The document discusses the importance of visual literacy in a technology-rich university environment. It argues that as technology tools and digital images proliferate, users must be taught to identify, search for, analyze, incorporate and respect images while asserting their rights. The art and architecture librarian can help foster visual literacy on campus by collaborating with faculty to build digital libraries and repositories, teach visual literacy skills in the classroom and library, and advocate for open sharing of scholarly work that incorporates images. Visual literacy is a core competency that enables digital scholarship and the creation of open educational resources.

1. Technology &
Visual Literacy
Alex Watkins
Job Talk UC Boulder

2. As we create and make available
technology tools
We must also create the users of these
technologies
Photo by Max & Dee via flickr

3. Technology and
images go hand in
hand
We must build savvy
users and
interpreters of
images
Art & Architecture
librarian will have to
understand images,
technology, and teaching
Da Vinci’s Studies of the working of cogwheels, 1483-7

4. Visual Literacy
•Identify
•Search
•Analyze
•Incorporate
•Respect
•Assert
Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait as Allegory of Painting, 1630

5. Visual Literacy helps create
a tech rich university
It is vital for:
Institutional
Digital
Repositories
Libraries Online
Scholarship
Raphael’s School of Athens, 1510

6. Building Digital Libraries
Provide images, information and ideas
A source for artists, writers, architects, teachers
and more
Work in a team to select items, create
collections, create metadata

7. Finding Images:
Digital Libraries
As we digitize need to also cultivate users
of our digital resources
Students often stop with Google Images, where copyright
and ownership are murky
Scholars need visual literacy to find the rich
collections in digital libraries
Detail of Panini’s Ancient Rome, 1757

8. The Visually
Literate Scholar •Goes beyond Google
•Uses Digital
Libraries,
Databases, and
Specialized Search
Engines
•Finds images they
can legally use
•Is a savvy user of
the library’s digital
content
Degas’ Portrait of Edmond Duranty, 1879

9. The Art &
Architecture
Librarian
Help in the creation
of digital libraries and
the acquisition of
image databases
Collaborate with librarians,
faculty, and visual
resources curators to
increase awareness of
image resources
Michelangelo’s The Separation of Light and Dark, 1508-12

10. New Forms of Scholarly
Communication
The Digital Humanities and other new forms of digital
scholarship can be facilitated by the library
Fearless in the face of new technology, ready to learn
anything, and then turn around and teach it

11. Using Images:
Digital Scholarship
New Forms of Scholarship that have emerged
require images
Digital Humanities
Powerpoint
Blogs
Websites
Detail of David’s Death of Socrates, 1787

12. The Visually
Literate Scholar
Selects great
images
Analyzes and
understands their
meaning
Manipulates and
Incorporates the
image
Detail of Manet’s Dejeuner sur l'herbe, 1863

13. The Art &
Architecture
Librarian
Understand how
images reflect on
the scholar
Promote the use of
images in scholarly
communication &
web resourcses
To Fully harness
digital scholarship
must use images
Caravaggio’s Narcissus, 1597

14. Institutional
Repository
Takes the Entire Community to
fill it with content
Repository must meet the needs
and desires of the scholars who
will deposit in it
Art & Architecture librarian can
ensure the the repository will
work for artists, art historians,
and architects photo by author

15. Understanding Rights:
Sharing Scholarship
Much of the content that we will want in our repository
uses images to illustrate points
Image Copyright is a major obstacle
Caravaggio’s Saint Jerome, 1606

16. The Visually Literate
Scholar
Understands the nebulous nature of
fair use
Uses images made available
through public domain and
creative commons
Can confidently deposit their work in
the Institutional Repository
Make their own work available
Detail of Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance, 1662

17. Art & Advocate and encourage
Architecture depositing in the
Institutional Repository
Librarian
Is a natural fit to help build image
copyright knowledge at Boulder
Detail of David’s Oath of the Horatii, 1784

18. Teaching Visual Literacy
Need to meet the students where they are
Online
In the Classroom
At the Library
Eakins’s Agnew Clinic, 1889

19. Virtual Outreach
Boulder already has an excellent online guide
to finding images
Integrated into the Learning Management
System
Through Social Media Blog posts, twitter
responses

20. In the Classroom
An embedded librarian can help faculty teach visual
literacy
From art students to
thesis writers
Collaborate closely
Problem Based
Discussion
Hands-On
Mini-Lessons
Relevant
Assessment
photo by author

21. In the Library
During reference interactions can guide students to
alternate image resources
Instructional sessions can explain the risks and rewards of
using images, and the right way to do it
Workshops on finding images, image
copyright, or depositing in the I.R.

22. Conclusion
The Art &
Architecture
Librarian can foster
visual literacy
This skill is essential
to a technology rich
university
The community can
leverage these skills
to create digital
scholarship
Balla’s Street Light, 1910

23. Thank You
Created by Alex Watkins
Detail of Cézanne’s Still Life with Jar, Cup, and Apples, 1877