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—an acronym for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums—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.
Current Initiatives
- Implementation of the Libraries' and JSMA's grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, "Leveraging GLAM Assets in Research, Teaching, and Learning: Mellon Faculty Fellowships to Advance Library-Museum Collaboration"
- Shared art and archives: preservation, digital scanning, research, exhibition, teaching purposes: Gertrude Bass Warner, David McCosh, James Blue, artist books, comics, fairy tales, among others!
- Collaborative exhibitions (shows at both locations), including First Folio! the Book that Gave us Shakespeare; special collections loans to JSMA
- Experiential technologies – e.g., 3D printing by the Science Library of objects in JSMA collection for visitors with visual disabilities (enabling visitors to touch “art”)
- Exploring mechanisms to share metadata between library/JSMA platforms: improvements needed as interfaces are not dynamically compatible or interoperable
Future Initiatives under Consideration
- Create digital exhibitions for on-campus dissemination to non-traditional areas: both units take same theme and jointly curate a digital show, which would foreground collections, preservation, and value of arts and humanities; could be on flat screens in every school, student union, residence halls
- Libraries to provide reading lists for museum exhibitions
- Partner on visiting artists’ and humanists’ lectures and panels, with topics that highlight themes in our units’ collections and programs
- Pool resources for student learning. Libraries’ Thomas internship could serve as possible source of funding for projects/collaboration
- Support life-long learners together: engagement with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and other community groups through joint library/museum events and programs
- Develop traveling exhibitions from both collections that could go throughout state and beyond
- Incorporate library component to JSMA rural arts education outreach to schools throughout the state
- Draft grant proposals to launch similar partnerships between museums/galleries and museums across universities to get baseline results and successful models that others might emulate
- Create joint professional training opportunities on our campuses (perhaps with Educopia)
- Create a school-to-work apprenticeship program
- Circulate joint exhibitions among conference partners
January 2018 Update
February/March 2018 Update
- Call for UO Faculty Proposals
- Notice about JSMA and Libraries Open Houses
- Grant Proposal Application Form
April/May 2018 Update
- Mellon Postdoctoral Scholar Recruitment and Appointment
- Mellon Faculty Fellows Selected for 2018/2019
UO GLAM Reports and Presentations
- Hartz, J. and Lim, A. Report Submitted by University of Oregon: Jordan Schnitzer Museum and UO Libraries. Prepared for the Academic Art Museum and Library Summit, Coral Gables, FL (November, 2015)
- Hartz, J. and Lim, A. Strategic Alignments: Validating the Work of GLAMs. Presentation to the Academic Art Museum and Library Summit, Coral Gables, FL (January, 2016)
- Hartz, J. and Lim, A. Leveraging GLAM Assets in Research, Teaching, and Learning: Mellon Faculty Fellowships to Advance Library-Museum Collaboration, update provided for the Academic Art Museum & Library Summit at Oberlin, June 2018
