Exhibits and Events at Carleton University Library

1. Exhibits and Events at Carleton University Library The creative process of designing and producing exhibits in an academic library

2. Learning Outcomes • The creative process: from idea to design • The principles of good design and experience design • Tips for running an exhibits program • Exhibits at MacOdrum Library

3. Ideas and inspiration • Creating an experience for your viewer

4. Academic libraries and creativity • Libraries are full of creative people. • Academic librarians are good at research. • We have connections to the experts on campus. • The experts are also our audience. • Exhibits in an academic environment: is both an intellectual and a creative process.

5. “We like to do exhibits; it is fun, allows creativity, shows off materials, and slips in some education along the way”– Erma Loveland* Exhibits are: “…an additional means of discourse, which allows creativity in the profession” • Tom Beck* * “Library Exhibits”exlibris@library.berkeley.edu. Exhibits in Libraries; A Practical Guide. p. 6

6. Why? • Raises the library’s visibility on campus • Allows librarians working on exhibits another way to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise • Engages the university community • Provides opportunities to forge relationships with colleagues in other disciplines

7. Even more advantages • Demonstrates the value of the library in a tangible way • Features parts of an academic library’s large collection and increases their visibility • Showcases unique and special items • Provide us with a different way of communicating the value of our work.

8. Exhibits: a scholarly pursuit? Producing an exhibit can be compared to writing an academic paper Same process: • select a topic • Locate and explore the sources • Develop a theme or thesis • Evaluate and select material to illustrate and interpret the theme • Assemble and present the material in the best manner to convey the theme • Publish the results, by putting it on public display

9. “At it’s best, the academic library exhibit is a scholarly effort, subject to review by a large audience”.* *Lucy S. Caswell “Building a strategy for academic library exhibits”College and Research Library News 46 (April 1985) p. 168

10. The Challenges An exhibit: • must be technically accurate and objective • it will be judged by a wide audience, including the experts, and must be understood by everybody • it must be attractively presented • it must contain the best possible physical evidence to support the exhibit’s theme • it must appeal to the intellect as well as the emotions • and if that is not enough, it has to be entertaining too!

11. One of our biggest challenges: Getting students to stop and look “The power of the object displayed to stop the viewer in his tracks, to convey an arresting sense of uniqueness”* * Stephen Goldblatt “Resonance and Wonder” ch. 3 in Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Displays. Steven D. Lavine. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1991. P. 42

12. First Steps • Decide who will coordinate the program • Develop policies and guidelines • Consider goals and objectives • Provide an online form for submitting proposals

15. Ideas and where they come from • Keep track of anniversaries, and historical events • Feature special collections, gift collections honouring donors and their families • Look for travelling exhibitions from embassies, museums, and organizations • Feature university department collections

16. More Ideas… • Coordinate with other events on campus. • Keep current about research and publishing on campus. • Approach experts on campus, highlight scholarly efforts of faculty, graduate students and alumni. • Approach subject specialists who can suggest the names of faculty, projects, and institutes that may lead to interesting topics • Look at library websites • Build it and they will come – one exhibit can lead to more proposals

17. Experience Design UX = User Experience: The quality of the experience a user has while interacting with a design Experience Design = the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments with close attention paid to the quality of the user experience

18. Gel and Creative Good Gel: A conference for leaders and innovators who care about the customer experience, founded by Mark Hurst from Creative Good. “A conference focused on good experience in all its forms, in art, business, technology, society, and life”. - Mark Hurst

20. Principles of Experience Design • Make a good first impression • Present fewer choices – focus on the essential and not the “nice to haves” • Limit distractions - less is more • Create a visual hierarchy; group related objects near each other • Avoid jargon • Provide signposts and clues • Use Emotion • Surprise people in a magical way!

