First Year Library Advisory Board

Members of the First Year Library Advisory Board meet with University Archivists Amy McDonald and Valerie Gillespie

INTRODUCING OUR FIRST-YEAR LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD!

East Campus Libraries are delighted to report that we’ve appointed our 2013-2014 First Year Library Advisory Board. Here’s a list, with some of their thoughts about libraries:

Levi Crews
“The library system at Duke will be an integral part of my university experience; … I value the opportunity to make a difference in a community… I hope that my role on the board will be able to make me and those around me more comfortable with the vast resources Duke provides”.

Yujiao (Catherine) Sun
“The library is the defining key to a community’s cultural atmosphere and development. A university’s library plays an even more critical role because it is the heart of the academic community. … I want to become a member of First Year Library Advisory Board because I want to bring the library closer to my classmates and make the library better for the entire Duke community.”

Katherine M. Zhou
“I’ve always considered a library as a “home away from home.” With a natural curiosity for knowledge, I appreciate a well-maintained library that contains an abundance of literature, is updated with the latest technological systems, and provides a comfortable area to do exactly what Duke is for: to learn. I would like to do my best to provide insight from a student perspective on how to enhance Duke’s libraries”.

Grace Li
“Since I was little, I’ve always loved reading and writing. In the fourth grade, my parents had a meeting with my school librarian, asking how to get me to stop reading (it didn’t work). Libraries have always been a sort of sanctuary for me, because there’s something so beautiful about a place that’s dedicated to books, to education, and to learning. I want to contribute to that, in any way possible”.

Zach Heater
“The thing that makes me most excited about Duke is the potential for original research, and as a humanities guy I know that the roots of original research lie in the astounding array of resources at the libraries. I have always loved spending time at the library, but even more so, I’ve always loved helping people discover how to make the library work for them. …I am very interested in reaching out to freshmen and helping them make the very most of the amazing resources Duke’s libraries are blessed to have”.

Angela Sun
“I appreciate that Duke University involves freshmen through the First-Year Advisory Board. Every freshman is coming to the same new learning environment that is Duke. As freshmen, they can bring new, fresh perspectives to the board. They can identify with their fellow freshmen and help their classmates become better informed and more involved in Duke’s resources and services”.
The first year library advisory board is a coalition of first year students and library coordinators whose mission includes three responsibilities:
• It provides feedback on library initiatives-for example, library renovations and new programs– providing valuable input crucial to the success of a first year gateway library and the policies and decisions of the library with regard to it.
• It represents the first year class and the students’ library related needs during a unique and pivotal year of transition into university culture and its academic expectations.
• It actively searches for ways to improve the library and develops programs to make first year students aware of its resources and services, including those of the wider community and TRLN.