Zoe is a graduate student in the MLIS program at UW Seattle and an alumni of UW Bothell and Cascadia College. In her free time, Zoe loves exploring the wonders of Washington and playing with her four kitties.
Each month, the Campus Library staff create multiple thoughtful displays that can be found on the first and second floors. This post documents two of the library displays put out during March 2020.
March Displays
Open Education Week (March 2-6) – 1st Floor
Created by the Campus Library OER Team: Myra Waddell, Suzan Parker, Mary Yutani, Denise Hattwig, Heather Cyre, and Anne Tuominen
Open Education Week is a week to raise awareness and showcase the impact of open education on teaching and learning worldwide. Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that allow for free use and repurposing by others. Replacing high-cost textbooks with open educational or library-licensed materials can:
Provide equitable access to instructional materials
Foster inspiration, innovation, and collaboration in teaching
Support student success, retention, and graduation
Geared primarily toward faculty, the OE Week display provided an overview to OER and how OER can be incorporated into courses. The panel was also paired with a book truck of several printed OER textbooks to allow faculty to see first hand examples of what an open textbook offers. The display also includes an interactive element, asking students what they could spend money on if they didn’t have to purchase textbooks as textbook affordability has a direct impact on the lives of students.
On this display, multiple students reported that they could have spent the hundreds of dollars from textbooks on other aspects of life such as their health, food, rent, and travel.
Arts and Crafts – 2nd Floor
Created by Kathy Vuu (Circulation Student Employee)
“March is National Craft Month, but I didn’t want to put my focus on only crafts for this month’s display. Therefore, I decided to expand the theme to arts and crafts! Throughout the process of looking for library items and creating decorations, I recognized the variety of activities that were considered “artsy” or “crafty.” My intention for balancing both elements is to present the idea where one should not be overly praised, while the other is underappreciated. Initially, I was only searching for items that were on different artists and their history or their methods in doing art. Although that may seem to be another interesting display idea, that was not my ultimate goal for this display. I eventually had to do some research on what activities or projects were considered art-based and craft-based. Thankfully, I found a number of books that displayed quite the variety of activities and projects within the theme of arts and crafts!” – Kathy
As the Campus Library building is closed until further notice, library displays are temporarily paused. In the meantime, check out some of our past displays.
If you’d like to receive notifications whenever our student employees post on this blog, please follow us by clicking on the “Follow” button on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Each month, the Campus Library staff create multiple thoughtful displays that can be found on the first and second floors. This post documents all of the library displays in the months of January and February 2020.
January Displays
Mass incarceration – 1st Floor
Created by Dani Rowland (American & Ethnic Studies Librarian) and Denise Hattwig (Head of Digital Scholarship and Collections), descriptions written by Dani
January: Mass Incarceration & Education Justice
Located in the lobby, including the first floor book display, large display panel and four Concrete Mama banners
February: Mass Incarceration & Washington Prison History – Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
Located in the lobby, including the large display panel and banners. This also included a book truck display on Community Reads, which is currently on Freedom is a Constant Struggle. (I didn’t create the Community Reads book display, but wove it into the Mass Incarceration display, since it is closely related.)
It’s common to think of mass incarceration in the United States’ as one problem. In reality, however, it’s many. It is the manifestation of the racism baked into the history of our country. The systemic racism that leads to mass incarceration starts with the nature of spaces into which children are born in our country, and continues in all our major systems: community development and government, health care, education, employment and economic systems, legal and policing systems, media and communication systems, and more.
Last year, our mass incarceration display focused on the idea of prison abolition. That topic highlights all the ways that mass incarceration fails to solve problems for our country, states, and communities. The idea behind prison abolition is that we need many other and different solutions for the problems that incarceration purports to solve.
This year, since the Campus Library is part of an educational institution, I wanted to focus on connections between our state and local education system and incarceration. As always, I wanted to try to highlight efforts by prisoners and their supporters to change the systems that oppress them. The display featured materials about disrupting the school to prison pipeline, and spoke to the importance of access to education for prisoners and formerly incarcerated people. It featured information about community-led efforts to support healthy reentry for formerly incarcerated people, including student support groups for people rejoining our own UW communities.
