‘Girl Sleuth’ puts the old on display in new ways
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This summer, Bird Library utilized Artificial Intelligence in an exhibit for the first time. For “The Girl Sleuth,” a showcase on the library’s first floor displaying the history of the “girl detective” genre, Technology Consultant Stephen Singer used AI-generated images for posters next to the exhibit. As a member of the department of Learning and Academic Engagement for Syracuse University’s Libraries, Singer has developed exhibits at Bird for six years.
“I like to collect weird books and things of that ilk, and one book I had in my collection that’s always stuck out was ‘Peggy Parker: Girl Inventor,’ which appears in the exhibit,” Singer said. “I was just very amused by (its) specificity… It seemed like a rather niche sort of thing, so I decided to explore that a little more.”
For the current exhibit, Singer found old books on eBay and combined them with his personal collection to examine the idea of the girl sleuth. He focused on the difference between “adult girls” and “girl sleuths” in the novels, and how those depictions relate to gender issues of the past and present. “Adult girls” reinforce the status quo with jobs like nurses, secretaries and models, whereas “girl sleuths” subvert the system they are in and affect change.
Kasowitz-Scheer, department head of Learning and Academic Engagement, said the exhibit’s timing aligned perfectly with the recent “Barbie” movie.
“We want people to look at older objects in new ways,” Abby Kasowitz-Scheer, Head of Learning and Academic Engagement at SU libraries, said. “Barbie is a doll that was invented in the 50s for probably a completely different purpose and in a completely different time, but now we look at it in a totally different way.”
After finishing the exhibit, Singer wanted to get input on it from different perspectives. He reached out to his old professor, Meriel Stokoe, for critique.
“The first thing that struck me was the signage,” Stokoe said. “The posters are so striking, they draw you in. And then once you’re drawn in, you look at the exhibit itself.”
Singer said with girl sleuth novels, he liked the idea that someone from the mid-19th century held the same copy he now owned. The books have traveled through time to reach the current exhibit in the library, and that adds intrigue for viewers.
He hopes the exhibit, placed in a “high-traffic” area of Bird Library, will entertain the various people that walk past. Singer compared Bird to a “crossroads” of SU, where students of different disciplines and focuses come together.
Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor
The display case shows vintage books with descriptions of what they are and how they relate to the exhibit’s main theme. It examines gender roles and details about the girl detective trope.Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor
Placing an exhibit like “The Girl Sleuth” in such a highly populated area on campus ensures that it will be seen by a large portion of the campus community. To garner interest, Singer tries to select topics that will appeal to the general population.
“I like to keep it educational, light, entertaining, that sort of thing,” Singer said. “People aren’t going to sit there and analyze things for 40 minutes, so you kind of want to get them in quick and get them out quick. I thought this was a good topic for that.”
Singer described the goal of the first-floor exhibits to be “edutainment,” a play on the words education and entertainment.
Through his position at the nearby circulation desk, Singer can witness firsthand the impact of the exhibits on the community. To measure that impact, he creates buttons with graphics to go along with each exhibit. For “The Girl Sleuth,” he made buttons featuring several images from the exhibit’s books.
When students return to campus, they will have the chance to get their own button in the library. Singer said the library is keeping the exhibit open until Sept. 15 to make sure that it gets seen past the summer season.
During the summer, the libraries hosted the SummerStart Resource Fair and the Fulbright Scholar session, while displaying Singer’s exhibit. To compensate for the lessened foot traffic, they keep exhibits up for longer periods of time, Kasowitz-Scheer said. They hope to connect with as many people as possible.
“I feel like we could never really run out of ideas (for exhibits),” Kasowitz-Scheer said. “There are so many, so many things to pull from.”
In the future, Stokoe hopes students’ collections are highlighted too.
“What we really try to achieve within the library, and especially in our first-floor spaces, is a sense of belonging,” Kasowitz-Scheer said. “We want it to feel like a comfortable space.”
