This is the fifth of seven posts that recount last month’s Convening Great Lakes Culture Keepers (CGLCK) Institute at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, April 14-17, 2014. This four-day gathering of tribal librarians, archivists, and museum curators from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, as well as staff and graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Library and Information Studies, was graciously funded by the Institute of Museum of Library Services. You can read more about the overview of the project here.
We began Wednesday morning with another glorious breakfast to give us fuel for a day full of workshops. Having full days of classes can be long, but starting out with Conversation Tables really got people excited for the day. Splitting up by museums, libraries, and archives was a really great way to network and share stories with other people who go through similar things daily. The librarians took up enough space for two tables, but they refused to split into smaller groups because of how great their conversations were going!
After wrapping up the conversations and putting some on hold until the next time we could be together as a group—it was time for classes to get going. Wednesday’s workshops consisted of: continuations of Tuesday’s Grant Writing, Oral History, and Creating Motivating Exhibits workshops and a new workshop for the day about collection management, which discussed everything from policy making to pest maintenance. Having a second day for the first three workshops made it possible for the attendees of these workshops to have a more in-depth experience with these complicated and very hot topics.
Although our days were packed with workshops they were broken up nicely by snack breaks and meal times each with more food than we could imagine. From touring the exhibits to interviewing classmates and gaining hands-on experience creating artifacts, all attendees left these days of workshops with full minds and even fuller bellies.
We ended Wednesday’s day activities with a group photo. Not everyone who attended is pictured, but many people are shown here!
Stay tuned for a post about our last evening activities.
-Cassy Keyport