10 Years of the DRS: Environmental Voices

In our series of posts highlighting 10 years of the Digital Repository Service (DRS), I wanted to shine a light on the audio and video materials we host that engage with global warming, pollution, and the climate emergency.

Student Research

The annual Research, Innovation, and Scholarship Expo (RISE) is an opportunity for students and faculty to showcase their research focused on solutions to real-life problems. In 2021, these presentations were recorded.

Screenshot of an infographic on environmental justice
  • The debt calculator: a gratitude-based approach to environmental justice by Kira Mok and Sophie Kelly describes how Chelsea and East Boston have a higher burden of pollution and negative health consequences compared to more wealthy parts of Boston, which benefit from industry in these neighborhoods. Their project “What Does Chelsea Do for You?” led to an infographic and online quiz about the debt Boston residents owe to these areas.
  • Northeastern University green chemistry education symposium, a presentation by Olivia Sterns, Umin Jalloh, Christopher Mahir, Christina McConney, and Angelica Fiuza, describes a sustainable and environmentally responsible chemistry curriculum and plans for a related conference. You can also check out the organization Beyond Benign.
  • The impact of biological knowledge on pro-environmental behavior is a presentation by Kyleigh Watson, Kelly Marchese, Jasmine Ho, and Daniela Ras that explores the relationship between study participants’ knowledge of nature, urbanicity, and implicit and explicit connection to the natural world.

Podcast Episodes

The What’s New podcast, hosted by Dean of the Library Dan Cohen, is one of the most popular collections in the DRS. It consists of wide-ranging conversations with faculty members across the university.

Coursework

The DRS team also works with professors to host student coursework in the repository.

Screenshot of a video title screen with the heading "5 Easy Ways to Save Money & Help the Environment"

These selections demonstrate how the DRS documents both the climate crisis and the innovation solutions emerging from Northeastern’s academic community.

Reading Challenge Update: October Winner and November Preview

In October, we celebrated Banned Books Week and the freedom to read by asking you to read a book that has been banned or challenged. Our winning reader is Fresnel Fabian, who takes home a Northeastern University Library READ poster! To be eligible for the prize drawing, make sure to read a book that fits the month’s theme and then tell us about it.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Reading Challenge this month. Here are a few of the books you read. (Comments may have been edited for length or clarity.)

What You Read in October

Cover of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
Find it at Snell Library | Find it at F.W. Olin Library | Read the e-book | Listen to the audiobook

“It was so good! As a bio major, this is a must-read because it dives into the person behind so many of the discoveries you will learn about in classes. This book shares the human side of the story of HeLa cells and honestly made me teary-eyed at parts. The book is so eye-opening and it’s definitely going to change the way I think about healthcare for the rest of my life.” — Rhea

Cover of Animal Farm

Animal Farm, George Orwell
Find it at Snell Library | Find it at F.W. Olin Library

“The way in which the author uses the animals and their characteristics to explain a society that is embracing an idea that promises to liberate that society, which leads to the enslavement of the society, is insightful. It points out the hypocrisy of the leaders who become corrupted as soon as they get a taste of power. The author tells us a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of the revolution.” — Fresnel

Cover of The Fire Next Time

The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
Find it at Snell Library | Find it at F.W. Olin Library | Read the e-book

“I thought that the book was extremely intelligently written. I’m glad I picked this up and am very intrigued by a new perspective on the state of racial tension and conflict in 1960s America.” — Nikolas


Cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Find it at Snell Library | Find it at F.W. Olin Library | Read the e-book | Listen to the audiobook

“I’ve been really into space and science fiction recently and this book is extremely well-written and humorous. My favorite thing about this book is that it’s really unpredictable, especially certain characters that would say out-of-pocket and bizarre comments that seem really silly on the surface level but are actually quite meaningful and deep after you think about it.” — Hannah

Cover of 1984

1984, George Orwell
Find it at F.W. Olin Library | Read the e-book | Listen to the audiobook

