MSLIS students Monica Gil, Holly Bleeden, and Harrison Price were selected as winners of this year's Graduate Student Exhibit Contest, sponsored by the University of Illinois Library. Gil and Bleeden won first place for their exhibit, "Echoes of Time: The Evolution of Music Media," and Price won second place for his exhibit, "Unique-ly Illinois: Creative Writing from High School to Higher Education." The exhibits will be on display in the Marshall Gallery in the library through the end of March.
Echoes of Time
"Echoes of Time" provides a timeline of recorded audio technology, focusing on the perspective of everyday consumers of music media in the United States and covering early recordings from the 1800s through present day. According to Gil and Bleeden, who work as graduate assistants in the Music and Performing Arts Library (MPAL), the exhibit highlights a unique part of the MPAL's holdings and provides historical context for today's music recording and listening practices.
"While I was exploring the value of physical music in our streaming-dominated market for my e-resources class, I discovered that many music media collections are closed stacks, like ours at MPAL. This exhibit is an excellent opportunity to make our diverse collection of physical media accessible and known," said Bleeden.
Through their research, the students learned about the player piano's role in music history and its rise and fall in popularity as well as how much you can learn about vinyl records from their matrix and catalog numbers.
"I've seen our player piano at MPAL before, but I wasn't super familiar with all of the history of its development, so it was nice to get more context to be able to appreciate this rare instrument even more," said Gil.
After graduation, Gil would like to work in a public library, preferably youth services or reference, and Bleeden would like to find a position where she can work with music and music collections, "whether that be in an academic or public library, radio programming, or other alternatives."
Unique-ly Illinois
"Unique-ly Illinois" features materials from the University Laboratory High School's literature and arts magazine Unique, published by Uni High students since 1961 and preserved by the Uni High Library Archives. In addition to magazine covers and writing excerpts, the exhibit includes testimonials from past Unique contributors and editors.
"At the end of last school year, Unique distributed bound copies of their 2022–2024 edition for students and faculty to take. I claimed a copy and read it . . . and it's awesome! Highlighting Unique seemed like a great way to celebrate the students and the ways they interact with the library and literary-related hobbies," said Price, who works as a graduate assistant at the high school's library.
According to Price, it was fascinating to watch how the magazine's layout—and the perspectives of the contributors—changed over time. Many contributors and editors frequent(ed) the library and are on the student library advisory council, he added.
After earning his school librarian licensure, Price would like to work in Chicago Public Schools as a middle or high school librarian.