Books at Work, In 91ֱ��</h1> <article> <h1>Books at Work, In 91ֱ��</h1> <p>eulrich — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 18:29:39 +0000</p> <span>Books at Work, In 91ֱ��</span> <span><span>eulrich</span></span> <span><time datetime="2018-08-13T14:29:39-04:00" title="Monday, August 13, 2018 - 14:29">Mon, 08/13/2018 - 14:29</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="/node/5576" target="_blank">Laura Baudot</a> was first introduced to Books@Work, a Cleveland-based nonprofit, in 2016 and has since become an ardent advocate of the organization’s mission to improve workplace cultures through professor-led book discussions. Through Books@Work, Baudot has facilitated conversations at a private all-girls high school, an adhesive manufacturing company, and a veterans hospital—all of which have, in her words, “sparked a very productive sense of disorientation.”</p> <p>The ethos of Books@Work is encapsulated in the idea that books have the potential to mobilize conversations around issues such as race, gender, and the human experience in deeper ways than typically occur in the workplace. Essentially, the books are a gateway into what often organically become shared spaces of reflection on personal experience. Books@Work programming is frequently integrated into company wellness initiatives and the organization prides itself on bringing together individuals “from the front line to the C-suite.”</p> <p>Baudot first gravitated toward Books@Work programs when reflecting on her own reading practices outside of the classroom. “I wanted to know why fiction matters to people. I wanted to bring in the question of human relevance because it’s important in my own reading life. I don’t only read in academic ways; I also read to find answers to ethical questions and to reflect on my own experiences,” she says.</p> <p>Under the guidance of <a href="/node/48561" target="_blank">President Carmen Twillie Ambar</a>, 91ֱ�� has recently made strides to exhibit how a liberal arts degree can prepare students for career readiness in a plethora of increasingly competitive workplace environments. Baudot concurs that the humanities can chart the course for liberal arts’ survival in a daunting economic landscape in which the future of higher education remains uncertain.</p> <p>“Trends in higher education indicate increasing valorization of social sciences and STEM fields, as well as increased focus on preprofessional training. So, it was really interesting for Books@Work to be premised on the idea that reading stories and talking about them can improve an employee’s performance and improve workplace culture."</p> <p>Baudot’s fresh take on the value of reading outside the halls of ivy offers a glimmer of hope for those within them. According to her, programs like Books@Work testify to the potential of the humanities to build career readiness, transform individuals’ capacity for empathy and open-mindedness, and evince 91ֱ��’s commitment to preparing its students for the real world.</p> <p>In an interview with <em>Inside HigherEd </em>this past spring, Baudot describes her “ongoing quest to argue for the value of the humanities to an increasingly skeptical audience.” In Introduction to the Advanced Study of Literature, a mandatory course for English majors designed to introduce students to the formal studies of literary theory and critique, she has demonstrated an increased interest in “openness and curiosity” about her students’ personal perspectives. She says that this approach has recalibrated the way students interact not just with works of literature, but with each other.</p> <p>A student in her class once remarked about a character in a compromising situation, “I can kind of understand the position of this person in the story.” From that point on, Baudot says the nature of the conversation shifted: “It became less about signaling one’s progressive politics and more about working through a complex interpersonal dynamic.” </p> <p>From plant workers who read on their Kindles after they clock out to English majors trying to determine how many times per sentence it’s appropriate to mention Foucault, Baudot is certain that the significance of reading is far from ephemeral.</p> <p>“I think Books@Work has given me a new appreciation for how much people care about reading and how much value they place on the idea of literary quality. I know teachers often say in a sort of pious way, ‘I really learn from my students.’ But, it was true. I really learned to think about the characters in different ways from the Books@Work participants.”</p> <p><a class="view-more" href="https://www.booksatwork.org/" target="_blank">Discover Books@Work</a></p> <p> </p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2018-08-13T12:00:00Z">Mon, 08/13/2018 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erin Ulrich ’18</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Laura Baudot’s work with Cleveland-based nonprofit Books@Work has given her insight into why people read outside of the classroom.