Workshops

The AOK Library offers a variety of workshops for students, faculty, and staff at UMBC.

If you are interested in a topic but cannot attend our scheduled workshops, UMBC librarians will schedule and customize workshops to meet the needs of small groups. Request a Workshop here.



Workshops spotlights


Writing Wednesday Workshop: Research 101

Presenters: Jasmine Shumaker, Joe Lee, & Writing Tutor

Are you confused between Google Searching and database searching? This workshop is designed to give you an overview of how to begin the searching process, with an introduction to the AOK Library’s searching tools. Attendees will also learn about how the Writing Center can help in the writing process. Feel free to bring questions and an appetite to learn!

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Recommended audience: Undergraduate, transfer students
Modality: Online
Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Time: 4:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.
Register

Library Services for Graduate Student Success: Everything is AOK!

Presenter: Erin Durham

Explore resources and services the library has to offer for graduate students, including online databases, library study space reservations, Interlibrary loan, workshops, and research assistance. This is a workshop for UMBC grad students, based on recommendations from fellow grad students!

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Recommended audience: graduate
Modality: Hyflex, Library 259 and WebEx
Date: Monday, 09/11/23
Time: 12-1
Register

How to Write a STEM Literature Review (Introduction)

Presenter: Semhar Yohannes & Beck Hertl

Is writing the literature review a stumbling block? This workshop will help you to learn how to begin and advance your literature review, and how to connect your ideas to the literature in the field.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Recommended audience: graduate, transfer, undergraduate
Modality: virtual
Date: Tues. 09/12/23
Time: 2:00p.m.
Register

How to use Zotero for citation management

Presenter: Erin Durham

Have you ever wondered if there is a better way to organize your citations? Have you used citation software in the past but have some lingering questions? This workshop provides an overview of setting up a free Zotero account, adding sources to your Zotero library, and generating a bibliography. This will be a practical, hands-on workshop. Note: This workshop is developed specifically for graduate students.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Modality: Hyflex, Library 259 and WebEx
Date: Monday, September 18, 2023
Time: 12-1pm
Register

How to Write a STEM Literature Review (Advanced)

Presenter: Semhar Yohannes & Beck Hertl

Is writing the literature review a stumbling block? This workshop will help you to learn how to begin and advance your literature review, and how to connect your ideas to the literature in the field.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Recommended audience: graduate, transfer
Modality: online
Date: Wednesday, September 27th, 2023
Time: 12:00p.m.
Register

How to Use EndNote Online for Citation Management

Presenter: Katy Sullivan

Learn how to utilize the full range of features included in the web-accessible citation manager. This hands-on workshop will focus on setting up an account, importing and transferring references, sharing references, and accessing your references in Microsoft Word.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Recommended audience: graduate, staff/faculty
Modality: Hyflex, Library 259 and WebEx
Date: Monday, September 25, 2023
Time: 12 PM - 1 PM
Register

How to write a Social Science/Humanities Literature Review

Presenter: Erin Durham

This workshop is recommended for graduate students. What are some of the best strategies and tips for writing a literature review? Whether you are just starting out with your research or have been involved in your project for a while, this workshop is for you. Note: This workshop is developed specifically for graduate students.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Modality: Hyflex- Library 259 and WebEx
Date: Monday, September 25, 2023
Time: 4-5pm
Register

Writing Wednesday Workshop: Stepping up your Research Game: Searching Strategically

Presenters: Beck Hertl & Writing Tutor TBD

Have you ever wondered how to maximize your research time? Have you wished that you could magically wake up to a perfect Works Cited page? This workshop is designed to save you research time and make it easier for you to find sources for your papers and projects. Feel free to bring in a research assignment that you are working on- this workshop features practical research strategies that you can use right away!

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Modality: online
Date: Wednesday, October 4th
Time: 4:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.
Register

Creating an Academic Research Poster Using PowerPoint

Presenter: Semhar Yohannes & Jasmine Shumaker

An academic research poster is a visual communication tool that allows you to present your research in a clear, concise, graphic format. Learn how to create a poster that stands out. In this workshop, learn the design principles and guidelines that will help you create an effective and aesthetically pleasing poster using PowerPoint. We’ll discuss layout, fonts, colors, graphics and more.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL) Modality: Synchronous
Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Time: 12pm
Register

Creating an Academic Research Poster Using Canva

Presenter: Semhar Yohannes & Jasmine Shumaker

An academic research poster is a visual communication tool that allows you to present your research in a clear, concise, graphic format using a free graphic-design tool to create an academic research poster. Learn how to create a poster that stands out. In this workshop, learn the design principles and guidelines that will help you create an effective and aesthetically pleasing poster using Canva. We’ll discuss layout, fonts, colors, graphics and more.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL) Modality: Online
Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Time: 12pm
Register

