Curating for Every Audience: the Library of Trinity College Dublin Exhibition of Political Cartoons

The Library of Trinity College Dublin is home to enormously diverse collections, spanning 13th century BC papyri, through works such as the early medieval Book of Kells, to unique digital archival material dating from the present day. The potential engagement with these collections is almost infinite, yet Trinity College Dublin is in the highly unusual position of being both a working academic research library and top-five (in Ireland) visitor attraction – which makes identification of a target audience challenging.

Over one million people visited the Library in 2018, to visit the Book of Kells, but the library, as part of its engagement and expansion mission, also presented these visitors with a series of temporary exhibitions, drawn from our vast collections. This paper examines audience engagement and learning after exposure to one such temporary exhibit.

For the peak tourist season of 2019, and to coincide with the LIBER Conference, the Library’s temporary exhibition will centre around a significant collection of 2,400 18th and 19th century Irish political cartoons. The collection was gifted to the Library by alumni, lawyer, and writer, Nick Robinson. The Robinson collection is highly-visual and, in some instances, the caricatures are brashly amusing. However, their subject matter is specifically Irish and historical in nature, so they do not always lend themselves to easy interpretation, particularly from overseas visitors.

In order to make this exhibition accessible to “every audience’ a two pronged approach was adopted. First, a theme with global and contemporary resonance was chosen and second, a paired strategy was implemented, with the historical cartoons twinned with a present day image. Overall, the exhibition seeks to portray the cyclical nature of history and the role satire has played in processing political events. It is intended that the visual nature of the works will allow the themes of the exhibition to be read through the imagery, rather than through traditional interpretative labels.

With an on-going commitment to public engagement, there is also a strong intention for wide access to the exhibition, allowing members of the public, unable or unwilling to pay for the Book of Kells exhibition, to experience our collections and to benefit from a new understanding through this exposure. Social media, public forums, and press act as significant contributors to widening participation.

Finally, the exhibition is being treated as a benchmarking mechanism to better understand audiences and the impact of contact with special collections material. The curators developed an audience impact plan, and will be conducting, for the first time, a research-led survey of visitors, to assist with future exhibition and public engagement planning.

This paper will present a live and lived experience of ‘Research Libraries for Societies’, with the discussed exhibition being on display throughout the duration of the LIBER conference, within the Trinity campus. To that effect, it is intended that the paper will allow opportunities for discussions around longevity and impact.