Come celebrate Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day at the Library of Congress on Thursday, November 21st from 5pm to 8pm with Mapping Our World, a special Live! At The Library event diving into ocean mapping and exploration!
Mapping Our World will feature interactive games and crafts, a display of oceanic collection items from across the Library, and a talk by Dr. Vicki Ferrini of Columbia University on the history of ocean mapping.
While modern geospatial technologies allow us to map much of our world with incredible precision, only about a quarter of the world’s seafloor has been mapped in detail. Addressing this gap in understanding our planet, and comprehensively “mapping our world,” would yield enormous scientific benefits, from supporting conservation efforts of diverse marine life, to improving weather and climate models of our dynamic environment. As part of Geography Awareness Week and in celebrating the 25th annual GIS Day, of which the Library of Congress is a founding sponsor, the Geography and Map Division and our friends across the Library are proud to support this evening of deep sea discovery.
Mapping Our World will take place as part of Live! At The Library, inviting the public to explore our exhibits, collections and programs in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building and offering happy hour snacks and drinks for purchase in the Great Hall.
Tickets are required for this Live! At The Library event. These tickets can be reserved here.
You can reserve a ticket for Dr. Ferrini’s talk here. This ticket also provides access to the Live! At The Library event.
Event Schedule
All event activities will take place in the Thomas Jefferson Building (10 First Street SE, Washington, D.C.).
- 5pm to 8pm in the Great Hall: Paper globe-making, map monster illustration and coloring, and seafaring navigation games!
- 6:30pm to 7:30pm in LJ-119: Dr. Vicki Ferrini, “From Paper to Pixels: The Evolution of Ocean Mapping and Exploration”
- 5pm to 6:30pm; 7:30pm to 8pm in LJ-113: Display of oceanic collection items from across the Library (this display will be closed from 6:30pm to 7:30pm during Dr. Ferrini’s talk).
Dr. Vicki Ferrini
Dr. Vicki Ferrini is a Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Dr. Ferrini leads projects on the curation of seafloor and sub-seafloor data from ships and submersibles for the U.S. academic research community. She also heads the Regional Center for the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as part of the Nippon Foundation–GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. Recognized as one of the Inaugural Explorers Club 50—fifty people changing the world—Dr. Ferrini is passionate about connecting people to the ocean through maps and data.
Her talk, “From Paper to Pixels: The Evolution of Ocean Mapping and Exploration,” will trace the history of seafloor mapping, from the early days of hand-drawn bathymetric charts, through the pioneering work of Marie Tharp in the mid-20th century, to the advanced digital technologies in use today.
We look forward to seeing you there!