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Fall 2022 IDEA Funding Recipients

TRLN is excited to announce two recipients of the second round of IDEA funding: “A Tribute to Hip Hop: Celebrating 50 Years of Creativity” and “Improving Accessibility for Exhibition Spaces in TRLN Libraries”.

About the Projects

A Tribute to Hip Hop: Celebrating 50 Years of Creativity

Submitted by a group of NCCU staff members, “A Tribute to Hip Hop: Celebrating 50 Years of Creativity” will be a series of events “celebrating Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop and the culture created by this genre of music and art will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2023.”

The event series will start with a book talk with author and journalist Justin Tinsley to discuss his new book It Was All A Dream: Biggie and The World that Made Him. Part two will be an art exhibit and competition consisting of original works that pay tribute to Hip Hop. Lastly, NCCU’s Shepard Library will host a poetry jam featuring spoken word artists, poets, and rappers and the event will feature a DJ and NCCU’s Hip Hop Dance Crew.

These events are designed to give students an outlet through which they can express their creativity, engage in a creative process with peers, and celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop with the larger campus community and the community at large.

Improving Accessibility for Exhibition Spaces in TRLN Libraries

Submitted by Margaret Brown, Head, Exhibition Services and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Exhibits Librarian, Duke University Libraries on behalf of a team of people working in exhibits across TRLN institutions, “Improving Accessibility for Exhibition Spaces in TRLN Libraries” will increase accessibility to exhibitions in TRLN libraries through assessment, discussion and commitment to follow-through on all feasible accessibility work.

Accessibility for exhibitions in libraries is complicated by the nature of the architecture, cases and collection materials. For example, balancing the preservation of unique materials with required low light levels can make it difficult for people with visual disabilities and tall built-in cases can make it difficult for people who utilize wheelchairs. The exhibition programs in TRLN Libraries serve many different audiences, contain a wide variety of formats of materials and their spaces and cases were often not designed to be ADA compliant. Because most exhibitions are short-term, and resources and personnel time are limited, the goal of making every instance fully accessible to people with all abilities has often been unachievable. This project includes a series of consultations to help our institutions design practical frameworks and prioritization models for the nature of library exhibition programs. Local specifications are one deliverable of this project, but the group will also work towards more general guidelines to share with other libraries.

One part of this process is to hire an accessibility consultant to visit each of the library exhibition spaces and create site specific reports. Although none of the TRLN institutions are currently in a position to consider redesign of exhibition spaces, being made aware of all potential problems can help with compensating for potentially inaccessible spaces in exhibition design and fabrication and advocate for change. Having a better awareness of the accessibility challenges spaces pose will help the group design accessible exhibits moving forward.

This project would be a step towards awareness and a commitment to making accessibility a part of the regular workflow as opposed to an occasional act when practical.

About TRLN’s IDEA funding

TRLN seeks to support our member institutions’ work in inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility with project funding. Staff members at any TRLN library can apply for funding for a variety of projects that further their library’s and TRLN’s goals to establish or advance inclusion, diversity, equity, or accessibility efforts.

The Executive Committee approved a total of $100,000 of funding, to be distributed across two years (two funding cycles per year). The next call for proposals will open in Spring 2023. Learn more about this funding.

Contact info@trln.org with any questions about this project or TRLN’s IDEA funding.