Check out this video series featuring five artists who were invited to create unique works based on their exploration of the collections at New York Public Library. The first video provides background on each of the artists; the second features their meetings with a librarian who pulled items for each artist.This has me thinking about that magical, unique, creative aspect of the research process in which scholars make decisions about next steps and relevance based on how the information 'meets' what they already know and what they want to learn. I struggle to find creative ways to help students experience this fun, inspiring aspect of learning, especially when so much of their experience is online, and so much of our instruction tends to be about the 'how-to'. I don't suggest that inspiration only happens in the stacks with books, but I do think it's different, somehow, and I worry that students today are missing out on much of the fun, mystery, and excitement to be found in many of our physical collections. Or at least that we haven't built the the browsing and discovery tools that replicate or remake this experience online.
What do you think? Would this video speak to your students? Or are there ideas here for us to work with in instruction and reference? [EK]
