Megan Lotts (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey)

In the twenty-first century academic art libraries and scholarly research in the arts is becoming a fluid idea that is expanding at a rapid pace. Academic art libraries and librarians are looking more at outreach, engagement, digital humanities, fair use and copyright, visual literacy, as well as addressing lifelong learning skills. In our current times, librarians must think about what happens within the art library, but what is also possible outside the art library. 

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The Rutgers University Art Librarian strives to connect with the arts communities on the Rutgers campuses by engaging students, faculty, and staff, both inside and outside of the library. This includes embedded reference hours in department lobbies, curating active low-cost exhibition spaces, pop-up makerspaces and engaging experiences with living artists. These unique experiences in and out of the art library go “beyond the book” by highlighting unique collections that patrons might not be aware of within the libraries. These moments of outreach and engagement also strengthen cross-disciplinary collaboration and prove that libraries are a crucial component to the educational experience.

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This lightning talk will review and highlight interesting ways in which academic art libraries are engaging with patrons, as well as look at low-cost practical high impact examples of turning outward from the Rutgers University Libraries.

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Megan Lotts is the Art Librarian at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where she teaches research workshops and closely engages with students and faculty researching in the Arts. Lotts has presented her research both nationally and internationally and has published articles in portal: Libraries and the  Academy,  a journal of library administration, multiple articles in College and Research Libraries News and more. Her research interests include outreach, engagement, and makerspaces. Lotts is known for her work with implementing LEGO® play at the Rutgers Art Library, as well as her work curating the Rutgers Art Library Exhibition Spaces. Megan earned her MFA (2004) and MLIS (2007) from University of Wisconsin-Madison and has a BFA in Painting (2000) and a BFA in Art History (2002) from the University of Illinois- Champaign-Urbana.  She currently lives in New Brunswick, NJ and continues to create site-specific conceptual artworks.