Pre-conference information

This year our pre-conference day will be Wednesday, September 25th. We will be hosting the business meeting, workshops, tours and early-bird dinner (at Bosque Brewing Company). Attendance for any or all of the day is optional, but we ask that those who do plan to attend, indicate their intention when registering for the conference.

Workshops

Workshops located in Frank Waters Room 105, Zimmerman Library (click to enlarge)

From Teaching to Research: Finding and Making Maps for the Southwest

Instructors: Maria Lane-UNM Professor of Geography, Sam Truett-UNM Assoc. Professor of History, Sierra Ramirez-UNM doctoral student in History
Location: Frank Waters Room 105, Zimmerman Library

In this interactive panel, UNM faculty and students will share insight into their use of cartographic materials and collections for teaching and research. Presenters will describe how map collections contribute to student learning, community engagement, and research investigations, focusing on both paper and digital formats. In particular, the panel will highlight an ongoing cartographic project that uses historical resources to resurrect Indigenous histories and geographies in the Old Spanish Trail region.

From There to Here: Bringing Data Physicalization to Library Instruction

Instructors: Meg Miller-University of Manitoba
Location: Frank Waters Room 105, Zimmerman Library/ outdoors (if the weather is nice)

We’ve probably all been there- running what we think is an introductory session for learners, and realizing that a subset of students just aren’t engaged or following. There can be a whole range of reasons for this, but it often comes down to the fact that data skills and software can be overwhelming. Combining a traditional data literacy session with data physicalization and critical making (using crafts) can create a more welcoming way to understand and experience data fundamentals; it specifically reaches out to an audience traditionally excluded from data and technology fields. It also is an opportunity to increase the conversation, reflection, and creativity between learners at from all levels and subjects.

This workshop will break down all stages of running this type of session, from proposal and planning to teaching and assessment. To further help participants see if this is something they would be interested in adopting at their own institutions, we will work through an example project with participants crafting a simple hand-sewn map of their interpretation of the prompt ‘From there to here’.

Participant maps from workshop below:
  • My walk to work. – Emilie Ducourneau
  • My life as a bicycle rider: learning and going in small loops, stopping for many years, and then starting again and now going in larger loops. – Russell Taylor
  • Commute to work. – Georgia Brown
  • My commute, featuring the Milwaukee River – Stephen Appel