SLIS Gives Back Series SLIS student, Justine Tobiasz, has been working on setting up the Hamtramck Free School (HFS) Library. The Hamtramck Free School is a rhizomatic educational project formed in 2013, consisting of curriculum generated by the community members who participate. These community members identify learning goals, collectively plan courses, and teach and learn from each other. Currently, her work is focused on building the library’s catalog - the beginnings of this endeavor can be publicly accessed at hfslibrary.libib/. These records comprise just a small portion that Tobiasz and her colleagues have been able to scan in so far. She estimates there are about 200 more books and publications which are either self-published or put out by small presses, museums, galleries and studios that do not have barcodes or ISBNs. These items pose a cataloging challenge--how do you make a book available to the public for the first time? What are the special needs for books that are put out by artists or unique objects? At her library, they learn how to best work within their existing institutional framework. Tobiasz says “I believe it is important and possible to be proactive with the skills we are learning and be able to build something out of nothing.” She is excited about the potential to grow the HFS Library into something larger and beneficial to the community. She is working to let people know what resources they have as soon as possible so they can start using them. Tobiasz welcomes any input or advice from anyone with experience or ideas for the library. She can be contacted through the information listed on the Hamtramck Free School webpage - hamtramckfreeschool.org/library-project/.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:45:49 +0000
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