Together While Apart: Engagement in the Time of Coronavirus

There are one million reasons to miss Watson Library since it’s closure on March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (and not just each of the one million volumes in the library’s collection). An aspect that is often referenced as most missed by patrons and staff alike is the sense of community. On a typical day in a typical year, Watson Library is a place in which keen minds meet, ideas and stories are shared, old friends cross paths, and new kindred spirits are introduced. When the Museum closed on March 13, library staff were faced with an overarching challenge: how to recreate a space that encourages curiosity and serves as a haven for learning, research, and scholarship in the virtual realm.

In addition to moving public facing aspects of librarianship such as reference assistance, instruction, and increased collection access to digital collections, Watson was among the first departments at the Museum to offer virtual programming for library supporters and volunteers. Within three weeks of the Museum’s closure, Watson staff had answered an internal call for program proposals with overwhelming enthusiasm and a wide range of suggestions for lectures. Eleven talks, to be delivered via Zoom, were put on the calendar for April.

While New York was on pause throughout the spring and summer, the Watson community tuned in two, sometimes three times a week, to listen to and learn from library staff in a total of thirty virtual programs. From the safety of our homes, we followed Mindell Dubansky on a whirlwind tour of book-objects, known as “blooks,” with the unique opportunity for access to Dubansky’s distinct and uniquely personal collection, providing insights we would not have heard were she not speaking from home.

Two days later, Holly Phillips presented on treasures from the library’s growing collection of Judaica, highlighting a range of volumes from the fourteenth-century Barcelona Haggadah facsimile and theeighteenth-century Megillat Esther from the Gross family collection, to poignant works created by artists documenting the Holocaust.

Together we explored zines and DIY print culture, examined Josef Albers’s Interaction of Color, and observed Japanese bookbinding and paper-making demonstrations. We took virtual trips to the great libraries of Venice, Havana, and Marrakech, and to a workshop on luxury French Romanesque binding in the medieval town of Montefiascone.

Later on, we expanded our reach and hosted talks on Watson Library’s Paper Legacy Project and African-American Artists Project, and we also moved our traditional Acquisition Highlights event from the Florence and Herbert Irving Reading Room to a webinar for over two hundred artists, scholars, Met staff members, and friends in the field.

Through staff commitment to teaching and patron dedication to learning, we found common comfort, enlightenment, and inspiration, helping each other through the first difficult months of self-isolation as we adjusted to the new normal. While many aspects of the future are uncertain, Watson Library is a constant. Together, as a community, we are present, engaged, and strong.

If you’re interested in virtual programs like these, consider joining the Friends of Watson Library, who get early access to this type of programing. Recordings of programs are forthcoming on the library’s website, so stay tuned for those!