‘Ilaheva Tua’one, inaugural Storytelling Professor, delivered a memorized performance and guided interpretation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” transforming an 18th-century epic into an immersive, modern storytelling experience. Teaming up with the Innovation and Design Librarian, Hayley Blackburn, the two developed a story idea, recorded in the Academic Office Building, and brought the performance to the (extra) small screen on YouTube.
The project reflects how literary scholarship, library leadership and creative production converge to expand how knowledge is shared while celebrating traditional texts.
Check out the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLUBbY7AD-A
Reclaiming Storytelling
For Tua’one, the work is deeply personal and academic. As a scholar of Indigenous Studies and 18th-century literature, she emphasizes orality, the tradition of passing knowledge through spoken word, as central to both her teaching and research work. The project offered an opportunity to advance a broader mission: re-centering oral traditions within academic spaces.
“To honor my ancestors, I decided to begin memorizing long epic poetry myself,” she explains, noting that The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the first full epic she committed to memory.
Her performance connects themes of guilt, consequence and moral awakening to modern audiences. The poem’s enduring imagery, from the “albatross around my neck” to “water, water everywhere,” continues to echo across literature, film and culture today.
Tua’one also highlights how storytelling can be a critical method for honoring histories and helping students connect with enduring, human themes: “In an ever-changing landscape of shifting and artificial knowledge centers, the need to honor ancient and real ways of thinking and imparting knowledge has become apparent.”
The Library as a Creative Engine
The production also underscores the evolving role of Kraemer Family Library as a place of knowledge and as a hub for creative production and public engagement. By bringing an oral performance tradition to YouTube, the project bridges past and present within the communal experience of storytelling.
“While nothing can replace a live performance with a crowd, I do appreciate how this video can endure on the channel and in our digital archive while being shared outside our direct community,” shared Blackburn. She added [about the early engagement metrics], “We saw 83 views in the first 48-hours with 70% coming from the YouTube algorithm introducing it to new audiences not subscribed to the library. I am really excited about those stats when you think of it as 80+ people filling one of our lecture halls to watch this type of content.”
The video is a layered experience: part performance, part lecture, part cultural reflection. Viewers are invited to hear excerpts from the poem and consider its historical context, its philosophical questions and its continued relevance. The creative process involved two filming locations, where Tua’one recited passages of the poem and then explained the meaning, and over 50 assets for editing from video files to audio and stock footage. Blackburn and Tua’one wanted the epic to come to life with sound effects to match the story and interweaving the analysis to the recitation.
The project also reflects a larger shift in how academic libraries engage the public, moving from static collections to dynamic storytelling ecosystems.
“Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of knowledge sharing, and this project celebrates that tradition while carrying it forward in ways that resonate and impact the library today. The Storytelling Professor and related programs were designed to support work where scholarship, creativity, and community come together,” reflected Dean Porter. “At the Kraemer Family Library, we are creating space for ideas to be experienced, preserved, and celebrated through performance, digital media, and public engagement.”
The library plans to further celebrate the storytelling fellowship with a screening of the video in the Fall semester.
Explore the Stories
This production is just one example of the growing body of digital storytelling emerging from Kraemer Family Library.
You can explore the full collection of digital exhibits curated by Larry Eames, along with the archives of UCCS and regional history curated and maintained by Mary Rupp. Additional programs and projects are led by the library faculty and staff to support, celebrate, and meet patron needs. Together, these collections and activities preserve the stories that shape the campus and the broader community, ensuring they remain accessible, engaging and inspiring for future generations.