As I enter the final few months of my fellowship here in ZSR, I wanted to take the time to share highlights from some of the projects I’ve worked on, as well as what I’m still looking forward to in the time I have left.

In the fall, I stayed busy with outreach programming, fellows gatherings, and administrative obligations while serving on the search committee for the new library dean. I helped out with our first ever Silent Book Club (SBC) in October, which had a great turnout (and we have another one to look forward to on April 2nd!). I also helped out with the Silent Book Club station for this year’s CozyFest. SBC and the participation of the student organization Awake Forest were both newer additions to CozyFest, although we still had the classic s’mores bar and hot tea provided by the World Tea Association — one of my favorite clubs in undergrad! I remember serving tea at the first CozyFest back in 2023; you can even see me in the background of one of the photos from the 2023 event.

Being on the other end of some of my favorite library traditions, like CozyFest, Blind Date with a Book, Halloween Game Night, and Wake the Library, amongst others, has made my time as the library fellow especially fulfilling. I started college during the height of Covid restrictions at Wake, and ZSR was the building I spent the most time in aside from my dorm room. Even during Covid, the library managed to be a space where students could have a common experience (even if that was just sharing looks of sympathy during finals week). The outreach programming and library traditions that I’ve helped with illustrates that same mission.

Since my spring has been quieter than the fall, I’ve also had some exciting opportunities to learn more about Special Collections & Archives. One of my favorite parts of this fellowship has been learning more about the preservation lab with Craig Fansler. I’ve had the opportunity to learn how to replace book spines, repair dust jackets, and create archival storage boxes (although his student employees can still make the boxes twice as fast as I can). I created an inventory of nearly 200 new printing blocks that were recently donated; they were an interesting mix of pastoral imagery, French iconography, and industrial machinery — with the occasional racy stocking or corset thrown into the mix. Between all of that, I’ve also been working on adding some metadata to existing interviews with Wake Foresters and to some old VHS tapes about Winston-Salem history.

In addition to my involvement in SC&A, there are a few other special projects I’ve helped with that are currently in the works. We’re on track to surpass last year’s total number of individual donations for the 1834 Campaign . If you aren’t already in possession of a Streakin’ Deacon t-shirt, or just want to pick up some free swag, be sure to stop by our table outside the library on Friday, April 4th from 10 am to 2 pm. I’ve also helped Daisha Bunn and her student employee Louie Poore with some of the logistics for a promotional video they’re filming about the ZSR Student Employee Scholarship. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t say anything else other than that it is coming together really well, so be on the lookout for that!

I plan to spend my last three months working on similar projects, asking lots of questions, and squatting in Craig’s office. A year isn’t enough time to learn everything there is to know about the work that goes on in ZSR, but I’m going to do my best to schedule as many meetings and tours as I can in my final three months here. There are still a few more department directors I would like to meet with, but I’d love to hear from anyone who is working on something that they’re passionate about. If you have the time to chat, or could use an extra pair of hands on a project you’re working on, feel free to reach out!