“1984 hit me harder than I expected. It’s eerie how Orwell’s world of control and twisted truth mirrors parts of our reality today. It’s not just a story about surveillance; it’s a reflection on how fragile freedom and individuality really are. The book lingers in your mind, quietly reminding you to stay awake to the world around you.” — Om

Cover of The Song of Achilles

The Song of Achilles: A Novel, Madeline Miller
Find it at Snell Library | Find it at F.W. Olin Library | Read the e-book

“The Song of Achilles is a beautifully written retelling of the Trojan War from Patroclus’s perspective, offering a fresh and emotional look at his relationship with Achilles. The characters felt deeply human, and their bond is developed with sincerity and nuance. Overall, it’s a heartfelt and memorable take on a classic myth.” — Alison

Suggested Reads for November

As we get closer to the end of the semester, we’re challenging you to read a book about your major or the field you’re studying. Check out our recommended e-book and audiobook titles in Libby, or stop by the Snell Library lobby from 1 – 3 p.m. on Wednesday, November 12, and Thursday, November 13, to browse print books, get recommendations from librarians, and pick up Reading Challenge swag.

If you’re studying engineering or entrepreneurship…

Cover of More Everything Forever

More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity, Adam Becker
Read the e-book

Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology. In More Everything Forever, science journalist Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow. The giants of Silicon Valley claim that their ideas are based on science, but the reality is darker: they come from a jumbled mix of shallow futurism and racist pseudoscience. More Everything Forever exposes the powerful and sinister ideas that dominate Silicon Valley, challenging us to see how foolish, and dangerous, these visions of the future are.

If you’re studying English literature or writing…

Cover of Dear Writer

Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life, Maggie Smith
Listen to the audiobook

Drawing from her 20 years of teaching experience and her bestselling Substack newsletter, For Dear Life, Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into 10 essential elements: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection, and hope. Each element is explored through short, inspiring, and craft-focused essays, followed by generative writing prompts. Dear Writer provides tools that artists of all experience levels can apply to their own creative practices and carry with them into all genres and all areas of life.

If you’re studying health sciences or behavioral neuroscience…

Cover of The Mind Electric

The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains, Pria Anand
Read the e-book | Listen to the audiobook

A girl believes she has been struck blind for stealing a kiss. A mother watches helplessly as each of her children is replaced by a changeling. A woman is haunted each month by the same four chords of a single song. In neurology, illness is inextricably linked with narrative, the clues to unraveling these mysteries hidden in both the details of a patient’s story and the tells of their body. In The Mind Electric, neurologist Pria Anand reveals all that the medical establishment has overlooked: the complexity and wonder of brains, and the vast gray area between sanity and insanity, doctor and patient, and illness and wellness, each separated from the next by the thin veneer of a different story.

If you’re studying business administration or computer sciences…

Cover of Enshittification

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, Cory Doctorow
Find it at Snell Library | Listen to the audiobook

We’re living through the Enshittocene, the Great Enshittening, a time in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit. When Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification,” he was not just finding a funner way tot say “things are getting worse.” He was making a specific diagnosis about the state of the digital world and how it is affecting all of our lives (and not for the better). Here, now, in Enshittification the book, Doctorow moves the conversation beyond the overwhelming sense of our inevitably enshittified fate. He shows us the specific decisions that led us here, who made them, and — most important — how they can be undone.

If you’re studying music or psychology…

Cover of Musicophilia

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Oliver Sacks
Read the e-book

Neurologist Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments.” Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of 42; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memory spans only seven seconds — for everything but music.

If you’re studying economics, public policy, or women’s, gender, and sexuality studies…

Cover of Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?

Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? A Story of Women and Economics, Katrin Marçal
Find it at Snell Library | Find it at F.W. Olin Library | Read the e-book

How do you get your dinner? That is the basic question of economics. When economist and philosopher Adam Smith proclaimed that all our actions were motivated by self-interest, he used the example of the baker and the butcher as he laid the foundations for “economic man,” arguing that the baker and butcher didn’t give food out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s an ironic point of view coming from a bachelor who lived with his mother for most of his life — a woman who cooked his dinner every night. Such a viewpoint disregards the unpaid work of mothering, caring, cleaning, and cooking. It insists that if women are paid less, then that’s because their labor is worth less. Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? charts the myth of economic man in a witty and courageous dismantling of one of the biggest myth of our time.

