At the beginning of the 2016 academic year Ann Marie Stock, professor of Hispanic studies and film and media studies at the College of William & Mary (W&M), Williamsburg, VA, stepped into her new role as the inaugural W&M Libraries faculty scholar. Stock will be embedded in the library—working out of a “gorgeous” renovated former storage room across from the Reeder Media Center—to collaborate and forge new alliances with students, faculty, and librarians.
Stock has served as W&M’s acting dean of international affairs and director of its Reves Center for International Studies, as well as faculty designer/director of the New Media Summer Institute in Washington, DC, and—dating back to her earliest years with W&M—library representative to the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, where she teamed with the library to build one of the most extensive collections of Cuban film and culture materials in the country. Among many other projects she has planned for her her three-year term as faculty scholar within the libraries, Stock will also help define the new position, leading the way for a new kind of academic partnership.
LJ: How did the idea for the position come about?
Ann Marie Stock: One of our inspirations was the notion of embedded librarianship, where university libraries get librarians out across the campus and working with students and faculty. We thought of the converse of that—having the faculty member come into the library to help connect the resources, both physical and virtual, but also the human resources— librarians—with faculty. The idea is that a faculty member might be well suited to identify synergies, and think about ways to support faculty and their work with students, by being embedded in the library.
How much input did you have in creating the position?
This is a result of a long collaboration and dialog. I’ve been working with the library virtually since my first year at William and Mary, which was 1993. As I [spent] more time in Cuba it became clear that the only way we could grow our collection of Cuban materials, which I very much needed for my teaching and my students’ and my own research, was to bring things back.
We have a state-of-the-art media center, and [I’ve been] teaming up with the director, Troy Davis. He would accompany me on research trips to Cuba; we would film interviews with filmmakers and bring that material back for our students to work with, to remix into their own projects, and all of that has become part of this robust archive of material tracking Cuba over the past almost 25 years. Davis and I coauthored an article in a book called Partnerships and New Roles in the 21st Century Academic Library. We were really intent on thinking through how librarians and faculty can overcome some of those hurdles or break down some of those barriers in order to achieve a really generative collaboration.
I feel like, without knowing it, everything I’ve done was preparing me for this exciting juncture—as a professor of Hispanic studies, film and media studies, acting dean of international affairs. All of that has prepared me to really contribute in a leadership role to the library and to the institution.
It’s a position that will enable me to continue to build bridges between Cuba and the U.S., but in a more systematic way, with more resources. And of course the historical juncture, as the U.S. is preparing to move closer to Cuba, makes this all the more exciting.
I know you haven’t been there long, but how have you integrated your own work into the library so far?
Stock displays one poster in the “UnMade in Cuba Exhibit”
Photo credit: Claire Seaton
This past semester we curated an exhibit that’s on display in our library gallery of Cuban film posters, and we’re working on an online version of that right now. We want to invite Cuban filmmakers to the college, film interviews with them. That material can be used by students who want to work on editing, and we’ll make it accessible.
As part of this growing initiative we took a group of 16 students to Cuba over our spring break in a study away program that was connected to an on-campus course. We’ll be taking a group of our library board members this coming spring so they can get insight into the world of libraries and archives and museums in Cuba, and meet with some of our partners. They’re very excited and of course we are too—that all translates into strengthening the library and the institution.
What do you have planned for the new role?
I have four general areas that I’ll be working on.
First of all, creating a repository of Cuban film material and Cuban cultural material. It’s envisioned as one of our university’s signature digital humanities initiatives. We’re creating a repository for my research, gathering material about Cuban film but also generated through photographs, filming, interviews. In doing so, we’re experimenting with best practices for open access and open education. We’re putting together the right set of professionals on our campus from IT, the library, and our e-learning initiatives. The idea is that other faculty can have an opportunity to see themselves designing similar projects, and we will have field-tested how this works at our institution.
A second area that I’m working on is strengthening librarian-faculty partnerships. To that end we’re developing what we’re calling now a Studio for Teaching and Research. It will be located in our library, and it’s envisioned as an incubator for faculty innovation and for librarians being partners in that in really significant ways. This studio will provide space for faculty from across the institution as well as some guests—maybe a distinguished lecturer or artist. It will also house our Center for the Liberal Arts, which is charged with helping ensure that our curriculum continues to be at the forefront among liberal arts universities in the nation.
A third area that I’m really excited about is under the rubric of outreach and relationships. I’m working on board relations, helping alumni stay connected to the library, and then working on fundraising as well. I’m going to be playing an active role in helping envision and draft proposals for grant funding from IMLS, foundations, and other areas.
And finally, I’m working with the dean and the dean’s cabinets in an advisory capacity, helping them anticipate what might have the most impact for faculty and the institution—helping them troubleshoot or take the most effective path moving forward, and also advising on special projects.
“UnMade in Cuba: Carteles de Cine” on display in Swem Library’s Botetourt Gallery at William & Mary.
Photo credit: Claire Seaton
Is this something that other libraries in other institutions could easily implement?
I certainly hope so. Even after six weeks in the position, I have seen so many ways that I can lend value. Just small ways—a colleague is teaching an intro to Latin American Studies course, and she asked me if I would guest teach a session. I counter-offered with [teaching] three sessions, have one of them devoted to relevant materials in our special collections research center, and another session devoted to relevant media material and resources in our media center, and then something in addition. So now there’s this new faculty member in a department that may not have had many faculty members connected with the library, and [now] she has contacts, and she has the idea of how the library can be integrated effectively into a course.
I think it sometimes helps faculty to have one of their counterparts working with librarians, of course, but I can help translate the library world to the faculty world and vice versa. That’s been a big part of what I’ve been doing, helping new relationships develop, which will help enhance learning and render the library ever more relevant, and more connected, to learning and teaching.
Has the role changed the way you think about the library?
It definitely has. I think I have a much greater appreciation for everything that goes on behind the scenes, from procurement to event planning—the “back of the house” of making resources accessible and making research user-friendly. I have much greater insight into what it takes to make it easy for students and faculty. I think I wasn’t aware just of what kind of infrastructure it takes to make a library function, and it’s been really energizing and eye opening to get behind the scenes.
I have to really underscore dean Carrie Cooper as a visionary and as a leader. She’s willing to take risks, she’s willing to embrace change, and she’s really willing to place her trust in the people she hires and works with. She’s a phenomenal collaborator and has really added new undergirding to our foundation to make sure this library is as impactful as it can possibly be, on campus and beyond.