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Graduating student workers honored at Sterling Library, with thanks for all they do

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  • Four students at a round table pose smiling for the camera; in the background are ten people at other round tables and a video display on wall that reads "Class of 2023"
  • Barbara Rockenbach, with brown hair and white suit, leans over table to speak with seated students. Two women at table look on. In background are two tables, each with three students each, engaged in conversation
  • Four women seated at round table with white tablecloth smile for camera. There are plates of cookies and bottles of water and drinks on the table in front of them.
  • Five students--four women and one man--sit at round table. Two of the women and the man wear glasses. Drinks and plates of cookies and cell phones are on the table in front of them.
  • Woman with long hair and light green shirt poses with man with curly hair and moustache and grey zip-front shirt and man with dark blue button-down shirt, glasses and short black hair
  • Seated woman with short blond hair and orange sweater and floral blouse turns in chair to speak to standing student with blue shirt and glasses, with back to camera. In background woman with short dark hair talks with man in dark suit and white shirt.
  • Room full of people standing and sitting around round tables with white tablecloths. On the wall behind them is blue and white video display that reads "Class of 2023"
  • white book plate on dark blue background with gold border with intertwined gold leaf garden. Yale's openbook logo appears at top in blue with banner reading "Lux et Veritas" below. In gold lettering reads "In honor of" and "for service to Yale University Library"
  • Table with white-frosted cake with blue frosting lettering that reads "Congratulations Class of 2023". Two plates of cookies with swirls of blue icing sit on black plates further down table. There are five rows of water and bottled drinks. A floral arrangement with white roses, blue flowers and a purple bow around the glass vase is at center of the table.
  • Two open books, one with white end papers and one with brown end papers, are propped open in mylar stands on a tabletop, displaying decorative book plates on left pages, each shows a drawing of an open book at center and the words "In honor of" below, with a student's name written in blue script with graduation year "'22" below
May 1, 2023

To celebrate their contributions, the library honored its graduating student workers at an event in the lecture hall at Sterling Memorial Library.

Each academic year, hundreds of students serve in a variety of student jobs in library departments across campus. They work in support of digital imaging services, curatorial work, collections maintenance, social media efforts, StatLab consulting, and more. While they are contributing to the success of the library, they are also gaining valuable hands-on experience.

As a conservation assistant at the film archive in Sterling, Sam Gallen ’23 inspected, repaired, and catalogued a variety of analog films. “The experience deepened my appreciation for film as a medium and the history that lives within each and every frame,” said Gallen, a double major in history and in film and media studies.

Zili Zhou is graduating this year from the Master of Public Health program, with a major in epidemiology of microbial diseases and a concentration in modeling. Zhou worked as a statistics consultant at StatLab, helping researchers from diverse disciplines with experiment setups, statistical analysis, data visualization, and more.

“I learned a substantial number of data analytic skills I would not have had without the challenge of this role,” Zhou said. “I learned how to ‘talk stats’ with others clearly and succinctly. I also learned about the cool, exciting research people are pursuing across campus. StatLab was a wonderful experience that I will sure miss as I leave Yale!”

Each year, the library’s student employees are honored with a specially designed bookplate, inscribed with each student’s name and graduating year. The bookplates are placed on the front end papers of a recently acquired book in the library’s collection; students choose the specific collection. This year’s custom bookplate was designed by letterpress printer Jesse Marsolais, faculty member in the Yale School of Art.

“We could not do all we do in the library without all of you,” Barbara Rockenbach, Stephen F. Gates ’68 University Librarian, told the students in her remarks. “We wish you luck in all you do next, but remember, this is your library. We are family, and we hope you will come back to visit us often. We would like you to think of Sterling as your library for life.”

Students who are interested in working in the library can log in to the JobX portal in late August to view and apply for paid library positions open in the fall. Learn more about student jobs and about working at Yale Library. Students can also learn more about student employment opportunities at the Undergraduate Academic Fair, which will be held in September.

—Photos and story by Deborah Cannarella

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