Notes from the Classroom: Teaching with Center for Universal Design Records

As the spring semester is in full swing, the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) teaching team wanted to bring you into one of our recent class sessions. In late February, Grace Wiedrich, a Ph.D. candidate in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media, collaborated with SCRC librarians to plan a session in the Hill Library with her ENG 323: Writing in the Rhetorical Tradition class with the goal of introducing students to materials from the NC State University, College of Design, Center for Universal Design Records (UA 110.052). The course focuses on rhetorical materials from a myriad of contexts to help students define their own rhetorical strategies as well as analyze artifacts using multiple rhetorical perspectives.

The Center for Universal Design was founded to promote and research accessible or universal design in the home, in commercial and public facilities, in the built environment, and in products. The Center accomplished this goal through education and training, research projects, and publications. Originally called the Center for Accessible Design, it was founded in 1989 by Ronald L. Mace, a pioneer in the field, who coined the term "universal design." By about 2008, the Center was no longer functioning. The records include drawings and plans of houses and commercial buildings illustrating the concepts of accessible or universal design. There are also some drawings of appliances and some materials published by the Center. Materials range in date from 1985 to 2001.

Virginia Ferris, Lead Librarian for Outreach and Engagement for the SCRC, led the class in a small-group primary source analysis activity. During this activity, students worked collaboratively to interpret artifacts from the records. The students set out to describe and contextualize the materials they were observing.

Following the session, students shared that they enjoyed having hands-on access to documents from the archives and learning how to explore Special Collections materials in their research. Wiedrich shared that, "I enjoyed the conversations the students had about the different materials. There was a good mix of text and images which gave some variety for the students to work with. Also, it was helpful for getting the students interested in special collections and for getting them prepared to use archival materials in their research moving forward."

For more information about these materials, the North Carolina State University, College of Design, Center for Universal Design Records contains drawings and plans of houses and commercial buildings illustrating the concepts of accessible or universal design. 

If you have any questions or are interested in viewing Special Collections materials, please contact us at library_specialcollections@ncsu.edu or submit a request online. The Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only. Appointments are available Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm and Saturday, 1pm–5pm. Requests for a Saturday appointment must be received no later than Tuesday of the same week.