Revitalizing Creation Spaces Post-pandemic: A New Plan for VR and AV Engagement
The pandemic disrupted innovation for one academic library’s creation spaces. This is our story of how we leveraged campus and community partnerships, grant funding, and best practices for VR/media creation to reimagine and expand our virtual reality program and media lab offerings. This program will focus on how we chose and implemented new VR equipment, reimagined our workshops, improved our outreach and engagement efforts, and developed a plan to integrate virtual reality into our academic curriculum while providing support to rural public libraries for their media lab plans. Topics covered will include hardware and software considerations, adapting offerings for post-pandemic student needs, ideas for VR/Media assignments, creating a badging program, outreach and engagement, and our future plans for a virtual classroom environment. This program is designed for institutions who do not yet have a robust virtual reality/media studio in their libraries. Attendees will have access to a toolkit with resources, guides, tools, and plans they can adapt for their needs.
Speakers
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Kathryn SennInnovative & Immersive Technologies Librarian, University of Wyoming LibrariesShe/Her/Hers
Kathryn Senn is the Innovative and Immersive Technologies Librarian for the University of Wyoming Libraries. She holds a Master of Science in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Eastern Michigan University. Her professional interests include cross-disciplinary use of technology spaces, inclusive and accessible technology creation and use, and curricular applications of Virtual/Augmented Reality. In her spare time, if she isn’t playing video games, she can usually be found typing away on her laptop, working on various creative writing projects. -
Paula MartinInterim Associate Dean & Assistant Dean of User Services, University of Wyoming LibrariesShe/Her/Hers
Paula Martin serves as Interim Associate Dean and Assistant Dean of User Services at University of Wyoming Libraries. She has worked in every area of academic librarianship and has also worked in special libraries. Her specialties include library system administration, library human resources, library administration, and she has a special love for public services. In her spare time she enjoys baking, hiking, Lego, and her pet hedgehogs.