Library Blogs

Not everything a library wants to know is available via web-scale analytics tools such as Google Analytics. Often, custom instrumentation and logging are the best way to answer usability and analytics questions, and can offer better protections for patron privacy as well.

This project's intent was to catalog, digitize, and present a selection of bird's-eye prints of American cities held by the Clements Library. The library started collecting bird's-eye views in earnest during the tenure of current director, J. Kevin Graffagnino. Looking for an innovative and unique way to display these views, Corey Schmidt, under the supervision of the Curator of Graphics Material, Clayton Lewis, began working to build an interactive display for these views. Schmidt worked with a mapping system called Leaflet. Leaflet is an open-source, interactive display (JavaScript library) for maps and geographic data. Because the Image Bank already contained the metadata for each view, Schmidt wrote a program that searched through the Image Bank API and retrieved this data, which was then used with Leaflet's map display to create the map found on their online exhibit.

The Special Collections Research Center is excited to announce Special Collections After Hours, a new open house series. Each month we’ll bring out a new group of themed highlights from the many books, documents, and artifacts in our collections.

In this post, in actuality one of the first written for this blog but unpublished until now (profuse apologies from the blog manager!) Anna Schnitzer contextualizes DEIA within The Great British Baking Show.

An overview of the Shapiro Design Lab's themes, student positions, and spaces for 2018-19.

The U-M Library’s Shapiro Design Lab and the U-M Museum of Natural History are happy to announce a new Community and Citizen Science Project Incubator program for University of Michigan faculty, staff, and students! Community and citizen science projects can help scientists conduct extensive, quality research while engaging with members of their community. The program will explore questions about project design, ethics, learning goals, and data management. Participants will create project prototypes for their own research and community engagement, and develop the skills needed for successful projects.

The University of Michigan Library's Shapiro Design Lab (SDL) seeks two Masters'-level students to become Program Assistants and help direct this ever-evolving experimental space founded on peer learning, engaged learning, and interdisciplinarity. The Lab encompasses a variety of learning opportunities and projects within three different spaces, all located on the first floor of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library:

We are seeking undergraduate and graduate students to help pilot a new program focused on engaged learning experiences through software project development. Student Developers will be expected to work 10-15 hours per week, at a rate of $15/hour.

Announcing the 2018-19 Shapiro Design Lab Residency

In light of the growth of podcasting as a medium, the bloom of podcasts as texts that merit study, and recent interest from faculty in tasking students with the creation of audio essays, the Shapiro Design Lab is pleased to present its new Podcasting and Audio Storytelling Guide.