Writing Wednesday Workshop: How to Cite Sources for your Research & Writing

Presenters: Erin Durham & Writing Tutor

Do you have questions about how to cite and incorporate sources in your writing assignments? Avoid accidental plagiarism by learning how to properly cite your sources and show your skill as an academic writer & researcher.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Audience: first-year and transfer students
Modality: online
Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Time: 4:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.
Register

Writing Wednesday Workshop: Finding Your Flow: Navigating Final Papers

Presenters: Elaine MacDougall & Writing Tutor TBD

Ready to write your final paper but not sure where to start? Gather what you’ve got so far (even if it’s just the assignment description), and join us for this workshop where we will offer plenty of tips and tricks to get you motivated and excited to find your flow for your final paper!
Writing Wednesday Workshops are a collaboration between the Library and the Writing Center. All workshops are co-facilitated by a staff/faculty member and a Writing Center tutor.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Modality: Synchronous
Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Time: 4pm
Register

Understanding MATLAB

Presenter: Semhar Yohannes

MATLAB is a popular mathematical software package that combines efficient linear algebra operations and powerful graphics with an intuitive, interactive user interface. MATLAB can be useful for a wide range of applications from basic matrix and vector manipulations to full-color 2-D and 3-D visualization. The Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting (CIRC) has created the following videos to get you familiar with MATLAB. Click the link below for demo videos and associated files.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Modality: asynchronous
Date: asynchronous

Understanding R

Presenter: Semhar Yohannes

R is a powerful open source software system for statistical computing. It has become immensely popular due to its intuitive programming language, built-in support for statistical procedures, and ability to produce beautiful graphics. R is extensible through a package system, and numerous contributions from its user community are freely available. R is available on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. The Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting (CIRC) has created the following videos to get you familiar with R. Click the link below for demo videos and associated files.

Series: Lights on Learning (LoL)
Modality: asynchronous
Date: asynchronous

Some older workshops can be viewed on our archive page.


Mediums, Magicians, and the Ouija Board: A Spiritualist History of Baltimore

Presenter: Julie Saylor

Description: Do spirits return, and can we communicate with the dead? Baltimore's Spiritualists thought so, but magicians worked to disprove them. Join Julie Saylor of Enoch Pratt Free Library as she discusses spirit mediums, the Spiritualist origins of the Ouija Board, and Baltimore's group of amateur magicians, the Demons Club.

Bio:Julie Saylor has served as a library associate with Enoch Pratt Free Library for over 30 years, in different departments at Central Library. Her current home is the Maryland Department, where she has created public programs about house history, historical cooking, land records, and the history of Spiritualism in Baltimore. She recently published two articles, "The Disappearing Clubhouse," in Perennial Mystics Squared, about the clubhouse of the Demons Club of Baltimore Magicians, and "Benjamin Rush, Spirit Physician?" in The Austin Seance Quarterly Journal, about healing mediums who used Dr. Benjamin Rush as their spirit control.

Series: Spotlight (S)
Modality: Online
Date: Wednesday: Sept 20th 2023
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Hoodoo is Black Culture: Ancestor Veneration in the Everyday

Presenter: Toya Smith

Description: Description: The presenter will trace the everyday cultural aspects of African Americans and how they are influenced by traditional African cultures which were brought over by our ancestors. How those aspects of culture are, in fact, ancestor veneration and a maintained belief in and participation in an African-based spirituality. It'll cover Black church, music, tradition/superstition, etc.

Bio:Toya R. Smith, known in African Traditional Religion circles as Iya Opan Eguntola Osunyemi, is a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a Black girl from West Baltimore. She is a priestess, a Black witch, a Conjurewoman, a lifelong Hoodoo. More than anything, she is a curator of joy.

Series: Spotlight (S)
Modality: Online
Date: October 16, 2023
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Temporality, Time Jumping and the Space Time Continuum of Black Oral History

Presenter: Orilonise Yarborough

Description: Black concepts of time have never been linear and this shows even more in our use and engagement of public history and oral history. In this talk, I will analyze the concept of sankofa, time jumping and time collapse through the use of oral history and archival research. Through the concept of time jumping and time collapse, I hope to illustrate how the design of oral history projects can support narrators, interviewers and listeners to experience history from an embodied perspective that engages the senses and creates a wrap around experience through voice, frequency, sound and memory.

Bio:Orilonise C.D. Yarborough (pronouns: she/they | pronunciation: oh-ree-low-knee-shay) is a Black queer public historian, writer, curator and creative. They recently received their Masters in Public History at North Carolina Central University, where their thesis work focused on the development of an oral history collection about the history and spread of D.C. Black Pride. Currently, Orilonise serves as the Robert F. Smith Fellow for Applied Public History at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Her research interests include Black LGBTQ histories, Black women's resistance movements, and African American spiritual traditions and practices. A lover of history since childhood, Orilonise's start in the field came through her curatorial work with Black in Space, a collective of Black creatives based in D.C. who held the first virtual Black Pride festival in 2020. Orilonise has worked with institutions such as the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture at Duke University, and the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. As a creative and curator, she seeks to use historical research in creative and refreshing ways, engaging in historical interpretation with the communities she calls home. In the spirit of Zora Neale Hurston, she sees the practice of historical research as "poking and prying with a purpose", allowing curiosity, creativity and connection to community to guide her curatorial exploration.

