Library News

Let us introduce ourselves!

This July I am one of three new co-ops who will be working in Snell Library through the Fall semester. We are all very excited for the months ahead and would love to introduce ourselves (before people start thinking we just spend all day, everyday, in the library… although we love Snell and would if we could!) — Jen   Esra.M  Ezra Mitchell Archives Co-op My name is Ezra Mitchell, I just finished my third year at Northeastern studying History and Political Science. I am from Providence, RI and during my free time I enjoy rowing and reading.              Brittany Tassone DMDS Co-op My name is Brittany Tassone and I am now working in the Digital Media Design Studio as the new DMDS co-op. I am a middler majoring in Graphic Design, and minoring in Communication Studies. I enjoy traveling and photography and I hope to someday work for a high fashion magazine.       Jen.A  Jen Anderle Marketing and Events Co-op My name is Jen Anderle and I am the new Marketing and Events Co-op in Snell Library’s Advancement office. I am a middler majoring in Art and minoring in Business Administration. This semester I will be working on marketing and organizing library events as well as communicating daily happenings at Snell Library to the Northeastern Community. Otherwise, I enjoy sailing, painting and travelling.     We look forward to working with everyone!

More Co-op Reflections

Following the first set of Co-op reflections, yesterday, today we present our fellow Library Co-ops, Colin Parmalee, Archives Co-Op, Anthony Gentles, DMDS Co-op, and Kyle Maguire, Library Technology Services Co-op, sharing their Co-op experience over the past semester at the Snell Library as well — Karly Colin: I worked as the co-op student for the archives. I did a variety of work for the archives, mostly working on projects that last anywhere from a few hours to over a week. One of the major projects I worked on involved picking up a new donated collection, which involved going off-site and boxing and labeling the collection. I also worked on sifting through and describing new donations for press releases and for further archiving work. Most of my work involved current collections, going through unlabeled donations and adding descriptions. I learned a significant amount from this work, chiefly the prep work necessary for archiving materials as well as the process by which collections and processed and housed for the archives. The most unexpected part (which, coincidentally, was also the best part) about working on the various projects was finding tidbits of history among these collections. Going through photo collections I would find recognizable historical figures or letters penned by famous people, which was fascinating. This is also what I’ll remember most, such as stumbling upon pictures of the Patriots from the 1970’s, or Reggie Lewis, or a letter from John F. Kennedy to an alum. Fascinating nuggets of history in the archives. In terms of advice to future co-ops, I would say that this is a great co-op for someone who hopes to work in a library or in a historical/archival position in the future. There’s a lot of great experience here and it’ll really help you going forward.   Anthony: I began working as a co-op for the Digital Media Design Studio (or DMDS for short) during the first week of January 2012. There were several areas of the job that I were unsure about when I first began working (such as checking out equipment, certain answers for questions patrons had, rules and regulations for the recording room, etc.). However, the answers to these uncertainties all became very familiar after watching my supervisors handle the circumstances for a while. Once the basics were learned, the job became fairly easy. Nearly all of the students who used the DMDS had similar questions and concerns as other students who came in. There were rarely moments when I asked Jonathan or Thomas for assistance because I did not know the answers myself. It was definitely a great feeling helping these students with their projects. It were as if I was teaching them skills they would have never learned while in the courses related to their specific majors. Outside of answering questions whenever they would arise, I was also in charge of occasionally teaching workshops. These workshops were basic introductions to the editing software that we offered at the DMDS. Though many students are still unaware that the Library offers workshops for these programs, the students who did come into the DMDS were excited to be introduced to such programs. When workshops were not scheduled, often students would come to me for one-on-one help with these programs (generally for Final Cut Pro). I was also involved with various media production projects for the Library and DMDS. My first major project involved creating an introduction video for the DMDS. This became a huge learning process for me, as well as the other members of the DMDS (in regards to having a smooth production schedule/process). This video took an unnecessarily longer timespan finish, due to much back-and-forth viewings of the video. After the project was finally complete, the DMDS and other members of the library came together to form a new system for future production projects. This new system was used in another media project I participated in (for the Library and Charlotte campus). The process for this video ran much smoother and efficiently in comparison to the first, proving our new system to be a success. I also created several posters and snippets for the Library/DMDS, which can be seen among the hallways and corridors of the library. All in all, I would recommend this co-op position to any student who is interested or involved in media work. There is much that can be learned from your peers that work in the DMDS, as well as through your own personal training. The job will provide ample time to enhance your skills in a program you are familiar with, as well as educate you in new areas that may be less familiar.   Kyle: I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first arrived at the library for my co-op. Never having worked in a library, I honestly wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised. As I became more involved I began to realize what goes into organizing and maintaining a library, something that I would never have stopped to consider before coming here. I’m sure there will soon be a day where my friends laugh at me as I ramble on about the intricacy of library systems. The project I’ve been involved with (the Digital Repository Service) is incredibly interesting and fun to work on. I cannot imagine a learning environment more suited to my needs. I was able to work very independently on the project and make design decisions on the fly, guided by the basic requirements for the system given to me by Patrick. This freedom, while initially daunting, required me to teach myself as I discovered new challenges and it really pushed me to expand and improve upon my skill-set. I’ve greatly expanded upon my knowledge of PHP and JavaScript and I’ve picked up a lot of new knowledge about Linux systems and web servers, an area I had previously steered clear of. Not only did I gain these technical skills but I also improved upon my ability to organize and plan systems. The freedom given to me, along with the scale of the project, really let me practice this, as there were no strict specifications for what we were creating. The fact that I was only here temporarily also contributed to these gains, as I needed to document my work very clearly and create the pieces of the system modularly for future uses and implementations. To any co-ops that come after me, I’d recommend that you be a fast learner and be able to make decisions independently and intelligently. Because the LTS department is relatively small, you need to be able to fend for yourself to an extent. If you’re up for it, though, it’s an incredible benefit of the position to be able to guide your own learning experience. I also want to thank everyone here for being so warm and welcoming. Much thanks to Patrick for trusting me to work on his project and for being such a great boss, thanks to the LTS team for being so incredibly easy to work with, and thanks to everyone else I’ve met here for being so kind. It’s really a great work environment and a great community.  