The February display focused on our Washington Prison History Project, and on our Community Reads events this month, studying Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, by Angela Davis. The Washington Prison History Project features a robust collection of material produced by prisoners and their supporters, reflecting their experience with, and resistance against, the Washington State prison system over the last 50 years. Angela Davis has been engaged in prison abolition work over the same period, and our community reads book connects that struggle to global systemic injustice related to carceral issues.
Items can be requested by clicking on the red title
Winter Books – 2nd Floor
Created by Robert Krieger and Zoe Wisser (Circulation Student Employees)
Photos taken by author
“The topic for this children’s display display was winter books and specifically included non-denominational books to cover multiple aspects of winter. Reading level for the display ranged from picture books to longer novels. Books in this display varied to include classic stories, poetry, nonfiction, and folktales that all relate to winter. This range of reading levels and types of children’s books helps to supply different ways of providing information and stories on winter.
“I believe this topic is a meaningful theme for children’s books as it showcases the wonder and joy of winter. Especially as people grow up, winter can become a time of seasonal depression as clouds roll in and the sun is low. However, these children’s books all provide a positive point of view on how winter can be enjoyed and kept positive” – Robert
Items can be requested by clicking on the red title
February Displays
Celebrating the history of African-American activism, past and present – 1st Floor
Created by Suzan Parker (Head of Collections and Course Support Services) and Heather Cyre (Head of Public Services)
“To honor Black History Month, we wanted to illustrate that the present connects to the past, and that local area activism connects to social justice work at the national level. We included famous historical figures (e.g. Harriet Tubman), as well as young and local activists such as Ijeoma Oluo. We included a variety of ways that people engage in activism (e.g. arts, politics, protest, sports). It was also important to represent the intersectionality of race, gender, ability, religion, sexual orientation, age, etc.
“We included a photo from Seattle’s Black Lives Matter march in hopes that our students see themselves as activists or potential activists, and that they are part of a long, proud tradition within the African-American story.
“A list of the UW Libraries books and videos and images used in the display is available for viewing from this Google Doc. Click on the Images and QR Code links to learn more about the movements and individuals featured.
“This display was a collaborative effort and reflects the collegiality and creativity of library staff. Several library staff members contributed to a shared list of books and videos, and Hannah Mendro and Emily Ferguson lent their time and expertise to ensure the display was assembled in time. A most sincere Thank You to all” – Suzan & Heather
Items can be requested by clicking on the red title
Blind Date With a Book – 1st Floor
Created by Tami Garrard (Access Services Manager), Kathy Vuu and Zoe Wisser (Circulation Student Employees)
“During the month of February, the Circulation team presents the annual “Blind Date with a Book” display on the first floor of the library. This allows library users to check out items that they find interesting through a simple short synopsis without exposing the book title or the author. We added a small activity where library users are able to anonymously provide their reasons as to why they love the library, bringing out more of the themes of love and appreciation in the UWB/CC Library!” – Kathy
LOVE – 2nd Floor
Created by Natalie Keys and Jolene Truong (Circulation Student Employees)
“When I was younger, Valentine’s Day was my favorite day during school. I loved getting ready for the big day! I’d build myself a mailbox for my valentines and make cards for each of my classmates. The anticipation of wondering what boxes people made and what valentines they chose made me so excited. We would have parties and sometimes watch a movie. It was awesome. And when I came home from the sugar filled day, my mom and I would make pizzas into the shapes of hearts and watch Charlie Brown.
“So when I was thinking about what display to make for the month of February, I thought about what I liked about February from the perspective of when I was little. Valentine’s Day was a highlight. But I didn’t just want it to be about Valentine’s Day, rather about the feelings of joy and love I felt on that day. I also remembered all the cute children’s books I’ve read about love.” – Natalie
Items can be requested by clicking on the red title
Library Display Recaps are posted every couple of months, so if you’d like to receive notifications whenever our student employees post on this blog, please follow us by clicking on the “Follow” button on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Each month, the Campus Library staff create multiple thoughtful displays that can be found on the first and second floors of the library. This post documents all of the library displays in the months of October through December 2019.
