Approach

In partnership with the Cornell University Library, the office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs, and Engaged Cornell, we placed a Portal outside Olin Library for Cornell’s Fall 2018 semester. The Portal became a hub for engagement, with groups of students, faculty, and local community members participating in Portal programming over the course of the 3-month placement. In total, over 2,400 people entered the Portal. Programming across the university was thoughtful and diverse, and included a seminar with San Pedro Sula, Honduras on identity and black speculative thought; conversations between President Martha Pollack and young computer programmers in Herat, Afghanistan on women in STEM; and a jam session between American folk musicians in Ithaca and traditional Afghan musicians at the Afghan National Institute of Music in Kabul. Cornell Library staff were active in promoting the Portal as a primary source, and worked with faculty and students across departments to position the Portal as a resource for academic research and non-academic engagement. Our gold books, in which participants leave handwritten feedback on their sessions, will be entered permanently into the Cornell University Archive.