Copley Library 2023-2024 Annual Report

“My art historical background lends itself to exploring discriminatory images, and misinformation/disinformation in visual culture.” | Millie Fullmer

Millie Fullmer B ased in the Collections, Access, and Discovery Department, I’m the Acquisitions and Cataloging Librarian, and liaison to the Art, Architecture, and Art History Department. I’m responsible for non-database items, such as standalone print or electronic books, musical scores, and streaming video. Similarly, the bibliographic records for such collections are cataloged by me and two staff members. We do original cataloging of USD’s master theses and doctoral dissertations, and support two satellite libraries — the University Galleries Hoehn Print Reading Room and the Franciscan School of Theology. Originally from Aotearoa, New Zealand, I acquired a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the Pratt Institute in New York City. The program attracted me because of the school’s connection to many cultural heritage institutions (interning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a surreal experience). I predominantly publish and present in the field of critical visual literacy studies. Librarians are information savants, devoted to evaluating information sources for bias and social, cultural, and economic power dynamics. My art historical background lends itself to exploring discriminatory images, and misinformation/ disinformation in visual culture. Decolonizing libraries through collection audits, investigating censorship of artists, nomenclature and reparative metadata, are further areas of inquiry. Collaborations with art history instructors can range from first year introductory courses to the advanced 490 thesis class. For research focused classes, such as a Wiki Edu class, I’m embedded in the course, meeting with the students several times in a semester including their final presentations. This past fall, I was excited to work on a new course “Disability in Art and Visual Culture” with Prof. Elizabeth Rooklidge, a topic I’m eager to explore further in my own research. Additionally, I’ve taught past library workshops on image manipulation and deep fakes, and how to become a Wikipedia editor. I also enjoyed being part of the 2021 summer interdisciplinary course HUMC 294: The Story of Now: Why Knowledge Matters. Fun fact: My Kiwi accent wouldn’t be much of a clue, but any fans of the 2002 Aotearoa film Whale Rider (based on the novel by Witi Ihimaera) might be interested to know that it was filmed in Whangara on Ng a- ti Porou tribal land of my maternal grandmother’s whakapapa. I got very excited when the library purchased a streaming license of it this spring for a Communications course!

2023–2024 ANNUAL REPORT | 7