Kelvin Smith Library Exhibits

People looking at an exhibit.

Exhibits at KSL enhance the library’s programming initiatives featuring the library’s collections, partnered efforts with University Departments supporting student learning and faculty research, or furthering connections to the surrounding community.

FAQs:

  • Members of the campus and community are invited to develop an exhibit and program partnership with the library by contacting: kslexhibits@case.edu 
  • The library’s exhibits and programs are scheduled with a minimum of six months of planning, some exhibition spaces are scheduled a year or more in advance. 
  • Submit a request for a partnered exhibit project through the Exhibit Request Form.

 

Exhibit spaces:

The KSL Art Gallery is an open-plan space featuring modular wall-only display space.  Located on the 1st floor of the library, this exhibition space is devoted to exhibits with a campus or community focus.  Exhibition frequency is three times a calendar year.

KSL Features is a pop-up exhibit space for books near the library's main entrance. The themes of these book pop-ups coincide with current programming, showcase diversity, and highlight new titles in the collection. Library patrons are encouraged to interact with and check out these titles. Each pop-up is on view for an average of two to three weeks during the academic year.

The Henry R. Hatch Reading Room Special Collections exhibit space, located on the second floor of the library, is devoted to exhibiting rare and unique items from KSL Special Collections or items related to these collections, mostly in exhibit cases. These exhibitions and related programming are critical to connecting Special Collections to a broader audience. Exhibit frequency is twice a calendar year in this space.

Exhibits on view now:

Painters of Light is an exhibit featuring watercolor and oil paintings from the plein air painters in CWRU's Siegal Lifelong Learning class at Squire Valleevue and Valley Ridge Farms. This exhibit brings the respite of sunshine and pastoral landscapes to the campus community. Local artists include Patricia Hanahan Sigmier, Mary Pat Oliver, and Linda Stiller. On view through April.

Landscape watercolor painting
Watercolor by Linda Stiller

 

Just in time for Valentine’s Day Romance is in the Air! Matches you with graphic novels like Debbie Tung's Happily Ever After & Everything in Between (2020) and Julia Quinn’s Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron (2022).

Book display case at Kelvin Smith Library.

2025 is a celebration of 250 years of Jane Austen! KSL recognizes this momentous year with the exhibit Jane Austen's Library. Austen read widely in the classics of her day, including the famous and the forgotten. On view now through June, Jane Austen's Library creates the theoretical library of Jane Austen.

Save the date for a KSL author talk and reception with Rebecca Romney author of Jane Austen's Bookshelf (2025) exploring the lives of Austen's favorite women writers!

 

Stack of books.