At Michigan State University, we observe Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American and Asian Heritage Month on campus) from mid-March to mid-April because by the time May, the official month, rolls around, most students have left campus for the summer. This makes for an event-filled few weeks leading up to finals, but luckily besides a presentation in Hindi class, I don’t have to worry about finals and can focus on programming around APIDA/A Heritage Month events.
I’m the librarian for South and Southeast Asian studies, so technically don’t cover Asian American studies at all. That said, I do participate in activities with the APIDA/A staff organization and over time one thing has led to another and I’ve started doing more Asian American and Pasifika outreach. There’s obviously a lot of crossover between Asian studies and Asian American studies already, and I’ve also found that students really aren’t concerned with the divide between the two. This means that APIDA/A Heritage Month is a good outreach time for me, because there are events readily available for me to attend as a representative of the library and because I can get face-to-face time with people who might not otherwise be coming into the library or contacting me when I might be able to help.
Here’s what I’ve worked on so far this month, which is actually only a fraction of the slate of events and activities happening around campus:
Asian Pacific American Studies Annual Symposium
This is an annual event organized by the academic program on campus where students, faculty, and outside speakers share their research on Asian American and Pacific studies. I’ve tabled at the event for two years now.
At Asian and Asian American studies events where I table, I typically bring some books to give away, since I like to get Asian books back to the community. At any event where I table, I also bring handouts from the library either about what I can do to help library users or about other applicable library services (such as our library accessibility initiatives when I table at disability pride events). I usually make a themed reading list of some sort for the event, so I bring a sign with a link to that. If I have the time, I also like to make minizines with book recommendations around a theme: APALA Literature Award winners, for example, or recent Pasifika-authored books in the collection. Sometimes I also bring other small library giveaways, but usually by this point my table is pretty full.
This event is fun because I get to hear about current research projects and get to meet a lot of students. This year, I was scheduled to table for both days of the symposium and ended up bringing a whole different set of books the second day because I met some students with specific research interests that I could definitely cover.
APIDA/A Heritage Month Book Display
At the MSU library, we regularly have week-long book displays in the lobby featuring books that visitors passing by can pick up and check out. The idea is that they’re based around interesting and timely topics and don’t necessarily include dense academic works. In between topics such as cryptozoology and ancient astronauts, I slip in displays timed for various heritage or pride months, including APIDA/A Heritage Month. As with my tabling, I try to make an accompanying LibGuide that people can reference year-round. I also sometimes break out the minizines if I have any that are particularly relevant.
Asian Pacific American Student Organization’s Speculative Futures Event
This was another standard tabling experience for me, but I was particularly excited about it because the student organization invited me to come—this time it wasn’t a case of me cold emailing organizers and hoping for the best. This event was also fun because it was held at the campus museum, right across the street from the library, so I got to wheel my supplies across the road and didn’t have to worry about lugging all my supplies to and from my car. It’s also always really fun to see what kind of an event the students pull together.
Upcoming Events
I have a few more events on the horizon: a study break organized by the Asian Pacific American Studies Program and another lobby display in May for the national Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. And then it will be time to regroup for the APALA Literature Awards Banquet, but more on that later.
Do you incorporate any campus events into your outreach work or other library programming? Do you have any tips to share?