The Ann Arbor District Library is offering three free workshops for library, academic, and creative professionals. We hope you can join us!

These events are facilitated by Dr. Matt Finch, Community Engagement Project Developer for the University of Southern Queensland and Creative/Researcher for British Library Labs. He is a thinker and doer of big, weird things that invite and involve the community in big, weird ways.

Mess, Play, and Meaning: The Great Information Experience

Tuesday, October 10 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at AADL's Downtown Library - 343 S. Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

Explore a toolkit of activities and approaches for devising open-ended, participant-led events and activities which will let your community "step into the story" through a combination of make-believe and practical challenges. Learn about approaches to partnership which expand our conception of what is possible when it comes to unleashing the creativity of our communities...and devise an amazing immersive world of your own.

Dr. Matt Finch: Brown Bag Lunch Talk: Turkeys, Cake, and Pacific Skies: Rethinking Learning, Innovation, and Community Engagement as Information Experiences

Wednesday, October 11 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm at the University of Michigan Undergraduate Library Shapiro Design Lab - 919 S. University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.

Dr. Finch will discuss his experience training health practitioners using cake and Transformers toys, devising mission statements for academic staff, creating open-ended learning opportunities with everyday materials, and the challenges of community consultation in an outback state 2 1/2 times the size of Texas. Giving examples of practical strategies, Matt will lead a discussion about the core ideas that sustain these practices, and how they can be applied to fit different purposes, institutions, and contexts.

Battle for Library Island

Friday, October 13 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at AADL's Downtown Library - 343 S. Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

Explore libraries' work from a unique perspective with this participatory session covering five years in the life of a library-loving island nation. Step into the shoes of a librarian, community member, or government official in a fictional country, to explore the challenges and opportunities in those roles and relationships. These will be drama, there will be danger - there will be the freedom to reimagine librarianship in a whole new way.

Library Island is live-action simulated community engagement with practical take-homes, forcing us to rethink service development, innovation, and our strategic vision for libraries' future.

Attendees will learn to use a toolkit of fast, practical, cost-effective approaches to develop a collective library vision which can be embraced by staff and stakeholders alike; by trying out each activity, attendees will also discover more about their own priorities and perspectives on what the library is and what it might become.

Please share widely. Thanks!

Sara Wedell
Production Librarian | Ann Arbor District Library
wedells@aadl.org | (734) 327-4225