A Look Back at our Co-op Experience

As the last days of our Co-ops come this week in the Library’s Advancement Office, my Co-op partner, Sophie Greenspan, the Graphic Designer, and I, the Marketing and Event Planning Co-op, took a second to think back on our experiences and all that we have learned this past semester. Below are our experiences and advice that we wish to share about our six months working at the Snell Library. Tomorrow we will post reflections from other library co-ops. Sophie: As the spring semester co-op comes to an end, I’m grateful for the experience I’ve gained as the Graphic Design Co-op here in Snell Library. As the sole designer for all library marketing, events, and publications, the responsibilities in my job description fell all over the map. A key part of my time here was spent creating the posters for each Meet the Author event; each time we booked an author to speak in the library, I would research their work and use what I learned to develop a poster to draw an audience to the event. Designing the posters was one of my favorite projects since they allowed for complete creative freedom; the more ridiculous my ideas were, the more eye-catching the posters would be.  Other projects included everything from creating newsletters, brochures, and signage to designing custom bookplates and taking event photography. I’d say that more than anything else, this job has taught me to always push my work in new ways. If you’re not engaged in your own designs, nobody else will be either. Since there is so much room for creativity in the projects here, I used the opportunity to try out ideas I had been playing around with, like hand-lettering, collage, and illustration. My advice for future co-ops would be to use this time to develop your personal style and eye for design. Really challenge yourself to make work that you are proud of, and you’ll wind up with a great portfolio in the process. As I move on to future co-ops and, eventually, ‘real world’ jobs, I’ll keep the skills and lessons learned at Snell in mind. I’m going to miss my awesome team of co-workers who have made this such a great semester, but I will always be close by to visit!   Karly: Every day for the past six months, I have had the pleasure of becoming a resident here at Club Snell, but rather than coming in every day to study, I have been coming in every day to work. As the Marketing and Event Planning Co-op, I was given the opportunity to help with the planning of all the different events that the library had this past spring semester, such as the Meet the Author talks and the Places & Spaces: A Mapping Science exhibit. I was worked with the publishers and authors of the talks, contacting potential co-sponsors, publicizing the event, and doing whatever was needed to make sure that the event ran smoothly. If you ever saw a frantic person running up and down the stairs from Room 90, that person was most likely me, making sure everything was set up.  A part of my job was to also help with communications from within the library to the Northeastern community such as through our Facebook and Twitter accounts. (Yes, our twitter handle really is @ClubSnell!) From this co-op experience, I have learned to take responsibility and ownership for a project, whether it be a Facebook post or an author talk, and learning to not second guess myself with my decisions as I put my own thoughts and ideas into the post or event. I’ve learned that I should ask for help when I need it and to delegate responsibilities, so that I am not overwhelmed and scrambling at the last minute to make sure something is ready. From this co-op I have also now become a “professional e-mailer” since a huge part of this job is being able to communicate by email and through that I have learned patience, since sometimes not everyone will respond back in a timely matter and instead of taking it personally, I’ve learned to ease my frustration and try to come up with other ways to communicate my message, such as personal phone call. For future co-ops, my advice is to be organized, since there is always tons of email and documents to keep track of, take a chance to use your ideas for an event and don’t be afraid to take ownership of something. Be patient, but also know when you should be a bit pushy when waiting for a response, and make sure to ask for help. It has been a wonderful and rich learning experience working on the other side of Club Snell.    

NU Athletics: If you can play, you can play.

In partnership with the organization You Can Play, Northeastern University Athletics has recently recorded a PSA supporting equality in sports. Northeastern student- athletes, coaches, administrators,and fans came together to express their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes, promoting their message that sexual orientation has no bearing in sport: if you can play, you can play. In their partnership with You Can Play, NU Athletics is been committed to creating an open, inclusive and supporting culture at Northeastern for LGBT athletes and students.

The cast of Triangle Theater Company’s “A Night Out with the Boys,” 1983. Archives Photo.

Supporting the LGBT community at Northeastern more broadly,the Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department highlights LGBT groups as part of the social justice collection strategy. Community members can view collections from organizations such as: Archives collections include materials such as documents, newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, and articles allow the Northeastern community to learn and gain an understanding of the history of the LGBT community and support for it in Massachusetts. These collections and others and be viewed in the library’s Archives and Special Collections Department located at 92 Snell Library.  

We asked, and you spoke up. Thanks!

Over the past few weeks we have been administering a survey in order to collect information on what Library users need and want more of in terms of study space. The survey asked users questions about where they like to study and what type of spaces should the Library have more of, allowing the Library to learn what users really want for their library that will enable them to have their ideal study space. Users were able to take the survey online or on paper, which was handed out during different times of the day at the Library and other areas on campus, such as the Curry Student Center. We’ve had a great response, reaching about 1,000 completed surveys, with respondents from all colleges and divisions of the University. A big Thank You to everyone who took the survey, in print or online! With all of your helpful responses, we have generated important information that will help shape the Library’s planning now, as well as its long term development.