Now in its second year, UCI Libraries’ “Off the Shelf and On Display” program continues to highlight collections, while fostering collaboration between students, faculty, and librarians from multiple departments.
Located on the second floor of Langson Library, the book display features several student-curated exhibits this year. Students determine a topic of interest, then select, organize and evaluate 40-100 relevant books for display on the Off the Shelf and On Display bookshelf. This project deepened students’ understanding of curation as they discovered key texts missing from our collection, and had the opportunity to work with librarians to purchase new books to enhance the collections.
In October 2018, a team of five students curated “Borders, Emotions, & Imaginaries: Magnifying Immigrant Experiences and Immigrant Histories,” a display focusing on experiences and histories of immigration - both documented and undocumented.
A November 2018 display was curated by students enrolled in DRAMA 129. Entitled “Performing Whiteness: An Examination of the Construction and Perpetuation of Racial Hierarchy,” this display examined texts in six areas: critical race theory; minstrelsy; miscegenation; assimilation, passing, and white adjacency; whiteness outside the US and plays that reflect these issues.
A February 2019 display was curated by students and faculty affiliated with the Queer Studies minor program. It curated “Queer Worlds: Celebrating LGBTQ Writing in the 50 Years After Stonewall,” a display featuring noted and new writers from the LGBTQ community.
In addition to these student-led efforts, library staff have also curated several well-received displays. A December 2019 display featured cookbooks and culinary arts and sciences titles. A March 2019 exhibit featured a display entitled, “Looking at the Ancient World Through a Diverse Lens: Race, Sexuality, and Class.” An April 2019 display explored the history and cultural impact of the Orange County punk rock scene in “Clockwork Orange County: Punk Rock from The OC Out.” A May 2019 display will be curated by the UCI Libraries Diversity Team.
Check out the “Off the Shelf and On Display” bookshelf located behind the “Ask Us Desk” in Langson Library. We also welcome faculty and student groups to collaborate on future curation projects. Please contact Carolyn Downey, Education & Outreach Library Assistant, at cgriner@uci.edu for more information.