October Displays
Domestic Violence Awareness Month – 1st floor
Created by Tami Garrard (Access Services Manager)
“According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), in Washington State 42.6% of women and 28.3% of men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner rape, and/or intimate partner stalking at some point during their lives. Domestic violence is personal to many of us, and it impacts our communities as a whole. It has certainly impacted us on this campus in many ways, including the loss of UWB student Anna Bui who was fatally shot by her former boyfriend in July of 2016. The library’s display during Domestic Violence Awareness Month sought to illustrate our care for our community, letting survivors know that they are not alone while highlighting library resources and community resources that serve to support survivors, educate, and lead to change.
Created by Tami Garrard (Access Services Manager), Andrea Portugal, Kathy Vuu, and Zoe Wisser (Circulation Student Employees)
“As the Campus Library welcomed new and returning Cascadia and UWB students this Fall Quarter, we wanted to provide an opportunity for library visitors to express their own words of welcome to each other and to paint a picture of how diverse our campus is. This display articulated that the Campus Library “welcomes you, whoever you are, wherever you are from” and invited participants to leave a note of welcoming in their own native language and to place a pin on a map, indicating where they are from. The visual display was paired with a book and media display exploring immigrant, refugee, and asylee experiences. Some titles that were included in this display are:
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears : The story of an Ethiopian refugee in Washington, D.C., finding and building a community.
Funny in Farsi : a memoir of growing up Iranian in America : An autobiography of growing up as an Iranian-American after the author’s family’s 1971 move from Iran to California.
The Namesake : A feature film about a son of Indian immigrants navigating between his ethnic heritage and a desire to assimilate.
“And many more! If you are interested in additional resources, take a look at the UW Libraries guide to Immigration Resources: https://guides.lib.uw.edu/immigration
“The Campus Library values our community members and strives to create a ‘welcoming, safe, and accessible environment for all individuals including diverse populations and underrepresented students’ (language from our Strategic Directions). We hope that that this collective and participatory welcoming of our diverse students, staff and faculty has served to demonstrate that the Campus Library does value and care about you and your story” – Tami Garrard
National Voter Registration Day – 1st floor Lobby
Created by Heather Cyre (Head of Public Services)
“The National Voter Registration Day display is meant to provide information and resources for voting in the state of Washington, including important deadlines, voter eligibility, and frequently asked questions about the voting and voter registration process. National Voter Registration Day was celebrated on the fourth Tuesday in September and its goal is to highlight the importance of registering to vote and voting in upcoming elections. The privilege to vote in elections gives citizens a voice in shaping government by choosing leaders and deciding on issues that impact our daily lived experiences. Free and fair elections that are foundational to our democracy and active participation in the voting process is imperative” – Heather Cyre
Created by Kathy Vuu and Zoe Wisser (Circulation Student Employees)
“After finding out that October 10th was World Mental Health Day, we wanted to go off of that theme and apply it to October’s Children’s Literature Display. This display allows us to raise awareness towards mental health issues and to provide different resources that can help college students if they are in need of professional support. This topic means a lot to me because I believe that the idea of mental health is difficult to discuss among your peers, friends, or even family. With Zoe’s assistance, I was able to help spread two messages: mental health is important for everyone, and you are not alone in this journey” – Kathy Vuu
International education week photo contest – 1st floor Lobby
Created by International Programs at Cascadia College
-Photos taken by Lisa Lyman
“This is, I believe, the third year that the Campus Library has hosted this display as part of International Education Week. It’s a fantastic collaboration between UWB and Cascadia, as students and staff from both schools being eligible to submit photos to the contest. This year’s theme is “Global Celebrations” which you see reflected in various ways in the submissions! I hope this collaboration continues and that the number of submissions continues to increase” – Chelsea Nesvig, Research and Instruction Librarian
community reads – 1st floor
Created by Community Reads Team2020: Sarah Leadley, Tami Garrard, Cora Thomas, and Hannah Mendro
“The Community Reads program organizes quarterly events based on a chosen book (or excerpts of a book) with themes of social justice, equity, and diversity, in the hope of inspiring discussions on these topics across both campuses. Our goals as stated on our website are as follows:
Build community through a common intellectual experience.