If you’re studying biology, history, or anthropology…

Cover of Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Women, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Find it at Snell Library | Find it at F.W. Olin Library | Read the e-book | Listen to the audiobook

As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi consider plans and animals to be our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as “the younger brothers of creation.” As she explores these themes, she circles toward a central argument: The awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world.

If you’re studying sociology, linguistics, or communication studies…

Cover of Like

Like: A History of the World’s Most Hated (and, like, Misunderstood) Word, Megan C. Reynolds
Read the e-book

Few words in the English language are as misunderstood as “like.” Indeed, excessive use of this word is a surefire way to make those who pride themselves on propriety, both grammatical and otherwise, feel compelled to issue correctives. But what the detractors of the word fail to understand is its true function and versatility — as an exclamation, a filler of space, a means of subtle emphasis, and more. In this book, culture writer Megan C. Reynolds takes us through the unique etymology and usage of this oft-reviled word, highlighting how it is often used to undermine people who are traditionally seen as having less status in society — women, younger people, people from specific subcultures — and how, if thought about differently, it might open up a new way of communication and validation.

If you’re studying journalism, law, or urban studies…

Cover of Bad City

Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels, Paul Pringle
Listen to the audiobook

On a cool, overcast afternoon in April 2016, a salacious tip arrived at the L.A. Times that reporter Paul Pringle thought should have taken, at most, a few weeks to check out: a drug overdose at a fancy hotel involving one of the University of Southern California’s shiniest stars — Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the head of the prestigious medical school. Pringle knew that reporting the story wouldn’t be a walk in the park. USC is the largest private employer in the city of Los Angeles, and it casts a long shadow. But what he couldn’t have foreseen was that this tip would lead to the unveiling of not one major scandal at USC but two, wrapped in a web of crimes and cover-ups. The rot rooted out by Pringle and his colleagues at The Times would creep closer to home than they could have imagined — spilling into their own newsroom. This is LA at its darkest and investigative journalism at its brightest.

Whatever you read, make sure you tell us about it to enter the November prize drawing. Good luck, and happy reading!

Bringing It All Together: Methods for Cataloging News Articles for the BNDA Version 2.0

Since its initial launch in September 2022, the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive (BNDA) has established itself as one of the most comprehensive digital records of racial homicides collected to date. This blog series aims to highlight the work of the archivists on the BNDA team and their experiences preparing for the launch of BNDA Version 2.0. You can read more about the Version 2.0 update in Gathering the Red Record: A Two-Day Convening on Linking Racial Violence Archives.

Methods Overview

The first thing I have to say about the archival work methods for cataloging news articles at the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project’s BNDA is that they are a team effort. The workflow structure is maintained through shared instructions, templates, the data dictionary, and a responsive, organized supervising team.

All of the archives assistant work is digital. Archives assistants receive batches of news articles to catalog in the form of spreadsheets with links to images of the original newspaper articles stored in the Digital Repository Service. We then verify those articles against information we currently have and complete standardized fields for the information we want supplied. If we encounter a question about the records that we can’t answer with assurance, we flag it to be reviewed by either our supervisors or the legal team.

When completed, those standardized spreadsheets are reviewed by the supervising team and transformed into a format compatible for inclusion in the BNDA. Having multiple team members verify information improves the accuracy of the records and makes for sustainable collections processing practices.

Our goal is to add as much accurate and data-verified cataloged information as possible in order to provide supporting evidence of each incident, case, and victim identifier. These standardized identifiers, as well as authorized names for each unique individual, allow the team to take advantage of the relational-based search capability of the Airtable database. Not only does this system help us make better cataloged records, it allows for more retrievable information for future research.

