The definition of "student" has evolved dramatically and our instruction must evolve as well. While in-person instructional sessions and primary source workshops are still essential, they serve only those students who can physically access our materials. This session explores how the Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL) has expanded its archival instructional model to reach distance learners, online faculty, and local high school students.
The BPCL has developed a multi-pronged approach to instruction that supplements, rather than replaces, traditional information literacy and primary source literacy instruction. For a recent online course teaching Black Popular Culture, we have worked with faculty to enhance their reading assignments from our collections and have made digitized materials accessible in ethical ways that match their course learning outcomes each week. This includes developing guidelines for classroom use and dissemination of copyrighted materials.
Additionally, BPCL has participated in providing "reverse field trips" for multiple popular culture social studies classes at a nearby high school. We teach comics history, share rare artifacts, and discuss the unique art styles and cultural significance of sequential art. Some of these students have later visited us in the BPCL as BGSU students, demonstrating alignment not only with their social studies common core initiatives, but also BGSU's recruitment and enrollment efforts.
This expanded instructional model addresses three critical goals: equity of access, pedagogical flexibility, and community engagement. By meeting students where they are geographically, technologically, and developmentally, we ensure that more individuals can benefit from special collections instruction than the traditional student. This session will present our case studies, discuss logistical and pedagogical challenges, and offer adaptable strategies for archives and special collections seeking to broaden their instructional reach across institutional contexts.
Speakers Stefanie Hunker, Bowling Green State University Sasha Kim, Bowling Green State University
