April 3-May 8: 'Unseen Labor' Art Exhibit

Tuesday, April 11, 2023
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Opening reception

Mankato, Minn. – A library community-organizing art project, “Unseen Labor,” created by University of Massachusetts-Amherst metadata librarian Ann Kardos is on display in Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Memorial Library through May 8.

The exhibit consists of cross stitch and embroidery pieces that share stories about libraries, the theme of unseen labor, the work that metadata librarians do, projects about which they are proud and more. The project represents approximately 35 creators from a wide variety of libraries: academic, public, museum libraries and archives from all over the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The exhibit, free and open to the public, is located outside the Marilyn J. Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (located on the second floor of Memorial Library). Exhibit hours are the same as library hours. An opening reception will be held in the exhibit area Tuesday, April 11 from 2-4 p.m. and include a brief program and refreshments.

Minnesota State Mankato’s catalog and metadata librarian, Bobby Bothmann, was one of the contributors to the project. According to Bothmann, the biggest takeaway from this exhibit is “how the exhibit highlights human labor and intellectual effort; creating metadata is not mechanical, it’s thoughtful, it’s communicative, and it’s artful.”

The ”Unseen Labor” exhibit is part of Minnesota State Mankato’s Research Month, an annual event to celebrate and showcase the research, creative and scholarly activities happening at the University.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,482 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 26 colleges and seven universities.