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25216">Book Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25346">English</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/laura-baudot" hreflang="und">Laura Baudot</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/english" hreflang="und">English</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Professor Laura Baudot</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Learning through the Letterpress</h1> <p>Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:52 +0000</p> <span>Learning through the Letterpress</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:52-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>One of the best resources for hands-on learning at 91ֱ�� hides in plain sight behind large glass windows on the second floor of Mudd Center library. This is the Letterpress Studio, containing three manual printing presses surrounded by cabinets of moveable type. Special Collections and Preservation Librarian Ed Vermue presides over the studio, which is accessible to students through an Experimental College (ExCo) class, a winter-term group project, and opportunities for class visits.</p> <p>The <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/services-amenities/special-spaces/letterpress-studio">Letterpress Studio</a> was organized in 2010. “It was a long time coming,” Vermue explains. Faculty members had been interested in teaching the history of the book through hands-on experience with a printing press for a while, but the idea finally fell into place after a series of fortuitous donations were made. Cabinets of type and bookworking tools came from husband and wife Dewey and Carol Ganzel, an English professor at 91ֱ�� and journalist, respectively. Two small hand presses, along with more type and tools, came from the family of Gus Brunsman II, which ran Trailside Press in Kettering, Ohio. Finally, with help from the English department, Vermue bought a vintage Vandercook press, the largest press in the studio.</p> <p>Using the three presses, students in the ExCo and winter-term class learn how to set type, ink up a press, and print the way it was done from Johannes Gutenberg up until the computer. Letterpress printing is a time-consuming process: Each letter has to be set individually, and the type must be set backwards for the final product to appear correctly.</p> <p>The winter-term class is intensive: Students spend full days in the studio working on a book commission with a deadline, which, in the past, has been anything from printing poetry from alumni authors to creating broadsides of poems from <a href="http://www.oberlin.edu/ocpress/">91ֱ�� College Press</a>. “The idea is to introduce a little bit of stress to the experience,” Vermue says. “They’re actually working the way printers used to work. ”</p> <p>While students participating during winter term are required to work together on one large project, students in the ExCo have the opportunity to work individually and pursue their own interests. Senior studio art major Sarah Lejeune, who took the ExCo in 2013, now works as an assistant in the Letterpress Studio. Lejeune’s art focuses on nostalgia and exploring the ephemeral nature of memory and experience. She is drawn to letterpress printing for its long history. “It is deeply tied to the passing on of information,” she says. “I really like letterpress as a process because of how intricate [and how much of a] technical skill it is.”</p> <p>Many professors say they are also eager to take advantage of the letterpress as a learning tool for their classes. Assistant Professor of English Laura Baudot brings her Eighteenth-Century British Novel and Print Culture class to the Letterpress Studio to help students to think about how books were made before mechanical printing. “There are a lot of eighteenth-century authors, such as [Laurence] Sterne, who were hyperconscious of the status of the book, both as a commodity and a possible artistic media. They wanted to draw your attention to the physical appearance of the book,” Baudot explains. While reading Sterne’s Tristam Shandy, which famously features a unique marbled page in volume three of every original edition, students learn how to make marbled paper and view one of the original marble pages during a visit to special collections.</p> <p>According to Vermue, the point of modern letterpress printing is not to turn back the clock but to have a point of reference for how printing was executed for hundreds of years. Without a computer to do everything for you, you need to think about each decision in the printing process, such as spacing, typeface, and illustrations. Letterpress printing is a framework and a tool that can help students better understand the literature of the past and create art in the present. “Nobody hates computers, but some are glad to be away from them for a little bit,” Vermue says. “Students are nostalgic for doing things with their hands.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-04-15T12:00:00Z">Wed, 04/15/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Madeline Raynor</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2580">Experimental College (ExCo)</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25436">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25346">English</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25216">Book Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/ed-vermue" hreflang="und">Ed Vermue</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/english" hreflang="und">English</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jeong Hyun Hwang</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>