21. IPOP • Ideas (knowledge, information) • People (their biographies, stories, photographs) • Objects (artifacts, descriptions of items) • Physical (colour, movement, sights, sounds, touch) POP

22. FLIP FLIP “Displays that have closely related and equally strong Ideas, People, Object, and Physical elements are most likely to result “flip” experiences.” * “Exhibition designers can create conditions whereby visitors may have serendipitous surprises that “flip” them into enjoying an unexpected experience.”** * Pekarik et al. “IPOP: A Theory of Experience Design”Curator: The Museum Journal vol. 57. no. 1 (January 2014) p. 19 ** Beghetto, R.A. “The Exhibit as Planned Versus the Exhibit as Experienced”Curator: The Museum Journal vol. 5 no. 1, (anuary 2014) p. 2

23. IPOP in practice • Attract – what people notice • Engage – What people do, influences their behaviour • Flip – how people judge the quality of the experience, if they have an additional unexpected experience, that is meaningful and memorable Andrew J. Pekarik et al. “IPOP: A Theory of Experience Design”, Curator: The Museum Journal. Vol. 57 no. 1. (January 2014) p. 11-12.

24. Good rules for text and labels • Labels should be short and focused • Write in a style everyone will understand: use an active voice, everyday vocabulary • Use lots of white space and margins • Point size should be no smaller than 20 • Main title should be readable at a distance • Each label should be able to stand alone. For more on on typographical design consult: Robin Williams The Non-Designer’s Design Book (2008).

25. Types of Exhibit Text • Title • Introductory text – introduces the main idea • Group or section text – introduces the main themes or groups of objects • Object labels – identifies individual items and how each connects with your main idea • Credits and acknowledgements

27. Good exhibit practices: • Always have an educational objective • Choose objects that will help tell the story • Use space effectively • Use colour consistently • Layer your content • The lay-out should be logical and clear • All textual content should have a high professional finish • Maintain your exhibit • Trust your creative instincts

28. The Exhibit Design Process Write and design the text Do a trial set-up Publicize the exhibit Install the exhibit Provide access to additional resources Evaluate and document • Think of why and how you will produce the exhibit • Decide on the overall theme • Develop and design the exhibit • Make lists, use checklists

29. Exhibits Planning Check-list To do immediately: • Set opening and closing dates and reserve exhibit space • Identify exhibit goals • Get approval from Library management To do in planning stage: • Research exhibit topic and narrow the theme • Develop initial design ideas • Define space requirements • Determine resources needed, staff, supplies, costs of materials, equipment • List material (books, objects, posters, etc.) to be used in exhibit To do at the production stage: • Plan, write and edit the text/captions • Finalize the design • Create any props • Have a trial set-up, try out layout, placement • Create publicity plan, alert webmaster To do the week before the opening: • Gather all material to be displayed • Print the text and captions; do any mounting • Gather all tools, equipment needed • Send text for publicity to webmaster To do the week of the installation: • Clean and prepare the space and/or display cases • Install the exhibit To do during the and after exhibit: • Maintain and clean the exhibit and monitor environmental conditions • Evaluate and document the exhibit (photos and description) • Take down exhibit • Return materials

30. Tips on supplies and equipment • Print your text on cover stock for quick professional captions and labels • Use acrylic stands to prop up text pieces • Get good quality book stands • Collect fabric (cotton, velvet) in various solid colours • Have the right equipment: a paper cutter, cutting boards, rulers, and cutting blades, and a well-stocked tool box.

31. Connecting your exhibit to more resources Use technology to provide resources for further reading/browsing: • Provide a QR Code • Put up a Webpage for your exhibit

35. Events • Exhibits can complement an event on campus • An exhibit can have events associated with it: lectures, book-talks, receptions • The library can host events such as local community or campus events, concerts, events to support instruction on campus, special annual events such as GIS Week

36. MacOdrum Library’s Exhibit/Events Program • History • Renovations 2013 • New program of exhibits and events 2013 to 2015

37. From idea to designing an experience • Freedom to Read week • Idea: an exhibit of banned and challenged books • How to involve the viewer and create an experience? • Plan an event: a public reading from various banned books

38. Freedom to Read exhibit Prototype for “peep show”.Center fold: topless sun bather in Where’s Waldo.

39. Freedom to Read exhibit • Choose a catchy title • Narrow the focus to books banned or challenged in Canada • Print the free poster pdfs from Freedom to Read website and display items from this year’s Kit • Use colours from poster and eye-catching yellow. • Add a video.

40. For further reading… • A bibliography is available in a Word document