New exhibit honors Black History Month

Walter W. Stiern Library hosts exhibit

By California State University, Bakersfield

February 10^th, 2020

The Walter W. Stiern Library at California State University, Bakersfield is honoring Black History Month with an exhibit, now through February 28. It is open to community members, as well as the campus community to visit.

The library wanted to acknowledge a painful and difficult history, while also celebrating the societal and cultural contributions.

“Due to my background in the arts, I wanted the exhibit to be more than just a book display,” said outreach and user engagement librarian, Kristen Gallant. “I wanted it to be like a museum that elicits thoughts, feelings and hopefully a desire to learn more.”

Gallant explained that as an academic library, the Walter W. Stiern Library upholds the responsibility of exhibiting a portion of its collection on African American culture and history.

Each level of the library has various objects and galleries to explore and learn from, including:

First floor: A portrait gallery wall with audio kiosk that runs a loop of short bios of the subjects; Martin Luther King, Jr. wall with images and quotes from his “Letters from Birmingham Jail” along with an audio kiosk that plays his “I Have A Dream” speech, pop-up book shelves with books and DVDs from the library’s collections pertaining to African American culture, history, arts and more, as well as a poetry and lyric books;
Second floor: Historical Research Center audio kiosk with local African American oral history;
Third floor: A book case display; and
Fourth floor: Another book case display, along with a large screen and audio kiosk with loop on African Americans in various genres of music.

All of the items, such as the books and DVDs, are part of the library’s collection, while the images displayed on the walls were from various resources, including: the Digital Public Library of America, the National Archives and the Library of Congress.

“Black History Month is also there to remind us, as an entire people, that we all have a role as citizens to participate in our government and treat everyone with dignity and kindness. It is a tall order, but if it results in patrons asking questions, seeking to learn more, then we have accomplished our goal,” Gallant said. “It is our hope that is both educational and inspiring.”