Promote engagement with thoughtful, noteworthy works of literature or scholarship related to issues of equity and social justice across the UWB/CC campus and community.
Offer instructors an opportunity to invigorate curriculum with vital issues and community conversation.
“In the past, we have always read a new book each quarter. This year, we will be working with the same book all year, allowing us to choose different chapters and themes to emphasize each quarter. In honor of Angela Davis’s visit to our campus last year, this year’s read is her book Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. We will be looking at the book through the main theme of democracy, with different focuses and “sub-themes” each quarter.
“Because of our deeper focus on specific excerpts and themes of the book, we wanted to provide opportunities for members of our campus community to explore the book in different ways. No research occurs in a vacuum, and not everyone learns in the same way. To honor other activists and artists within the community of struggle, and to provide other frameworks with which to examine the text, we have compiled a resource list of related works of art, literature, and scholarship. Though we will continue adding to the list all year, the book display contains many of the notable works that we found relating to Angela Davis, the book in general, or the themes of Chapters 1 and 5, our fall focus.
“More information about 2019-2020 Community Reads project can be found here: https://guides.lib.uw.edu/bothell/communityreads/19-20. More information about Winter Quarter’s events are forthcoming. Please join us!” – Community Reads Team
Created byJohana Montoya and Kathy Vuu (Circulation Student Employees)
“November 1st was National Vegan Day, which inspired this discussion on eating healthy. Being a vegetarian from a young age, I believe that it is important that children are taught about healthy eating patterns. Although living a meat / dairy free lifestyle is not for everyone, there are many ways in which children can eat healthier” – Johana Montoya
Created by Cora Thomas (Circulation Lead) and Kathy Vuu (Circulation Student Employee)
Cora says – “This First Generation College Student display was inspired by the National First Generation College Celebration on November 8. I knew that UW Bothell encouraged campus to join the festivities and celebrate first generation college students. So, we had the idea to continue in this vein and create a display for December to highlight first gen stories and means of support. We decided to collect not only research based texts but also personal narratives in order to highlight the multitude of voices that make up our first gen population here and around the country. We also highlighted articles recommended by faculty heavily involved in first gen work. We decided to offer ‘take-aways’ including first gen buttons and words of encouragement. Kathy, a Student Circulation Specialist, and I are both first gens – she volunteered to collaborate with me on this display and brought another perspective to the display design and content. This issue is close to my heart because I have worked extensively with the First in Our Families digital narrative project. Giving space and allowing first generation college students as well as staff and faculty who are also first gen to become more comfortable talking about the barriers and social and cultural nuances that first gens face while also recognizing the invaluable knowledge they bring to the table allows the sometimes uncomfortable and stigmatized issue to become a little easier to navigate. We believe continued momentum for ongoing dialogue around improving our institutional and community support systems for the unique experiences of first generation college students is extremely important for their success. I would like to thank Kathy Vuu for assisting with this display.”
Kathy says – “I think that it is significant to display the voices of first generation college students because it not only emphasizes their value and hard work as individuals, but it also raises the idea where first gens are more than just a subgroup of students. Despite being a first generation college student myself, this display helped me gain a different perspective in understanding other first gens and what they have to face when trying to fulfill an education for themselves. I am so happy that I was able to assist in creating this display, and I hope that the display inspired first generation college students to share their stories with others.”
Created by Paul Keum and Jolene Truong (Circulation Student Employees)
“December is the time of year where many different holidays are celebrated. Whether it is Christmas, Kwanzaa, or Ōmisoka, there are various ways the world celebrates the holiday season.
“The most popular way we celebrate the holidays in America is through Christmas. The rush to get Christmas presents for our loved ones, to decorate our Christmas trees and our homes in pretty lights is very common in the month of December. Knowing this, Jolene and I wanted to shed light into how different parts of the world celebrates the holidays. We saw the month December as an opportunity to really represent the world and UWB’s extraordinary community” – Paul Keum and Jolene Truong
While all of these displays have come and gone, these books are still available to check out!
Library Display Recaps are posted every couple of months, so if you’d like to receive notifications whenever our student employees post on this blog, please follow us by clicking on the “Follow” button on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Each month, the Campus Library staff create multiple thoughtful displays that can be found on the first and second floors. This post documents all of the library displays in the months of August and September 2019.
