Monday, January 30, 2012

Story Collider: Community + Campus Collaboration

Last Thursday evening I witnessed an amazing example of a community/campus collaboration: The Story Collider.  I heard about this event via Open.Michigan and decided to check it out.

The Story Collider is a group out of New York City that brings stories of science to real-life situations.  This is vague sounding, yes, so let me try to explain.  The Story Collider event I attended was produced through a partnership between Open.Michigan, the Ann Arbor District Library, and The Story Collider group.  This was not the first time The Story Collider had been in Ann Arbor, but it was the first time I had seen the performance, so I'll speak to that event.

Last Thursday's Story Collider featured two emcee's; one was a founder of The Story Collider Brian Wecht, the other was University of Michigan staff member Erik Hofer.  The emcee's introduced six different speakers who told a story about their life and science.  Now, let me preface the rest of this entry by saying I am not a "science person."  I've taken science, yes, but am by no means an Chemical Engineer, or a Cosmologist, or an English professor, like a few of the speakers were.  Yet, through their storytelling, I was taken to a place where science made sense, in the real world that we all live in.


One storyteller explained how she became to realize why she felt the way she did about science, another told about a time when they had an ephiphany about science and was able to express that to a professor, before they were even in college.  Another speaker talked about wikipedia editing, and yet another about a wild trip to Haiti to do relief work.  The other stories reflected the speaker's interactions with science then and science now (how could a museaum be wrong about something?), and about what it's like to live with a real, live scientist.


These stories touched me, and made me realize that events such as this can bring together the unlikelist of partners.  I would love to know more about how this collaboration came together, but it showed me that the opportunities for outreach are endless.


You can read more about the speakers, and check back for the podcasts of their stories.  And, if The Story Collider comes your way, be sure to check them out!

Monday, January 23, 2012

A Student Unconference

Last Saturday I attended Quasi-Con, an "unconference" developed from the ground up by my classmates at the School of Information.  It was so exciting to see my future colleagues in action - sharing information in an open, interesting way.  (That's what libraries do, right?)

Quasi-Con began with small group brainstorming sessions to tease out topics which were both relevant and interesting to participants.  The next part of the conference focused on sessions based off these brainstorming ideas.  The conference developers really gave the conference participants a chance to discuss and dig into library-related issues about which they are passionate.  What a great way to engage everyone!

In the afternoon, Quasi-Con featured presentations from speakers who'd signed up in advance.  Some presentations were 15-minute talks about disaster planning or the Occupy Wall Street library, others were panels on thinking about how your prior jobs (like being a trail guide) could apply to being a librarian.

The entire conference was creative, innovative, informative, and inclusive.  It was extremely fantastic to see my classmates produce such an awesome event.  Check out the http://quasicon2012.wordpress.com/ website for more information!

Monday, January 16, 2012

MLK Jr. Day and UM

Each year, the University of Michigan hosts a symposium in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.  It's a day that the University sets aside to reflect on his work - and the work still going on around us. Martin Luther King Jr. Day gives students, staff, faculty, departments and units a chance to express themselves and they way they choose to reflect upon the important work that Martin Luther King laid out for his generation and ours.

The University of Michigan Library is co-sponsoring two events: a screening of Fordson (today) and Step Afrika Dance Performance (January 19).

The Detroit Center hosted an event as well, proving that the symposium can include and bring together various communities.

It's days like today - when class and some work are canceled - that I reflect on what is really important in our world and at the University of Michigan.  It's a day to stop and consider how my future career should work towards goals of equality and the riddance of oppression. It shouldn't take a day to help me remember that those goals underlie what I want to work toward, but it's a great day to do this with others from the campus and the community.

May your MLK Jr. Day bring reflection and contemplation - in whatever way that means to you.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Blog Day now = Monday!

As with a new semester comes a new schedule and thus I'll be attempting to blog weekly on Mondays. 

Since I just logged quite an entry last week, I'll hold off on content until next week.

For now, here's a link to last semester's Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning class's free downloadable e-book Information Literacy in the Wild.  It's in MeL (Michigan's Electronic Library)!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

What the new year shall bring - Detroit-based work

The winter/holiday break that academics and students receive is much needed, but the itch to get back to work is just as important.  As such, 2012 is shaping up to be a fantastic year.

One of the initiatives on which I'm most excited to work is at the Detroit Center.  There are many connections to make, many collaborations to develop, and many people to meet.  The UM Library is just starting work there to connect librarians to the projects at the Detroit Center.  Many of the projects are health-based, social work and leadership based, connected with urban planning, engineering, and much more.  There are many ways that librarians can assist this work; as UM is a research institution, the projects it supports need to be research-based.  UM librarians can work with the project coordinators to inform their work so that it can benefit the UM community, Detroit community, and citizens worldwide.

The University of Michigan is dedicated to working in Detroit.  Just today, as I was searching for UM-based Detroit work, I came across a very interesting website from The Office of the Vice President for Communications at UM entitled The University of Michigan and Detroit: A Parternship for Progress.  The website details UM's commitment to work in Detroit and discusses the "base of operations" (the Detroit Center) and lists projects associated with UM's work in Detroit.
The Detroit Center is the base of operations for many of U–M’s Detroit–focused programs. Established in 2005, the 10,500 square–foot facility provides space for offices, classes, meetings, exhibitions, lectures, and collaborative work while serving as a home base for students and faculty working on projects in the city. The U–M Detroit Admissions Office is also located here.
(Source: http://vpcomm.umich.edu/issues/detroit.html
UM's work in Detroit also relates to UM President Mary Sue Coleman's Third Century Initiative which I learned about through Arts of Citizenship's Associate Director, Elizabeth Werbe.  The Third Century Initiative aims to, "use $50 million in existing funds during the next five years to develop innovative, multidisciplinary teaching and scholarship approaches to such topics as climate change, poverty and malnutrition, energy storage, affordable health care and social justice challenges. It will encompass teaching, research and service efforts" (http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/111005/thirdcent).

The Partnership for Progress and the Third Century Initiative are just two of the many reasons that the Library should forge forth with creating a partnership with the Detroit Center.  The possibilities for collaborations are abundant, and it will be exciting to see and be a part of what's to come.