{"id":224,"date":"2018-03-17T16:09:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T20:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slis.simmons.edu\/blogs\/lis476\/?p=224"},"modified":"2018-03-17T16:09:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T20:09:21","slug":"meet-michelle-chiles-robinson-center-research-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slis.simmons.edu\/blogs\/lis476\/?p=224","title":{"rendered":"Meet Michelle Chiles, Robinson Center Research Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bree Comeau<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Having begun her professional career as a middle school teacher in Washington state, Michelle Chiles, always had a passion for outreach and supporting her community. In 2009, she moved halfway around the world when her partner was offered a job in Tasmania. It was there that her work in libraries and archives began. Michelle started working for the Australian Childhood Foundation, an organization whose focus is to help and support children who are victims of abuse, neglect and family violence. However, the part-time hours with the organization weren\u2019t enough so Michelle looked for ways to stay busy while becoming more involved with her community. She began volunteering at the State Library & Archives of Tasmania and found her calling!\u00a0 After her move back to the US, Michelle enrolled in the Library and Information Science program at Simmons College with a concentration in Archives Management.<\/p>\n

After her graduation in 2013, Michelle worked at various institutions in and around the Boston area until landing her current position at the Robinson Research Center in 2016. Michelle is the Manager of the Research Center, a role that includes the responsibilities of head reference librarian, outreach program planner, and plenty more. The Research Center is part of the Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS), and there are times when outreach initiatives require support and collaboration with other departments, which can be tricky.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A popular outreach program in collaboration with the Providence Public Library is a series of genealogy workshops called \u201cDiggin\u2019 Your Roots\u201d which are offered during the Fall and Spring months. This year a new twist is being introduced to the outreach program with hopes it will garner new attendees. They are taking to the road! Each year the RIHS incorporates a theme into all the programs, and the 2018 theme is \u201cRest and Relaxation in Rhode Island.\u201d According to Michelle, \u201cthe genealogy workshop series either piggy backs off that theme or we come up with another thread to tie the classes together. Since we were really struggling to find out how genealogy fit into that, we decided to make it a road trip since those are part of most people’s vacation memories! Even though Rhode Island is small, we still have many researchers comment on how tricky it is to get into the city to come to our Research Center, or our collaborator on these workshops, the Providence Public Library. So, we decided to take the workshops to them!\u201d By taking the genealogy workshops on the road, people interested in the lessons but deterred by traveling into the city will now be able to participate closer to home.<\/p>\n

Currently, many of the traditional users of the Research Center are genealogists, authors, faculty, college students and fellow co-workers. In addition to the new audiences reached by taking the program on the road, Michelle would love to expand the K-12 audience. Multiple offerings are geared towards schools and educators, including a digital textbook and \u201cField Trip Free for All\u201d program. The \u201cEnCompass Rhode Island History Digital Textbook\u201d is a collaboration between the RIHS and Providence College and is geared towards educators across the state. The \u201cField Trip Free for All\u201d program offers teacher-supervised visits to the Robinson Research Center, the John Brown House Museum, or the Museum of Work & Culture, at no cost. What a great way to encourage schools, educators and students to visit! The challenge is communicating these opportunities to the school communities.<\/p>\n

Another challenge Michelle was quick to discuss involves the newest initiative \u201cNetop Nights.\u201d Not surprisingly, working out the kinks that come along with any new endeavor is always a big challenge. This once-a-month event allows the community to get up close to collections normally not available to them. Originally the plan was to have people preregister so that the staff could anticipate the number of guests. Unfortunately, people registered but didn\u2019t come, while others just showed up. Since preregistration deters some people, an accurate head count in advance wasn\u2019t possible. So, this year \u201cNetop Nights\u201d will not require preregistration. Michelle hopes the events will run smoothly; it\u2019s all about trial-and-error after all.<\/p>\n

Based on her experiences, Michelle\u2019s best advice to aspiring archivists and librarians – get as much practice and experience with outreach and advocacy as possible! From teaching to program planning, it all helps build the skills needed to plan and manage outreach programs at your future place of work.<\/p>\n

For more information visit:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.childhood.org.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.rihs.org\/genealogy\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.rihs.org\/learn\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/rihs.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bree Comeau Having begun her professional career as a middle school teacher in Washington state, Michelle Chiles, always had a passion for outreach and supporting her community. In 2009, she moved halfway around the world when her partner was offered a job in Tasmania. It was there that her work in libraries and archives … <\/p>\n

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