From 2009 – 2011, I was the Outreach Librarian for the UVM Libraries’ Center for Digital Initiatives. The CDI is a digital library of unique research collections which sought to establish an “open, collaborative environment” beyond its home in Special Collections. I was chair of the CDI Collection Development Committee and was responsible for CDI project management, design, outreach, publicity, and assessment.
I also taught in the ALANA US Ethnic Studies department, worked on general reference desk shifts, and served on the university’s Academic Integrity Council.
I designed this flyer to promote “Kake Walks and Dance Competitions: Race and Performance in American Popular Culture,” a lecture by Tommy DeFrantz, MIT professor and former Alvin Ailey dancer. This is one of the programs associated with the Kake Walk at UVM collection launch.
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I designed this flyer to promote our film screening of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled. This is one of the programs associated with the Kake Walk at UVM collection launch.
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I created this 24″ x 36″ poster to highlight current and forthcoming CDI collections and to encourage new collection proposals.
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I presented this short paper at the 2010 RBMS Preconference “Join or Die: Collaboration in Special Collections.” The CDI envisions a community where target audiences participate as users and creators in an open, collaborative environment. In this presentation, I share our strategies for reaching this goal and how we will define success.
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I designed this bookmark for the Center for Digital Initiatives using Adobe Illustrator CS4. It is 2 x 8, single-sided, and gloss coated. We went through 2,500 in 9 months and just ordered 5,000 more.
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I will be publishing a chapter about our Kake Walk course in an ACRL publication tentatively titled Past is Portal: Teaching Undergraduates through Special Collections and Archives. Read my chapter proposal here.
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Read more about the class structure and assignments for ALAN 095 OL1 Curating Kake Walk: Race, Memory, and Representation. I am co-teaching this three-credit course this summer.
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This summer, I am co-teaching a course about Kake Walk, a blackface minstrel tradition at UVM which lasted until 1969. Students will use primary sources and secondary readings to learn about Kake Walk’s history + to explore issues of race, representation and cultural memory. They will then contribute to a collection of digitized archival material.
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View the reading list we created for ALAN 095 OL1 Curating Kake Walk: Race, Memory, and Representation. I am co-teaching this three-credit course this summer.
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I do a lot of tabling for the Center for Digital Initiatives. Recently, I noticed we’d really benefit from a large, easy-to-read professional banner.
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Robin is currently the Outreach + Public Services Archivist at the Brooklyn Historical Society.
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