UMass Amherst Libraries Host Exhibit, “Science and Technology of Library Science: Past, Present, and Future”

The UMass Amherst Libraries host the exhibit, “Science and Technology of Library Science: Past, Present, and Future,” through July 31, 2023. The exhibit is open for viewing during regular Library hours in the Science and Engineering Library in the Lederle GRC Lowrise. A joint reception for this exhibit and the Mass Aggie Seed Library exhibit, “A Recipe for Saving Seeds,” will be held on Friday, April 7, 2023, 1-3 p.m., in the Science and Engineering Library.

The exhibit showcases objects, images, and explanatory text that tells the stories of how the technology library workers use, from catalog cards to cloud computing, has changed over time. Librarian Jaime Taylor, Discovery & Resource Management Systems (DRMS) Coordinator, curated the exhibit, having been inspired by the launch of FOLIO, the new open-source library services platform, as well as recent retirements of longstanding workers at the UMass Amherst Libraries and last year’s popular “Unseen Labor” exhibit documenting the back end of library work usually unseen by patrons.

“Even though we no longer type catalog cards, run punch cards when someone checks out a book, or stamp due dates, there’s still a lot of hands-on work happening in the Libraries,” Taylor says. “Every book we buy is touched by at least one worker to prepare it for the shelves and for use by our patrons. And that, combined with our modern software infrastructure and ever-evolving approaches to provision of information in a now-largely digital ecosystem, tells a really interesting story.”