On Monday 22 April, the University Library was pleased to welcome staff and students alike into the Information Commons to celebrate the official launch of the exhibition space.
The exhibition space has already established itself as a key part of the Information Commons, a popular area in which students study and collaborate, and the event served as a fantastic opportunity to share the inspiration and hard work behind the inception and development of the space. Regular visitors will have seen the active reading exhibition created in collaboration with Will Mason, and a display curated by Graham McElearney that demonstrated how students use extended realities to support their learning and promote creativity.
The launch event was scheduled during the Exhibition of Creative Education, and Dave Forrest, Deputy Vice-President for Education (Student Experience), talked about the importance of creativity in education, highlighting student submissions such as robofish designed by Mechanical Engineering students, and a Korean language video.
Alison Little spoke of library liberation and the literacies of creating and communicating and their place in our Information and Digital Literacy Framework. Some of the artefacts created in partnership with the Students’ Union, including a dress embroidered with descriptions of students’ own experiences of disability produced as part of Disability History Month, were highlighted to demonstrate this relationship.
It was great to hear Tomás Rocha Lawrence, our SU Liberation Officer, share his thoughts on creativity and liberation and, finally, to listen to Rhian Whitehead-Wright and our Student Associates reading poetry produced by students.
The exhibition space was created to give students the opportunity to share their work and communicate their ideas in a safe and collaborative space. Students are encouraged to visit the Information Commons not just to study but also to celebrate the outputs of their learning, and during the launch event students from several courses visited the space to view their work on display. This cross-curricular engagement with both the library and the exhibition space is testament to the power of sharing ideas; to view a poem from a Human Geography student next to a reflective piece from a nursing student demonstrates how the space can holistically promote creative work across the disciplines.
The Exhibition of Creative Education was possible thanks to the academic staff who encouraged students to share their work, the Library Student Associates who contributed to the Creative Library Project, and the Library Learning and Teaching Services team who designed and delivered the exhibition. We would also like to thank the Event Planning Team and other library colleagues who ensured the launch event was a success.
The exhibition will run until 27th May 2024, and we hope you’ll come to visit!