Series: Spotlight (S)
Modality: Online
Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

We've Always Banked on Survival: The History of Hoodoo and Climate Resilience

Presenter: Hess Love

This presentation starts with the origins of Hoodoo during the era of chattel slavery, highlighting its significance as a means of protection, empowerment, and survival for marginalized communities. Hoodoo practitioners integrated botanical medicine, weather observation, more-than-human mythos, and elemental forces into their practices to build livelihoods that honored place-based intangible heritage. Hoodoo was born as a cultural, social, material, and spiritual medicine to adapt to various forms of climate disaster that occurred as a result of colonialism and colonial human trafficking. This talk will center the importance of earth reverence and collective action within Hoodoo, showcasing how shared knowledge and traditions continue to foster resilience and uncover injustices in the face of environmental and social harms.

Bio:Hess Love is an archivist, ethnoecologist, storyteller, healing artist, poet, and playwright. They are currently an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at Wilkes University and pursuing certification as a Master Naturalist. As a co-founder of the Chesapeake Conjure Society, Hess’ creative and community work as a Hoodoo historian lives at the crossroads of culture and environment. Their work is rooted in advocating for communal ways of knowing from systemically discredited people through material mutual aid, spiritual liberation praxis, heritage preservation, cosmovision, and place-based practices in the Chesapeake Bay area.

Series: Spotlight (S)
Modality: Online
Date: Wednesday, November 8th, 2023
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Séance: Spiritualism, Photography and the Search for Ectoplasm

Presenter: Shannon Taggart

Description: Shannon Taggart first learned of Spiritualism as a teenager after a medium revealed details about her grandfather’s death that proved to be true. In 2001, she began photographing in the town where that message was received: Lily Dale, New York. Her project soon expanded to include séance rooms around the world in a quest to find and photograph ectoplasm – the elusive substance that is said to be both spiritual and material. In this illustrated presentation, Shannon will share stories and pictures from twenty years of photographing mediumship, explaining how two decades of investigation developed into the award-winning book Séance (Fulgur Press 2019, Atelier Éditions 2022). Spiritualism’s influence on art, technology, and politics, its relationship with celebrity spirits, and the religion’s intrinsic bond with photography will be part of the discussion.

Bio: Shannon Taggart is an artist and author based in St. Paul, MN. In a past life, she contributed to printed publications including TIME, Newsweek, New York Times Magazine, Discover, New York, Wall Street Journal and Reader’s Digest. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Stephen Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles, the Photographic Resource Center in Boston, the Robert Mann Gallery in New York, and the Gallery of Everything in London. Her photographs have been recognized by PDN, Nikon, Magnum Photos + Inge Morath Foundation, American Photography, the International Photography Awards and the Alexia Foundation for World Peace. Her monograph, Séance (Fulgur Press 2019, Atelier Éditions 2022), was named one of TIME Magazine’s ‘Best Photobooks of 2019.’

Series: Spotlight (S)
Modality: Online
Date: Wednesday, November 15th 2023
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Re-forming the Dead: Abolitionist Iconoclasm and the Spirit Circle

Presenter: Lindsay DiCuirci

Description:Mediumship and the intimate practices of the spirit circle drew in some of the nineteenth-century's most prominent abolitionists in America. Spiritualism promised communication between the embodied and the disembodied through mediums and touted the continuous growth and "elevation" of the dead rather than, in the Christian tradition, the finality of judgment. This talk explores the beliefs, language and community practices that fused an interracial circle of spiritualists at 36 Sophia Street, the home of Isaac and Amy Post in Rochester, NY. It focuses on Isaac Post’s 1852 collection of spirit letters, Voices from the Spirit World, Being Communications from Many Spirits, and on Amy's extensive correspondence with Boston-based Black abolitionist, historian and editor William Cooper Nell. Hearing from dead luminaries from George Washington to Napoleon Bonaparte, Post recorded a chorus of regret and expiation, requiring a radical rethinking of the people and accomplishments that merit enshrinement in public memory and space. Post’s iconoclasm was in conversation with Nell’s own historiographic efforts to commemorate and center Black history in mid-century Boston, an effort informed by the conviction that those lionized while "in the body" were not guaranteed glory in the celestial sphere.

Series: Spotlight (S)
Modality: Virtual
Date: Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

View the Previous Spotlight! Symposiums archive here.