The Reed Library: What’s in it for first-years?

Learn what the experts found confusing about the library and what first-years can gain from exploring the space by hearing library staff members answer the Quest’s questions about the Reed library! 

The Quest sat down with Circulation Operations Manager Mark McDaniel, Circulation student worker Nixon Albertelli, and Social Sciences Librarian Ann Matsushima Chiu, who gave their insights about everything important to know as an incoming Reedie first interacting with the Reed library.

1. What are your name, pronouns, and something fun you’ve done this summer?

1. Mark McDaniel, he/him. I got to go to the last iteration of a 39-year event called IPNC (International Pinot Noir Celebration).

2. Nixon Albertelli, he/him, and a fun thing I did this summer was go to Disneyland. 

3. Ann Matsushima Chiu, she/they, and I’ve started quad roller skating, going to the park and skate rinks.

1. What do you help Reed students with?

1. Mark: Finding areas of the library for call numbers, finding librarians that they’ve got appointments with, that’s kind of the two main things. Sometimes it’s their thesis desk, and they can’t get the light to turn on, and I show them the teeny-tiny switch that we turn off in the summer; it’s hard to find. (Nixon: You help students get jobs!) Yes, there’s a new job posting on Handshake for the circ[ulation] desk, mostly evenings, Friday nights, really hard ‘cause people like to have fun. Hopefully we’ll get some freshmen in. ‘Cause if they like to do the job, then we’ll have them for four years. And again, folks have to pick their hours, so if they can work it, and sign up for it, we depend on them to come. 

2. Nixon: I do a lot of helping the library with inventory, that’s been my main job, but [I] mostly check out books when I work the circ desk, help with directions, stuff like that.

3. Ann: I help them with their research. A lot of times I help them navigate the emotional ups and downs of the research process. I support zine-making on campus, and I do a lot of outreach and events.

2. What, if anything, do you do especially for first-years?

1. Mark: I think mostly directional [help], finding classrooms, where is L389 or L204, faculty offices. The library’s a very confusing building, with pieces added on, there's no natural flow, we sort of forced it into a shape. Not obvious for first-timers. Like we had new faculty in, and they were puzzled, like “which direction to go, where’s the exit?” I think freshmen focus on Hum[anities 110]. You should focus on your librarian for Hum, like you kind of have to have broad topic ideas, but getting that focus. It’s a great service that I never used when I was in college. You absolutely need to use the reference librarians. 

2. Nixon: I can’t think of anything specific. If they ask for directions, I’ll let them know where to go.

3. Ann: I help teach the Hum 110 “welcome to [the] library” classes, and meet the first-years there. Oftentimes I’ll hire first-years to be exhibit or zine interns and help them with their first jobs on campus. I do a lot of consults, so sometimes first-years come in if they’re working on a particular project. But I think I meet first-years informally. Clubs, classes, and the Zine Library let me interact the most with first-years. The nature of throwing a lot of events is that I meet a lot of people casually, so not in the class setting, so they’re not nervous. So when I meet them a couple of years later in the class setting, they’re like “oh I know you!” Our jobs as librarians are not just academically focused; we’re beyond that. Making the library a place where they feel safe and comfortable, so it doesn’t have to be this stuffy and sterile environment. We as librarians want to have fun, so hopefully students can have fun too.

3. Broadly, what is your favorite thing at the Reed library? This can be a place, service, book or media recommendation, or something else.

1. Mark: For me personally, it’s the DVD collection. I love to see movies and series that people are normally going on Netflix for. For students, we have, what, 750,000 or 850,000 volumes here, but we’re in a consortium with multiple other colleges, so our library’s actually spread out across parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho. Your library is expanded. You can get fun reading, or research from the University of Washington, and we get things for 12 weeks at a time [for Summit loans]. [Your request] gets here in 3-5 days during the normal business week.
   Physically, I think the study space, you can find a noisier or quieter space, there’s so many places to hide in a corner, reading a book. I like that the space is a maze. [If the space were] like a giant stadium, I wouldn’t be into that.
   And the searching abilities for online articles, the keyword searching, you can certainly get all your sources and get focused on what’s the latest research on a particular topic and author.

2. Nixon: I’m thankful for the online services we have like JSTOR; in the summer, that’s so convenient. My favorite thing about working here is being able to grab books off the shelf and read, that is really good. I like hanging out by the art books, we just moved all of ‘em, but that’s a pretty chill spot down there. And the Cooley [Gallery] is cool. My job is to sit with a scanner and go through for inventory, and I hold all the books individually, so if I see something interesting, I just flip through and read for a minute. Oh, a spot that’s interesting, the single-use bathroom by L17, underneath that little shelf-thing, there’s a really cool creature under there that someone made. I think it’s pretty cool. A lot of like hidden guys, and all sorts of nooks and crannies around here. The library can be kind of intimidating, but it’s worth it to hang out and kind of make it your own space.

3. Ann: I’m gonna say the events that we host, because it allows me to meet people outside the classroom and in different disciplines that I don't normally get to interact with. And then when I do get to meet them in the classroom, then it’s a little more familiar.

4. What did you learn about the library that was confusing at first?

1. Mark: I think just the layout. The lay of the land, finding a call number. I knew about the call numbers before I got here, but it’s like how do you find them, going room to room? We try to keep them in sort of a snake, with A at the head and Z at the tail, it kind of makes logical sense but you have to know where to start to get your As. Just finding things in the library. We have a running joke that “you should be able to hit a button and follow a line on the floor to the call number.” 

2. Nixon: Oh the layout! That’s the main thing. That’s crazy. It’s like 3 different buildings crammed into one. And the call numbers, it took me a while to figure that out.

3. Ann: I think the actual space is confusing, and the databases can be confusing. The only way to learn the space and the resources is to be curious, be open to getting lost. There are so many little odd spaces and projects that pop up [in the building], like the crow shrine, and the kissing mirror in the bathroom (Interviewer note: women’s bathroom downstairs from Thesis Tower), things that are created throughout the year, little treasures in the library. Or a book you weren’t looking for, that is just sitting right there, things like that.

5. Optional: What tradition or rule should first year students know about?

1. Mark: If there’s a sign on the door that says “this is not an exit,” but the “not” seems to be crossed off, it’s still not an exit. Don’t go through the fire exit, alarms go off, it’s not fun for anybody. We have a door that the “not” is almost completely white-out. The second floor door, that door by the classrooms with the glass, you can’t go through that! The original entrance [by the Thesis Tower], it’s like “why didn’t that door open?” and then the alarm starts.

Director of Access Services Jim Holmes also gave the Quest some statistics about the Reed library in the 2023-24 school year: Circulation of physical books went up 9% last year, and the number of patrons in the library went up 27% last year. The seismic renovation is over, and people are coming back! 

The library is a central part of Reed. As an incoming freshman, it is important to get some insight into the many hats the library wears as art gallery, classroom, office, book/media/government document repository, study space, event venue, and more! Stop in during the Library Orientation Open House on Tuesday, August 27, 2024 from 11:45am to 2pm and explore the library in more depth with first-year tours of the library!