Library Blogs

BLUElab Metro is far more than a typical student organization within the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering. We are a student-run, multidisciplinary team dedicated to a singular, powerful mission: to design sustainable, community-centered solutions that directly address local challenges while empowering the people most affected by them. We believe that true engineering excellence is found at the intersection of technical innovation and social responsibility. Our work focuses on long-term partnerships rather than short-term fixes, allowing us to design with our community members rather than just for them. This collaborative approach ensures that the outcomes are not just functional, but deeply tailored to the specific goals, cultural heritage, and needs of our partners.

Since 2023, our efforts have been entirely focused on a transformative partnership with Willow Run Acres (WRA), a nonprofit founded by T.C. Collins in Superior Township, Michigan. T.C. is a visionary community leader who views the land as a classroom and a tool for empowerment. Through WRA and the Clay Hill Community Farm, he works tirelessly to address food insecurity and the erasure of Black history in Washtenaw County. T.C.’s connection to farming is a generational legacy, handed down through ancestors who farmed under the most difficult circumstances of enslavement and sharecropping.

This project has come about as part of the UM Library’s Territorial Acknowledgement Working Group, who has investigated multiple tangible actions the University is able to accomplish to honor the original stewards of this land, the Anishnaabeg and Wyandot peoples, whose ‘land grant’ allows for this University’s existence. One of these action items is to become leaders in Indigenous Knowledge sharing, which includes this project to transcribe/caption Ojibwe language lessons to make them available online through the UM Library via Alma Digital. These language materials were created by Basil Johnston, a prominent Anishnaabe scholar, whose work continues to educate native people long past he walked on.

As someone currently in the MSI (Master of Science in Information) program, I was on the hunt for any opportunity to work within an information space. I didn’t have much experience in said field, and so I was set on a mission to find a chance to work somewhere in the U-M Library throughout the academic year. And so when I discovered this position as an engagement fellow, I was immediately excited to both widen my scope and hone my skills as an information professional and work on a project with a subject matter that interests me personally.

The project, “Exploring Anime: Collections Research and Outreach Programming”, was focused on research, collection analysis, and outreach/programming with the AskWith Media library’s anime collection. Within the scope of our project, my project teammate Alina Murata and I defined “anime” as an audiovisual medium consisting of animated works of Japanese origin. Thus the overarching theme and question of our project was of the significance and relevance of anime within the library collection, as well as how that can be incorporated into programming.

3D printed pointer arrows for a museum activity.

As the Winter 2026 semester draws to a close, the Student Employee Engagement Committee (SEEC) would like to acknowledge the hardworking student employees that are vital to the daily operations and success of the University of Michigan Library. The support they provide to students, faculty, staff, and guests is immense and we truly appreciate all of their efforts!

8 Channel aspirator adapter for culture cell experiments.

Patchwork quilt made using the sewing machine.

3D printed flower frog to help support flower stems in arrangements.

A 3d printed test part to hold a servomotor for a class project to automate a song on an ocarina.

A 3D printed cat phone holder & a mountain slope model with outlined snowboard trails.