are “free admission” are valued by Australian society, in comparison to international programs and GLAMs that charge an entry fee and how they are valued in their societies.
Thanks for a really informative post Saurav. I agree that budgetary concerns do limit what technologies libraries can provide to their users, but at the same time as you started to draw out, there are different ways libraries can still provide access to these technologies. For many users, I think just a talk or presentation about for example 3D printers or Arduino would heplful. I think gaining a basic understanding of the design logics and strategies used in these technologies would also be very helpful to library users.
Thanks Hanan, I really enjoyed your post. I think you made a really good point about the difficulties displaying creativity in a professional environment governed by procedures. I would also argue that when the opportunities for creativity arise, they are also governed by procedures which isn’t really conducive to creativity and compounds the problem. As you pointed out and we explored in the Twitter Chat, creativity is fundamental to progress on a personal and societal level. Hopefully the culture of creativity and collaboration evident in makerspaces plays a greater part in future library environments.
Hi Luke, thanks for your post. I also think you drew out many interesting points from different sides of the argument. I was really interested in how different demographics interact/ attend/ contribute in makerspaces. What would you do to try and encourage a broader cultural engagement with makerspaces? Should the librarians consult and develop these programs alongside members of these communities to make these programs more inclusive?
Thank Leena, I really enjoyed your post. The idea that people stop learning really scares me too. I think that maybe that the pedagogy of current schooling undermines life-long education. There’s this idea that if you complete the task you are finished, but really it’s about how you learnt to do it and how you will continue to learn to do things. Thanks Leena!
