December 10, 2015. Kingston, RI. Karen Mueller is a University of Rhode Island student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. This past fall she participated in Renee Hobbs’ Current Trends course titled Film Education in Libraries. One of the goals of the Media Smart Libraries grant is to revise the current LIS curriculum so that it emphasizes digital media literacy and experiential learning through community collaboration. The pedagogical strategies and student work in LSC 597: Film Education in Libraries will inform the project’s curricular revision activities.
As a part of the class, students were asked to create a blog to track their learning and growth. Karen’s blog, fosteRIngfilm, shows how her time in the class influenced her knowledge of digital media tools and film’s place in the library. She writes:
I came into this class running a Teen TGIF program at my local library in Foster, Rhode Island. I screened a new film every week, served pizza and offered a technology petting zoo. My program was good but it is so much better after having taken this class. As the semester has progressed, I have incorporated what I have learned into my programming. I now want to enlighten as much as I want to entertain. I instituted before and after film discussion questions at each viewing and tried to share a tidbit about an actor, the director, or the film that my audience might not have otherwise known.
Karen goes on to highlight the connections she made through the course, including Anisa Raoof, executive director of Providence Children’s Film Festival and Media Smart Libraries advisory board member.
My favorite part of the course, by far, was getting to work with such talented librarians and film experts over the semester. Anisa Raoof, from Providence Children’s Film Festival, taught me so much about film for and by young adults. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring films and trailers with her and even bought a few from PCFF’s website as a result.
Karen’s most exciting experience in LSC 597 was her final project, where she, Michaela Pugh, and Christie Phillips conducted a case study and wrote about their findings:
I am most proud of our experiential learning project at Foster Public Library. We screened the film,Louder than a Bomb, held a film discussion and hosted AS220’sZukrewe for a live poetry slam and hip hop performance. Turnout and audience response was terrific and the program was quite successful. Young patrons who were there spontaneously praised the program and brought back friends with them the following week boosting our numbers for the Teen TGIF program to an all time monthly high despite only having three weeks of programming that month.