OCAD U Library 2019 Summer: Library News

Congratulations to Circulation Technician Lillian Chan on being accepted for presenting a poster at the TRY + Library Conference (see Reference page for more information on the conference). The final product is available online and a synopsis of the design brief is as follows:

DIY Library Signage: A Design Process 

Libraries need to communicate information to their user communities in a meaningful way, oftentimes in a time-sensitive manner. Using a case-study example, Lillian prepared a poster outlining the process of creating library signage including consideration of:

• WHO are your stakeholders and what your audience’s demographic is (staff, students, public or “everyone”?)
• WHAT are you trying to communicate and why, which will inform tone, types of signage (wayfinding, marketing services/products, policy enforcement etc.), tone and visual branding consistency with your institution.
• WHERE will the signage be installed and what installation materials do you need (foam-core, paper, mounts)
• WHEN will it be posted and for how long.
• HOW will it be produced, including consideration of budgets, printing formats (vinyl, paper), updating files and file sharing, software possibilities, etc.

Practical tips will be offered about combining print signage with online campaigns, demystifying graphic design jargon (bleeds, pantone, coated, uncoated), as well as acknowledging design risks (clichés, trends, humour).

For the sixth year in a row, Collection Development Librarian Lindsay Gibb programmed the Toronto Comic Arts Festival's Librarian & Educator Day. This year, Learning Zone Librarian Marta Chudolinska presented on the panel "Breaking The Distributor Chains: Crowdfunding & Self-Published Comics" and OCADU Lecturer Michelle Miller was featured on the panels "Comics in a Dangerous Time" — about using comics to fight against injustice, support members of minority groups, and create a more safe and equitable society — and the "Big Comics Q&A," where librarians and educators had the opportunity to ask comics experts their pressing questions. 

The crowdfunding & self-published comics session was moderated by University of Guelph's Research and Scholarship Librarian Matthew Murray and featured Marta along with comics creator Cole Pauls, Kickstarter’s Comics Outreach Lead Camilla Zhang, comics journalist Zainab Akhtar, and TO Comix Press' Steven Andrews. The discussion centered around the reasons creators self-publish (including creative freedom, control over the production process, more control over the cost of the work, and not worrying about publishing gatekeepers) and how libraries collect items that aren't available through traditional vendors. As both a creator and librarian, Marta talked about the creator side as well as collecting for the OCAD Zine Collection. OCADU's Library is lucky not to have as many restrictions on who we can purchase from which makes purchasing from independent vendors possible, while other institutions are struggling to find ways to buy work that isn't available from approved vendors. 

Slides from the session are available at the link below.