August Displays
Recreational Reading Collection – 1st FLOOR
Created by Members of the Rec Reading Team Summer 2019: Cora Thomas (Circulation Lead) and Mary Yutani (Reserves Supervisor)
-Photos taken by Cora Thomas
Message from Cora and Mary:
“For the month of August, we are highlighting our Recreational Reading Collection with some of our favorite titles and staff picks. Our collection is made possible by the generous donations of our students, faculty, staff, and community. It includes fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, audio-books, and a children’s and middle readers section. Everyone is welcome to enjoy books in the library for leisure or check them out with a valid UW or Cascadia library card at the Circulation Desk. After a test, grab a book and de-stress! On a break? Delve into a novel or funny story! Enjoy 4-week loans with unlimited renewals and no overdue fines.
“Throughout this month, we hope the campus community and our visitors have fun looking at the colorful display and then exploring our Rec Reading collection. Our Adult section is next to the Reserves area on the first floor of the library and our Children’s and Middle Readers sections are directly to your left as you walk into the library’s main entrance. In this section, we also provide canvas book carts on wheels for parents who would like to carry books as they explore the library with their young children.
Created by Emily Oomen (Former Circulation Student Employee) and Lana Sheykho (Circulation Student Employee)
-Photos taken by Lana Sheykho
“The display is fun and helps motivate kids to read especially because it is based on a show, Stranger Things. Since the show just came out people might be more interested in spooky books” – Emily and Lana
“This month, I wanted to draw attention to the new standalone Graphic Novels collection, located on the 3rd floor between the periodicals and curriculum collections. More than that, I also wanted to highlight our recent expansion of the Graphic Novels collection with a number of new, popular and diverse titles by diverse creators, including manga, memoirs, adaptations, and comics” – Kimberly
Created by Eva Haynes Kiehn (Circulation Student Employee)
-Photos taken by Cora Thomas
“I chose the theme of bird-focused children’s literature, because I really enjoyed bird stories when I was little, and I grew up going bird-watching with my family. Additionally, we have a wide variety of birds on campus, and so I wanted to draw attention to that” – Eva
While all of these displays have come and gone, these books are still available to check out!
Library Display Recaps are posted every couple of months, so if you’d like to receive notifications whenever our student employees post on this blog, please follow us by clicking on the “Follow” button on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Each month, the Campus Library staff create multiple thoughtful displays that can be found on the first and second floors. This post documents most of the library displays in the month of June and July 2019.
June Displays
CANDY – 2nd Floor
Created by Jolene Truong and Andrea Portugal (Circulation Student Employees)
–Photos taken by Cora Thomas
June was National Candy Month! Since kids love candy the absolute most, the theme for this month’s children’s literature display was Candy!
Even though June has passed and this display is no longer up, any UW and Cascadia affiliates can still request these books online.
Posters created by BIS 490 Sp’19 students Megan Marasigan, Klaudia Andrada, Mikayla Sullivan, Ian Schwarz. Display posted by Tami Garrard, Campus Library Access Services Manager.
