If you’ve wandered through the libraries lately, you’ve probably noticed the beautiful mobiles advertising Lilly Library’s Mobile Madness contest. As part of an initiative to bring art into our libraries, and in partnership with the Nasher Gallery’s new exhibit, Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy, Lilly Library sponsored a Duke-wide contest encouraging people to create their own mobiles. Entries were judged by a panel of experts within the categories of most humorous, most Duke, and most creative.

We in Rubenstein Technical Services are fairly competitive, and we also love what we do and are proud to show it off. Our entry, Archivist’s Toolkit, sought to highlight the wide range of formats and materials held by the Rubenstein, from manuscripts to rare books to audiovisual to electronic records. The department collected rusty paperclips, made little white gloves, and created tiny manuscripts tumbling from an archival box. We then included a mobile version of our finding aids and catalog records, complete with EAD tags and card catalog cards.  The trickiest part was balancing everything (and also transporting it across campus to Lilly!), but it was very fun to work as a team and build our masterpiece. And then, last night, we won! Go TS!

Check out all the entries and our fellow winners at Lilly Library (through April 27) or on the Lilly Library Flickr page, and be sure to visit the Nasher exhibit to see the wonderful Calder mobiles displayed there.