RBMS 2019 Conference

Sponsored by Swann Galleries

Teaching and outreach with rare books and manuscripts are essential components of many special collections libraries, regardless of where they are located. There are many examples of successful special collections collaborations in humanities and social sciences, such as in history, literature and art. However, interfacing with teaching and outreach in STEM fields continues to pose a significant challenge for special collections. This session argues that special collections are poised to be important sources of information about the history of, as well as reflections on, the modern state of scientific fields, as well as sites for conversation and collaboration between the sciences and humanities.

In this participant-driven session, Emily Beck and Lois Hendrickson of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine, Marguerite Ragnow of the James Ford Bell Library, and Amanda Wick of the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota will facilitate a collaborative discussion on methods of engaging with modern conversations around and practices in STEM fields. These session leaders specialize in rare materials on medicine and biology, maps and other documents related to cartography, and archives on the history of computing and information technologies. This World-Cafe-style workshop will use Coggle to create a large-scale idea map exploring ways of using resources across temporal and disciplinary boundaries to facilitate an exploration of STEM-focused teaching and outreach by considering the many ways that science has been contextualized, understood, and employed by people in different time periods. Guiding users through this type of engagement with special collections is a powerful tool for developing understanding and critical inquiry related to current scientific conversations, such as climate change. This workshop will create a dynamic resource for participants to take back to their home institutions and use while planning teaching and outreach sessions around STEM themes. If possible, participants should bring an internet connected device (laptop, phone, tablet) to this session.
This session will give participants the tools to use materials in their collections, whether they explicitly relate to science or not, to engage with their users about current scientific conversations around climate change and the environment. Historians of science, technology, and medicine have demonstrated that contextualizing modern conversations about science using historical information is not only interesting, but is essential for understanding the ways that professionals and the public engage with scientific information. Special collections can be active participants in this practice if they are able to build a more robust understanding of how those linkages can be made and those conversations can be facilitated. This session intends to be both a forum and a resource for building a networked concept map that participants will be able to use in their home institutions while engaging with students and the public about climate and the environment.