“I decided to create a poster that was solely focused on offering support for victims and survivors of sexual and relationship violence. The silhouette background is what I thought would represent the victim or survivor, because when someone goes through a traumatic experience like sexual and relationship violence, they [often] feel alone and like no one understands them. However, this poster is aimed towards supporting them, to let them know that they’re not alone and that ALL of UW Bothell supports them. I thought it would be helpful to also include contact information for Elizabeth, our victim advocate, because she is here to help those in need and it lets victims/survivors know that there are resources available for them to use if they need help or just someone to talk to.” – Megan Marasigan
“There are so many identities that I hold close to me: woman of color, API, queer. I used to shy away from these ‘labels’ for I looked at them as if they were negative aspects of myself. But through this class and my own personal work, I’ve come to a point where I appreciate and love these identities that do define me but don’t make me ‘bad’. Centering these marginalized identities empower them and shed the ‘shame’ mask. I think holding any of these bring more color and depth to a person and love when I see people proud of their diversity.” – Klaudia Andrada
“I wanted to focus on people who may not identify with saying ‘no means no’ in English. While most students on campus speak English, this may not be the language that they primarily speak in other environments. We are such a diverse campus, we have international students and students who speak multiple languages. I wanted to highlight the fact that we don’t all say no in the same ways, and to bring awareness to survivors who give their consent (or don’t give consent) in different languages.” – Mikayla Sullivan
“UW Bothell is nothing without our students. They continue to be a driving force as we work together to build and sustain a campus that values all students, including all survivors of sexual and relationship violence. The BIS 490 class is dedicated to honoring past students who didn’t have a space to be part of that change, including Anna Bui who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. We co-create an intentionally power-conscious and healing social justice space for current students, survivors and committed accomplices, to bring their wisdom, creativity, collective compassion, and fire to transform our immediate community. This poster project is about shifting our visual context – making space for survivors, particularly survivors of color, queer, genderqueer, (dis)abled, and other marginalized survivors, to feel seen and cared for by their own community. This is students saying to each other, ‘We see you and you matter.'” – Lauren Litchty, BIS 490 Professor
“The students in BIS490 used their academic learning as an opportunity to have a positive impact on the campus climate at UW Bothell—a brave and inspiring decision. National data tell us that 1 in 4 women, trans, and nonbinary people will experience sexual assault while in college. The same is true for about 1 in 16 men. While we work to eliminate sexual and relationship violence from UWB, it is imperative that we tell survivors that they are a welcome and valued part of our community. Everyone deserves to be able to access their education without experiencing harm and, if harm does occur, to be able to access resources and support.
“To UWB students: If you have experienced sexual or relationship violence, or something that just didn’t feel right, I believe you, and I support you. I encourage you to connect with me for confidential support and advocacy. You may email me at uwbvae@uw.edu or call me at 425-352-3851.” – Elizabeth Wilmerding, UWB Victim Advocate
Note: unlike the other July displays, this panel will be up throughout the summer.
Featuring the Life Skills Collection – 1st Floor LOBBY
Created by Laura Dimmit (Arts & Humanities Librarian)
“This month, I wanted to feature a newish collection that some folks on campus may not know about yet, the Life Skills Collection. This collection has books on a whole variety of topics — cooking, home repair, sexual health, identity, mindfulness, and interpersonal relationships, just to name some. What I like about this collection is that it acknowledges that there are so many important parts of life that may never be taught in a formal classroom setting” – Laura
For more information about this collection, please visit our Life Skills Collection Guide, managed by Heather Cyre!
Created by ZoeWisser (Circulation Student Employee)
In my four years of studying Computer Science, I’ve always felt like an imposter, using failures to confirm my doubts of belonging in the field. Even when I did succeed, such as being accepted into my major, I usually thought of this as a product of luck or my gender, justifying the success to further doubt my capabilities.
I suspect many pieces of my life and computing contribute to this imposter syndrome, though the most visible is the lack of women in my computing classes, usually consisting of less than 20% women. This statistic reflects the U.S.’s larger computing field; according to the NSF/NCSES, in 2016, women received just 18.7 percent of the computer science undergraduate degrees. In the workforce, women make up about 22.5 percent of computer programmers, according to the Census Bureau.
Shifting focus to the larger STEM field, studies have shown that “63 percent of women who are pursuing a STEM degree have struggled with confidence in their abilities… [these] women reported that the lack of female role models was the biggest issue” (Cortez). This number is even greater with females belonging to other marginalized communities.
With all of this being said, it’s clear that the lack of female representation is a large issue in this country’s STEM fields. My intentions with creating a children’s display that focuses on Women in STEM, both through children’s books and recognition of successful females through artwork, were to celebrate women who are often cast out of the field’s limelight despite their major contributions, encourage female students to believe and be confident in their mathematical capabilities, and to also urge educators, parents, and other community members to support such female representation.
If you can, be sure to check out the July displays before the end of the month, and stay tuned for more!
Library Display Recaps are posted every couple of months, so if you’d like to receive notifications whenever our student employees post on this blog, please follow us by clicking on the “Follow” button on the bottom right corner of the screen.
