about the UO GLAM Alliance
In 2016, the UO Libraries and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) formed a creative partnership, the UO GLAM Alliance. The founders of the Alliance were motivated by shared interests in enriching the intellectual and cultural life on campus and in the surrounding community and were inspired by the Academic Art Museum and Library Summit held in January 2016 at the University of Miami. The Summit was organized by the University of Miami Libraries, the Lowe Art Museum, the Association of Art Museums and Galleries, the Association of Research Libraries, and the Coalition for Networked Information. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation were generous sponsors of the conference.
Through the Alliance, both the Libraries and the JSMA aim to leverage their resources more effectively through shared efforts; and improve visibility and advocacy for libraries and museums as valuable assets relevant for teaching, learning, and research.
GLAMs, according to the Council for Library and Information Resources (CLIR), have profound and important missions in society: to increase and disseminate knowledge, to encourage civic dialog and engagement, and to support individuals in their right to access and participate in culture. GLAMs are the conduits that enable the humanities to have an impact on millions of scholars, teachers, and the broader public every day.
Mission Alignment
The missions of the JSMA and the UO Libraries align in their focus on advancing the university’s academic and research goals. JSMA’s mission is to enhance the UO’s academic mission and further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public. The UO Libraries’ mission is to support the student learning experience, enable the creation and stewardship of knowledge, and contribute to advancements in teaching, research, scholarship, and public service.
about the UO GLAM Digital exhibits
Between 2018 and 2020, the University of Oregon Libraries and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art carried out an ambitious initiative to develop and test a model for collaboration between a university’s art museum and its libraries. The initiative resulted in six digital exhibits with global reach and an active community of scholars and professionals bridging the two institutions.
Leveraging the expertise of Mellon post-doctoral scholars, graduate research fellows, unique materials and collection curators and archivists from the art museum and library special collections and archives, museum asset specialists, disciplinary faculty, and digitally orientated librarians and technology specialists, these six digital projects would not exist. Using Omeka S and WordPress as the technical platforms, scholarly writing and objects used to make these exhibits range from highlighting unique Asian Art collections, the United States civil rights movement, teaching about how unique collections are stewarded, and a historical Oregon mental health institution.
Explore the digital exhibits
Contributors
Principal Investigators
The principal investigators provided essential leadership for the program as a whole by allocating resources (especially labor), promoting the initiative on campus, and reporting back to the Mellon Foundation.
2018-2019
Adriene Lim (then Dean of Libraries and Philip K. Knight Chair, University of Oregon Libraries) and Jill Hartz (then Executive Director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art) served as the original principal investigators for the grant program.
2019-2020
Mark Watson (Interim Dean of Libraries, University of Oregon Libraries) replaced Lim, and John Weber (Executive Director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art) replaced Hartz.
2020-2021
Franny Gaede (Director of Digital Scholarship Services, University of Oregon Libraries) and Erin Stoddart (Interim Associate Vice Provost and University Librarian for Collection Services).
Postdoctoral Scholar in Library-Museum Leadership
The Mellon grant supported the creation of a term-limited postdoctoral position to manage the initiative and the Faculty Fellows’ projects.
The position was held in 2018-19 by Jenny Kreiger (Ph.D. in Classical Art & Archaeology, University of Michigan ’17), and in 2019-20 by Benjamin Gillespie (Ph.D. in the Humanities Center and History of Art, Johns Hopkins University ’19).
Responsibilities of the position included project management, representing the initiative at conferences and in publications, organizing meetings and events, and supervising graduate student employees.
Mellon Graduate Student Fellows
Between 2018-2021 graduate student fellows lead the majority of digital exhibit construction and development through guidance from Mellon Faculty Fellows, postdoctoral scholars, and library and museum professionals.
