January 11, 2008: Volume 72, Number 1

Pride and sensibility: Library exhibits help students appreciate Jane Austen

There’s more to an author than what can be found between the pages of her books, and students taking Jane Austen seminars at Union and Skidmore learned this firsthand, thanks to exhibits on both campuses that have given them a deeper appreciation for the beloved 19^th British novelist. 

“We found that working on a library exhibit enhances more conventional classroom experiences,” said Schaffer Library Associate Librarian and Head of Technical Services Annette LeClair. “It evokes different learning styles and fosters new relationships among audiences.”

LeClair and Skidmore College English Professor Phyllis Roth have developed a satisfying academic collaboration that underscores the importance of the exhibits, and now the two women will share that success with their peers.

They have been invited to speak on Jane Austen’s legacy at the annual meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA), to be held in Chicago in October. They will present their findings at a session titled, “Exhibiting the Learning: Jane Austen on Display.”

The two met when Roth came to campus a year ago as part of the Mellon faculty exchange program that supports faculty career development.

“Since then, Professor Roth and I have continued to collaborate,” said LeClair, a JASNA member. “I went to Skidmore to hear her students talk about their own Austen exhibit, for example, and to describe Union’s exhibit and its surrounding events. Our efforts also demonstrate the fruitfulness of faculty-librarian partnerships across institutions as well as in our own.”

Undergraduates in Austen seminars offered on both campuses in recent years have produced a series of library exhibits featuring Austen texts, contexts, ephemera, images, and scholarly and popular interpretations of Austen’s life and work. Roth taught the seminars, supervised and evaluated student work, and supplied much of the exhibit material. LeClair provided a range of support to the students and for the exhibits.

Their JASNA talk will illustrate how requiring students to develop exhibits that examine Austen’s legacy encourages them to generate fresh interpretations of the author and “inhabit her world” in telling ways. 

Students in each seminar created distinctive exhibits with different emphases, reinforcing the notion that literary interpretation is creative and ever-changing.

“After structuring and articulating these insights for exhibit visitors, students report that they are amazed how much their appreciation for Austen has grown,” LeClair said.

“Most important, we found that when students deal directly, collaboratively and creatively with the ever-growing mountain of ‘stuff’ that now provides evidence of Austen’s enduring influence, they move from being overwhelmed and puzzled to being intrigued and energized.”

To convey the scope of the students’ imagination and achievement, LeClair’s and Roth’s presentation will include excerpts of video recordings of student interviews and images of exhibit materials.

LeClair has presented her work on Austen at previous JASNA general meetings and at a variety of regional meetings and events. Her publications have appeared in “Persuasions” and the Modern Library Association’s “Approaches to Teaching Austen’s Emma.” Roth, who teaches Austen frequently, served as Skidmore's chief academic officer in the 1990s.

Founded in 1979, JASNA has some 3,000 members. Most are professional scholars or well-read amateurs from across the United States and Canada, though Janeites are represented from 13 other countries, from Japan to the Netherlands.

Union’s Mellon faculty exchange with Skidmore and two other upstate New York institutions, Hamilton College and Colgate University, is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

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