Examples in the Records

Washington Sniper Victims
One example of data verification is to identify the victim(s) present in a news article whenever possible, even when minimal information is present. Breaking news articles often lack details. Names can be absent or incorrect, or focus on the perpetrator of the crime rather than the victim. One strategy I find helpful is to work by victim-subject, going through batches of news articles that are all related to one victim or group of victims. This allows me to glean patterns of context clues that allow for victim identification even if the victim is unnamed.

Newspaper clipping with the headline "Baffled D.C. Police Sift Tangled Clues In Hunt for Sniper"
News article describing the ongoing search for the perpetrator and victims in the D. C. sniper case. Evening star. Washington, D.C.: October 16, 1940.
List of metadata tied to an article titled "Evening Star. Washington, D.C.: October 16, 1940. Baffled D.C. Police Sift Tangled Clues in Hunt for Sniper
Cataloging metadata for the news article (left).

I found this strategy particularly helpful when working with a case related to a serial sniper who murdered multiple victims in Washington, D.C., in 1940. Three victims identified over the months of press coverage were Hylan McClaine, Lushion Sam Banks, and Theodore I. Goffney, but the chronological order of their murders was not shared. Press coverage of the sniper continued into the 1960s, long after the trial, with inconsistent reference to the victims. At the BNDA, we can link the victim names at the forefront of these articles in our catalog, centering the narrative around the victims rather than the perpetrator.

Bryant Family Murder
The research crucial work that aids in the cataloging effort is also on display in the case of the 1932 Bryant family murder. The news coverage of the tragic murder of the Bryant family was sometimes unclear about which family members survived and which were killed in the horrible robbery, torture, and death by arson. Some articles appeared sympathetic to the murderers and provided little to no details on the victims.

Our Airtable database supports a field for notes written by Project Historian Jay Driskell when they are available. Through Jay’s notes, I could confirm with certainty that the father and son, Lewis and Ozola Bryant, were murdered. The mother, Missouri Bryant, survived. The more detailed news articles corroborated these facts. The Bryant murder trial also stands out as a case that upheld the murder charges against a white killer despite appeals up to the Missouri State Supreme Court.

A screenshot titled "Ozola Bryant and Lewis Bryant in Mississippi in 1932" with a case summary and other categories of metadata
The BNDA incident page for the killing of Ozola and Lewis Bryant

Given the graphic nature of the emotional events and the polarized reporting, I was grateful to have ready, retrievable access to previous work to clarify the Bryant family’s story in order to help me accurately represent the family in the cataloged work. I also benefitted from the concurrent work of another archives assistant and the support of my supervisor, Project Archivist Joy Zanghi.

These cases and many more are available in BNDA Version 2.0 and you can browse the current version now. I had the privilege of working with archival methods developed over the past 18 years of the project, taking into account the humanity of the sensitive subject matter. The final result is that the CRRJ developed an archival format with the BNDA that allows for the data within it to be scalable, buildable, and retrievable for the future.

CRRJ Archives Assistant Stephanie Bennett Rahmat (she/her/hers) has 17 years of experience working with historic and cultural heritage resources throughout the U.S. She completed her Master of Library and Information Science degree at Simmons University in 2021, with a focus on Archives Management and Cultural Heritage. She came to work in the archives and libraries after a career in North American archaeology.

DRS Collection Profile: The Communications Photo Archive

Several students walk around campus paths on a sunny day. A white building with a sign that says "LISSER HALL" is in the background
A photograph of students on the Oakland campus, http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20649629. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University. 

If you’ve seen pictures of campus happenings, then you’ve seen the hard work of the Northeastern University photographers. This team is responsible for documenting the day-to-day activity that takes place on Northeastern’s campuses, capturing everything from sporting events to researcher portraits to candid photos of students going about their day.

Matthew Modoono, Alyssa Stone, and many other photographers in the Communications Office have used their cameras to document life at Northeastern for decades. They have been recognized by the University Photographers Association of America, the National Press Photographers Association, and the New England Newspaper & Press Association, and have received several awards, including Picture of the Year and Photographer of the Year, for their tremendous skill and vision in the field of photography.

