USING EXHIBITS TO PROMOTE SCIENCE

Creating a highly visible history of science exhibit can be a great way to promote interest in science and the library. The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science is promoting 2009 as the Year of Science in an effort to engage the public in science and improve public understanding about how science works, why it matters, and who scientists are. Inspired by this, the Penn State University Libraries designed a two month history of science exhibit. On display in the most highly trafficked area of the main library, the exhibit highlights some of the important scientific developments throughout the history of Penn State. The process of putting together this exhibit involved a collaborative effort across departments within the library to identify significant individuals and scientific developments at Penn State. Creating a historical exhibit like this can be scaled to fit the size of any library or organization and the breadth of the subjects covered and can serve to illustrate the organization’s impact to people outside the sciences as well as across scientific disciplines. Additional benefits include promoting the sciences within the library itself and increasing staff awareness of the important developments of our institutions.