Tom Fischer, Master of Art – Asian Studies (focus on modern Chinese history)
Aqsa Khan, Master of Public Policy and Management – Community Organizing
Anna Lepska, Master Public Policy and Management – Non-profit Management
Liam Maher, Master of Art – Art History
GLAM Digital Exhibit Leadership & Selection
Led by the principal investigators named above, a team of professionals from each institution provided general oversight for the initiative and selected each round of faculty fellows.
Representing the JSMA were Jill Hartz (Executive Director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art), Anne Rose Kitagawa (Chief Curator of Collections & Asian Art and Director of Academic Programs), John Weber (Executive Director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art), and Chris White (Collections Manager).
Representing the UO Libraries were Franny Gaede (Director, Digital Scholarship Services), David de Lorenzo (Giustina Director, Special Collections and University Archives), Adriene Lim (Dean of Libraries and Philip K. Knight Chair, University of Oregon Libraries), and Mark Watson (Interim Dean of Libraries). Also Benjamin Gillespie (Mellon Postdoctoral Scholar in Library-Museum Collaboration), Jenny Kreiger (Mellon Postdoctoral Scholar in Library-Museum Collaboration), Heidi Kaufman, (Associate Professor of English), and Erin Stoddart (Interim Associate Vice Provost and University Librarian for Collection Services).
UO Libraries and JSMA Faculty and Staff Contributors
Over the course of the Mellon grant, UO libraries and museum professionals contributed hundreds of hours to support the development efforts of the six digital exhibits.
JSMA
Annie Bunch, Assistant Collections Photographer, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Ian Coleman, Artist
Cheryl Hartup, Curator of Academic Programs and Latin American & Caribbean Art
Anne Rose Kitagawa, Chief Curator of Collections & Asian Art and Director of Academic Programs
Elizabeth Larew, Collections Assistant
Beth Robinson, Paper Conservator and Collections Preparator
Jonathan Smith, Collections Database Coordinator
Chris White, Collections Manager
Debbie Williamson Smith, Communications Manager
UO Libraries
Azle Malinao-Alvarez, Interactive Design Consultant
Alex Bisio, Lead Processing Archivist
Justin Demsky, Fiscal Coordinator
Mandi Garcia, Library Design and Exhibits Coordinator
Corey Gillen, Analyst Programmer
Ray Henry, Interim Director of Library Technology
Linda Long, Manuscripts Librarian
Kevin McDowell, Japanese Studies Librarian
Danielle Mericle, Curator of Visual Materials
Marilyn Mohr, Collections Conservator
Linda Sato, Analyst Programmer
Sarah Seymore, Digital Collections Metadata Librarian
Julia Simic, Assistant Head of Digital Scholarship Services, Digital Production and Preservation
Erin Stoddart, Interim Associate Vice Provost and University Librarian for Collection Services
Randy Sullivan, Digital Production Manager
Kate Thornhill, Digital Scholarship Librarian
Rayne Vieger, eLearning & Open Educational Resource (OER) Librarian
Mellon Faculty Fellows
The initiative supported six projects by seven faculty from various disciplines.
Faculty Fellows were responsible for conducting research, creating original content, and working with project teams to develop websites and other presentations of the results of their work.
The Mellon Faculty Fellows were:
Ina Asim (Associate Professor and Associate Department Head, Department of History),
David Frank (Professor of Rhetoric, Clark Honors College),
Daphne Gallagher (Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies/Senior Lecturer of Anthropology, Clark Honors College)
Akiko Walley (Maude I. Kerns Associate Professor of Japanese Art, History of Art and Architecture),
Glynne Walley (Associate Professor, Japanese Literature, East Asian Languages and Literatures),
Mary Wood (Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of English),
Kristin Yarris (Associate Professor and Director of the Global Health Program, Department of Global Studies).
Images Used (in Order of Appearance)
Nōsatsu of Ofuda [ink and color on paper], Edo (Tokugawa)-Taishô period, 19th-early 20th century. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
Nōsatsu of flaming brush [ink and color on paper], Edo (Tokugawa)-Taishô period, 19th-early 20th century. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.