Library staff are responsible for archiving the printed photographs captured through 2010 (digitized copies are also available in the Northeastern University photograph collection (A103). Since 2010, we also help facilitate access to their digital collection in the Digital Repository Service’s Communications Photo Archive (access to the photographs in this collection are limited to Northeastern faculty and staff).

The Communications Photo Archive has served as a record of recent activity since 2015, when the Digital Repository Service first launched. Since then, the photographs stored in the collection (more than 172,000 at the time of this writing) have been viewed and downloaded approximately 400,000 times. The photographs can be seen in many places around the university, including websites, printed brochures, magazines, social media, and in the daily articles published in Northeastern Global News.

Screenshot of an article on a web page titled NGN News. The headline is "Punk rock and tacos: How a drummer turned real estate agent found restaurant success." Under the headline is a photo of a man wearing a black baseball cap and t-shirt shaking a yellow cocktail tumbler behind a bar.
A screenshot of an NGN article that features a photograph stored in the DRS, http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20533071

Photographs in the collection capture:

Graduates throw their caps in the air under a blue sky in Fenway Park. The Fenway Park sign is visible behind the caps
Students celebrate at the 2025 undergraduate commencement ceremony held at Fenway Park, https://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20740045. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University.

Photographs of commencement make up a large portion of the collections, with about 20% of the 172,000 photos described using the terms “graduation” or “commencement.” In fact, some of the busiest days for uploading photographs to the DRS happen during the commencement season, with photographers regularly adding more than 1,000 photographs a day.

Although the photographs in this collection are only available to Northeastern faculty and staff, the collection regularly appears in the list of the top 10 most-used collections in the DRS — a testament to how important the photos are to the day-to-day work at the university.

Be sure to check the Communications Photo Archives regularly for the most recent photos of life at the university. You can sort search results by “Recently created” or “Recently updated” to view the most current shots. You may also click the “Recently added” button to sort the entire collection by the most recently uploaded images. The “Limit your search” button can be used to limit your results by the name of the photographer or the year the photograph was taken.

Contact me or my team for help using the DRS or finding photographs in the collection. Visit the Brand Center’s Photography page for information about the photographs and photographers, as well as how you can access the photographs and use them for university business.

And please enjoy some of my favorite photographs from the Communications Photo Archive: animals on the Boston campus!

A yellow/white dog wearings a graduation gown and cap.
https://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20732128, Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University.
A majestic hawk sits in a tree and looks to the left.
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20236444, Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University.
A yellow/white dog wearing a blue birthday hat bites at a bubble in a field. The Boston city skyline is visible in the background
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20467241, Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University.
A small brown rabbit sits on some sticks.
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20452354, Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University.
A bumble bee flies above a blue hydrangea
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20444529, Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University.
A white French bulldog wearing a blue harness swims in a pond next to some lily pads. The dog's eyes are closed and it looks very content
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20411840, Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University.
A gray squirrel sits on top of a pumpkin outside of a sliding door.
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20325749, Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University.
A white axolotl with red fins swims
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20252465, Photo by Adam Glanzman.

This post was written as part of a series celebrating 10 years of the DRS. Check out A Decade of the Digital Repository Service and What is the DRS and who is it for? to read more about the history of the DRS.

My Journey as the First Library Ambassador at Northeastern Seattle

Hi everyone! My name is Jason Wu, and I’m honored to serve as the Library Ambassador at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus. This experience has been one of the most memorable parts of my Northeastern journey. I’d love to share a bit about my experience with you.

A blurry person walks by a curved white wall with "Northeastern Seattle" written on it.
Northeastern University’s Seattle campus. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

A nervous but exciting start

Before the semester began, I was both excited and a little nervous — I had never been a Library Ambassador before, and everything felt so new. Luckily, under the guidance of my amazing supervisor Anaya Jones (Accessibility and Online Learning Librarian), I was able to ease into the role. I started by thoroughly exploring the library website and getting familiar with the wide range of resources and services available.

At the same time, I worked closely with Anaya to develop a detailed work plan for the semester, and we made sure everything was ready for our first big event: setting up the library’s booth at the Campus Spring Fest.

