“Unseen Labor” Exhibit: April 3 – May 8, 2023
“Unseen Labor” Exhibit April 3-May 8, 2023 – 2nd Floor Memorial Library
Exhibit Opening Reception – Tuesday, April 11, 2023 – 2:00-4:00 pm – Marilyn J. Lass Center for Minnesota Studies.
A library community-organizing art project titled “Unseen Labor” created by University of Massachusetts -Amherst Metadata librarian Ann Kardos will be on display outside Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Marilyn J. Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (located on the second floor of Memorial Library) from Monday, April 3 through May 8. This exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit hours are the same as library hours.
The exhibit consists of cross stitch and embroidery pieces that share stories about libraries, the theme of unseen labor, the work that metadata librarians do, projects they are proud of, and more. The project represents approximately 35 creators from a wide variety of libraries: academic, public, museum libraries, and archives, from all over the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Minnesota State Mankato’s catalog and metadata librarian, Bobby Bothmann, was one of the contributors to the project. He believes that the biggest takeaway from this exhibit is “how the exhibit highlights human labor and intellectual effort; creating metadata is not mechanical, it’s thoughtful, it’s communicative, and it’s artful.”
The exhibit opening reception will be held in the Marilyn J. Lass Center for Minnesota Studies on Tuesday, Apr. 11 from 2:00 -4:00 PM. The event will include a brief program and refreshments.
“Unseen Labor” is part of Research Month at Minnesota State Mankato. Research month is an annual event to celebrate and showcase the research, creative, and scholarly activities happening at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
The exhibition catalog can be viewed online at bit.ly/UnseenLabor
