LIS Student Reflection: Allie Landy, University of Toronto

MLS Student Allie Landy answers a series of questions on the collection she built for the LIS Student program and the program overall. Jenna was one of the participants in the 2024 LIS Student Program.

Allie Landy

Allie Landy is a first year Master of Information student at the University of Toronto iSchool in the Library and Information Science concentration. (Full bio below)

LIS Student Program Spotlight: Q&A with Allie Landy, University of Toronto

Written by Allie Landy

What is your project?

Collection: Street Art in Toronto

The project I worked on for the LIS Student program is a collection of street art compiled as part of a group project for one of my courses. My group’s aim was to create an interactive record of the street art we encounter on our commutes to campus, and we compiled more than 50 examples of murals and graffiti for our project. CollectionBuilder offered a simple way to bring our idea to life and gave me the opportunity to learn how to use a new tool for creating digital exhibits.

What were some of the benefits of using CollectionBuilder for your project?

One of the main features I wanted to include in this project was a map to visualize the location of images in our collection. CollectionBuilder’s template made transforming a spreadsheet of metadata into a map an entirely painless process that added an interactive experience to the project.

All of the available tutorials and templates made using CollectionBuilder very accessible. The walkthroughs were easy to follow and helped me understand the basic process of putting together a website with the framework. Having the CSV template was particularly useful for helping my group determine the metadata we wanted to compile for items in our collection.

How did you customize your CollectionBuilder site?

One of the great aspects of CollectionBuilder is the ability to customize and add to the basic site templates! One customization I implemented was the addition of visual features on the About Page, including a link to an external feedback form. This was a simple way to allow community engagement with the collection and encourage people to submit additional photos. I also chose to change the labeling of metadata from considering “location” to “neighborhood”. This was a simple way to adapt the template so that it better reflected the metadata and aims specific to this project. I also created a resource page to highlight external information about street art initiatives in the city and expand the scope of the website.

What were some of the challenges you faced while using CollectionBuilder? How did you navigate these challenges?

On the whole, my experience using CollectionBuilder was very straightforward and I did not encounter many challenges. Perhaps the biggest hurdle was simply getting started. It was a bit intimidating, so I began by going through the GH Walkthrough and SHEETS Walkthrough before moving onto the CSV Walkthrough. This helped me understand the way CollectionBuilder works before jumping into GitHub, which made the whole process of learning how to use the framework feel less intimidating.

Another minor challenge I had was compiling the metadata for the collection. I was originally going to be working on another project (more on that below!) but underestimated the time and effort needed to put the collection together. Fortunately, I was able to use CollectionBuilder for my portion of a course project and work with members of my group to put together the metadata we needed.

What advice do you have for others wanting to use CollectionBuilder?

If you want to use CollectionBuilder, I recommend joining the Community Spaces on Slack and Google. It is nice to hear about the projects people are working on, seek troubleshooting advice, and attend sessions discussing the tool. I also recommend going through the walkthroughs. It is very satisfying (and easy!) to create a site and I think jumping in is one of the best ways to learn how the tool can be used for your project.

Do you have any future CollectionBuilder projects that you are planning to do?

Yes! I am working with the Ukrainian Museum of Canada - Ontario Branch to put together a digital collection for textile items donated during COVID-19 that have not been featured in any exhibits yet. I was originally hoping to work on this for the LIS Student Program, but quickly realized that the process of pulling artifacts and compiling metadata was going to take longer than anticipated. However, being able to create another project using CollectionBuilder has given me time to become familiar with the framework and I am excited to work with the museum on their digital collection initiative in the coming months!

Allie Landry writes: Starting at UofT, I became part of the Toronto Academic Library Internship (TALint) program, which gives students an opportunity to gain work experience in the university library system. I work with the Electronic Resource Metadata team tracking and providing access to our e-resource collections. I am also a Managing Editor for the iJournal, an open-access journal run by graduate students and highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of information and museum studies with work from students across Canada. Being part of the CollectionBuilder LIS student program was a great opportunity to apply my technical background in systems design engineering to the creation of a digital collection website, and I am looking forward to creating more exhibits in the future.