The Bryn Mawr College Libraries created an exhibits program to spotlight materials in its collections and to support the campus’s intellectual and creative life. Monthly book and media displays highlight topics shaped by academic inquiry, cultural contexts, and campus interests. While displays were previously curated primarily by librarians, the program was redesigned to integrate the seventy-five student library circulation assistants as exhibit creators. The perspectives, lived experiences, and academic backgrounds of these students broaden representation and enhance the thematic and material diversity of the exhibits in ways that reflect community interests.
In this student-centered model, student employees propose exhibit topics related to heritage months, personal identities, academic interests, or social issues. Once a topic is selected, the students then collaborate with librarians to identify materials, gaining hands-on practice with catalog searching, requesting materials, and foundational research skills. To support circulation workflows and build confidence in academic research skills, the program provides scaffolded instructional tutorials with embedded assessments that guide students from catalog use and the process of requesting materials to searching targeted databases and engaging primary sources in databases. Assessment results allow librarians/supervisors to tailor the training to the students’ demonstrated needs.
This session will provide an overview of the program, discuss strategies for explaining and integrating scaffolded learning into the curation of book displays, and encourage more student engagement in the library. Participants will leave with adaptable strategies for integrating student employees into library programming in ways that enhance both skill development and representation.
