The Library as Place:

How Exhibit Programs are Establishing a Common Ground for Scholarship, Knowledge-Building,

and Community Engagement

Linda JacobsonKeeper and Assistant Librarian,

North Carolina Collection Gallery

Chair, Wilson Special Collections Library Exhibits and Public Programs Group

Co-chair, University Library Public Art Committee

The Wilson Special Collections Library Exhibition Program

Photo by Dan Sears

Before ReorganizationFive collections, each working independently:• North Carolina Collection• Rare Book Collection• Southern Folklife Collection• Southern Historical Collection• University Archives and Records

Management Services

Collections were planning exhibitions and events independently. Lack of communication with other collections and with University Library development and communications departments who support our programs.

Technical Services and Public Services consolidated into Wilson-wide departments.

Other goals of reorganization included:

GOAL: Establish Wilson as place—Wilson Library is thought of as a research facility but also as an attractive and welcoming destination for visitors, a “third place for those who are not on staff.” The Wilson Library Five Years Out: What We Want to See, September 20, 2005

GOAL: Wilson Library will develop appropriate programming to attract new audiences, with a goal of working together to add cross-collection events and exhibitions while maintaining the ability for individual collections to hold their own events and create their own exhibitions.

GOAL: The creation of calendars and cross-collection coordination.

The Wilson Library Five Years Out: What We Want to See, September 20, 2005

Creation of Exhibits and Public Programs Group (EPPG)Charge:The committee will address issues related to the branding and promotion of collections in the Wilson

Special Collections Library through the use of public exhibits and events, online and print promotional outlets, and improvements to the building’s public areas. The Director of the Wilson Library will advise and assist the committee to

• Coordinate and facilitate exhibits and public events sponsored by the collections and departments of the Wilson Special Collections Library.

• Maintain online and print event calendars. • Establish procedures for proposing and scheduling exhibits and public events.• Establish standards, policies, and procedures for mounting exhibits and coordinating public events. • Establish standards and procedures for coordinating the sponsorship, scheduling, and publicity of

exhibitions and events with Library Development and Communications staff. • Develop and share knowledge and skills that all departments can take advantage of. Establish

guidelines for seeking interdepartmental cooperation and assistance in the planning of exhibits and events. Coordinate the purchase of supplies to support exhibits and programs.

• Promote the visibility and usability of the Wilson Special Collections Library building through signage, banners, decoration, equipment, and other building improvements.

• Promote visibility of the Wilson Special Collections Library through online, print, and other outlets.

Improvements to the lobby

Creation of Library Planning Events Group

• Informal bimonthly meeting and listserv organized jointly by the library’s communications and development (Friends of the Library) departments.

• The membership consists of people across the library with varying levels of responsibility for public events and exhibits programming.

• The group shares ideas, often seeking opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, and works together to develop and finalize the public events calendar each semester.

• Mechanism established to try to make sure that everyone is working with correct and current information, and that information is finalized in time to meet various internal and external deadlines.

Library Communications

Mission Statement Exhibitions in the Wilson Special Collections Library

support the University Library’s mission of fostering inquiry and learning at the University. They are also Wilson Library’s primary means of sharing its rich resources with a wide audience. Exhibitions, their online counterparts, and public events highlight Wilson’s renowned collections and make the library a destination for visitors from the university, the state, and beyond.

Library as PlaceMain Exhibition Spaces in Wilson

North Carolina Collection Gallery

Library as PlaceMain Exhibition Spaces in Wilson

Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit RoomPhotographs by Gregory Halloran

Library as PlaceOther Exhibition Spaces in Wilson

Fourth Floor Collections Reading Room

Library as PlaceOther Exhibition Spaces in Wilson

First Floor Hallway

Collaborative Exhibitions

North Carolina CollectionRare Book CollectionSouthern Historical CollectionUniversity Archives

“Four From Between the Wars”In conjunction with the 2009 North Carolina Literary Festival

Collaborative Exhibitions

North Carolina CollectionSouthern Historical CollectionUniversity Archives

“Home Front on the Hill:Chapel Hill and the University During the Civil War” Marked the beginning of four-year series of exhibitions and events to mark the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War

Collaborative Exhibitions

North Carolina CollectionSouthern Historical CollectionUniversity Archives

“Home Front on the Hill:Chapel Hill and the University During the Civil War” Staff members installing exhibition

Photograph by Judy Panitch

NCC GalleryHistoric Rooms

Sir Walter Raleigh Rooms

Early Carolina Rooms

Hayes Library

NCC Gallery Rotating Exhibition Space

(exhibitions rotate every 3.5 months)

“Louis Orr’s North Carolina Etchings, 1939-1951”

Collaborative Exhibitions

With University Archives

“From Di-Phis to Loreleis: A History of Student Organizations at UNC”

Collaborative Exhibitions

North Carolina Collection UNC Research Laboratories of Archaeology

“Unearthing Native History: The UNC Catawba Archaeological Project” and program “American Indians in 21st Century North Carolina”

Collaborative Exhibitions

North Carolina Collection with assistance from Biology Library and Facilities Planning and Ground Services staff

North Carolina Collection Traveling Exhibition Program

“Light and Air: The Photography of Bayard Wootten”New Bern, North Carolina

Photographs by Stephen Fletcher

Case Study“WE'RE ALL FAMILY HERE: Preserving Community Heritage

in the Rogers Road Neighborhood of Chapel Hill”

Case Study“WE'RE ALL FAMILY HERE: Preserving Community Heritage

in the Rogers Road Neighborhood of Chapel Hill”

Case StudyProgram “Documenting Neighborhood History

in the Rogers Road Neighborhood of Chapel Hill”

Photograph by Liza Terll

Case StudyProgram “Documenting Neighborhood History

in the Rogers Road Neighborhood of Chapel Hill”

Photograph by Liza Terll

Case StudyProgram “Documenting Neighborhood History

in the Rogers Road Neighborhood of Chapel Hill”

Photograph by Liza Terll

Case StudyProgram “Documenting Neighborhood History

in the Rogers Road Neighborhood of Chapel Hill”

Mae Brigman poses next to a photograph of her grandfather.

Pleasants Family Assembly Room, Wilson Special Collections Library

Library Public Art Committee

“Beastly Feasts: A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme”

Loan from author Robert Forbes, Class of 1971

“Give My Poor Heart Ease: Photographs by William Ferris”

Photographs in the Southern Folklife Collection

Library Public Art CommitteeDavis as “Place”

First Floor Gallery

Library Public Art CommitteeDavis as “Place”

Second Floor Gallery

“Ball”Photographs by Bill Bamberger(loan)