A special Spring Fest

When the new semester kicked off, I was thrilled that both Anaya and Lawrence Evalyn (Text Mining Specialist) flew in from Boston to join us for the Campus Spring Fest. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet librarians face-to-face and learn more about the vision and mission behind our library services.

Two smiling people sit at a table covered with library handouts, candy, and computers with library content on the screens.
Jason Wu and Lawrence Evalyn host a library table at the Campus Spring Fest on the Seattle campus. Photo courtesy of Jason Wu.

Leading up to the event, I had also prepared a lot of trivia questions about the library to make our booth more engaging. I honestly didn’t expect so many students to be so interested in library resources! Thanks to all the preparation I had done, I was able to confidently answer their questions and help them learn more about what the library offers.

That experience really helped me better understand the significance of this role — and made me even more excited to share these resources with my fellow students.

A flyer pinned on a bulletin board with the headline "Meet Your Librarian!"

Designing and promoting library events

One of my favorite parts of being a Library Ambassador was designing posters for events like the Reading Challenge and various library workshops. Behind each poster was a lot of effort — I spent hours fine-tuning the layouts, adjusting the masks and decorative elements, experimenting with color schemes, and carefully crafting the wording, all to make sure the posters would look as polished and eye-catching as possible when displayed on campus bulletin boards and shared online.

Seeing the posters I designed spread across the campus — and knowing they helped more students learn about library resources — made me feel incredibly proud and fulfilled.

Weekly drop-in hours: Connecting with students

Three students sit around a small table. The one on the left (Jason Wu) is pointing to a laptop. The laptop is facing the other side of the table, where two students listen.
Jason hosts information drop-in hours to teach students about library resources. Photo courtesy of Jason Wu.

Every week, I hosted a drop-in hour on campus where students could stop by and ask questions about the library’s online and physical resources. Some students asked how to properly do citations for their assignments, while others were curious about what my role as Library Ambassador involved. There were even students who wanted to know how they could earn prizes from the Reading Challenge!

Getting to meet students face-to-face, listen to their questions, and better understand their needs was truly one of the best parts of this role. I also handed out library stickers and other small goodies, making each interaction both fun and memorable — and helping more students discover how the library could support their academic journeys.

A field trip to the Seattle Public Library

Another highlight of the semester was organizing a group visit to the Seattle Public Library in collaboration with the One More Chapter Club. Over 10 students joined the tour, where we explored the library’s stunning architecture, learned about its history, and discovered the different functional areas inside. Many students even signed up for their own library cards on the spot. Seeing their excitement for reading and learning grow was truly one of the most heartwarming moments of the semester

A glass-walled building with an unusual shape
The Seattle Public Library

What struck me most was the library’s unique design. The Seattle Central Library, opened in 2004, is an 11-story glass and steel structure designed by Ram Koolhaas and Joshua Price-Ramus. Its distinctive, angular form and innovative “Books Spiral” layout make it a landmark of modern architecture.

As I walked through its expansive spaces, I couldn’t help but notice how the library’s structure reminded me of the public library in my hometown of Shenzhen, China. Coincidentally, both buildings were completed around 2005, perhaps reflecting the architectural trends of that era. This parallel made the visit even more special, bridging my past experiences with my current journey at Northeastern.

A memorable chapter of my Northeastern experience

Throughout this journey, I received constant support and guidance from Anaya, and also had the chance to exchange ideas and experiences with Library Ambassadors from different campuses.

As the very first Library Ambassador for the Seattle campus, I’m incredibly proud to have helped more students discover and connect with the library’s amazing resources.

Building on that experience, in my second year as Library Ambassador I’ve been sharing updates about online library activities and Reading Challenges on Viva Engage. Exciting events such as the Public Library Tour and Love Data Week are also on the horizon. You can also catch me at Fall Fest, Spring Fest, orientation sessions, or my weekly drop-in hours — don’t forget to stop by, ask questions, and pick up some library stickers!

This experience has been a truly unforgettable chapter in my Northeastern story — and I’m so grateful I had the chance to be a part of it.