Every year our staff, students and volunteers look forward to our Student & Volunteer Appreciation day, which we affectionately call “fun day”. It generally takes place in late November or early December, always before finals week. It is a time to show our appreciation for all the hard work our students, volunteers and staff do throughout the year, while having an opportunity to come together and learn some new bookbinding or book arts technique. In the past, we’ve done paper marbling, made handmade paper, created German long stitch binds, and more.
I have been coordinating our student & volunteer appreciation days for almost as long as I’ve been in the Lab, so for at least 12 years now. I love it because I am the type of person who enjoys planning these types of things, but also I love watching a student, volunteer or staff member just get really excited about something new. You never know if it’s going to be that quiet new volunteer who just can’t get enough of paper marbling, or that student who doesn’t have any art background but just does the most amazing pulp paintings ever! So after all these years, the thought of 2020/the pandemic ruining everything and not having any sort of student/volunteer appreciation day was just unacceptable!
I immediately thought, “What types of activities could we do virtually that would be no cost to the lab and would give everyone a couple hours to come together and decompress?” After a little brainstorming with Holly, we came up with a Button Hole Stitch binding (which I had recently learned) and a simple dissolving view. With the help of my wonderful student staff member and cohort buddy, Lexie, I prepped kits for our virtual event, as well as prepared a step by step video on creating a button hole stitch binding.
Here are some of the beautiful creations that came out of our little virtual fun day:
As you might know, the Lab generally employs anywhere from 4 to 6 student staff members at a given time. Our student staff are invaluable to the Lab, helping us keep up with our general circulating repairs, custom enclosures, Colibri covers, and commercial binding. Seven weeks ago, when both our parent institutions closed due to the pandemic, the Preservation Lab staff moved to working remotely. Two of our student staff members, Lexie Febel and Christine Shi, joined us in this adventure of remote work during COVID-19. Christine and Lexie are both conservation student staff members and our two most senior student employees.
Due to the nature of working remotely, general collections repair at home was unfortunately thrown out the window for our student staff, mainly due to a lack of time to prepare materials and projects before vacating the library. Fortunately for me, my fellow student staff supervisor in the Lab, Sidney Gao, was willing to collaborate to create thoughtful, virtual work-from-home assignments for Lexie and Christine. Sidney and I wanted to create assignments that would allow our student staff members to research and provide feedback on a topic that was important to both of them personally and professionally, while simultaneously helping us create a better work environment for student staff members. We also hoped that this opportunity would allow us to strengthen our skills as student staff supervisors.
Sidney and I decided to focus our assignments on mental health in the workplace, knowing that Lexie, as a Secondary Education major, and Christine, as a Psychology degree graduate starting her PhD in Psychology, would be passionate about this topic. The project includes three parts: research, synthesis of research and self-reflection, and recommendations for the Lab. Throughout the project we have been using Microsoft Teams to assign projects, communicate, share files, and offer feedback. And it is of no surprise to us that Christine and Lexie are doing a phenomenal job of their projects so far!
Part one of the Mental Health in the Workplace assignment. We’ve been using the Teacher Dashboard app within Teams to assign the various parts of the project and provide feedback when assignments are completed.
Since our student staff members and their work, both under normal circumstances and now, are so valuable to the Lab, it seemed only fitting for Christine and Lexie to share a little bit about their experiences working in the Lab:
Lexie:
(a 2020 Library Quality Service Award recipient)
Getting the opportunity to work at the Preservation Lab has been one of my favorite parts about college. This past March marked the 2nd anniversary of me working at the Lab, and I hope to stay there until I graduate in 2021. Working from home and completing assignments revolving around mental health has really enlightened me on certain topics and has encouraged me to reflect on my own mental health practices. On a normal day when I am actually at work in the Lab, I enjoy completing spine repairs, but one of my favorite things that Christine and I have gotten the chance to do was to make our own books, using marbled paper for the covers.
The case bindings Lexie and Christine (respectively) created in June of 2019 – not a fault among either binding, they were perfect!
Christine:
Working at the Preservation Lab has been an opportunity unlike any I have ever had. I’ve always had a passion for craftsmanship and the creative arts as well as a love and reverence for libraries, scholarship, and conservation. But after switching out of a design degree, I didn’t ever think I could have a job at the intersection of so many of my creative interests! The culture, work, and people at the Preservation Lab created a space for me to escape from a stressful campus and dive into a place of meditative craft and supportive learning. I loved being able to learn and practice new skills in bookmaking and repairs but also the opportunity to be a part of such an important mission.
Sidney and I wanted to reflect on our roles as student supervisors and have an opportunity to thank Christine and Lexie for their dedication and hardwork:
Sidney:
Working from home has allowed me the time to reflect on my position as a student supervisor, and on the value of student labor within libraries. I’ve gotten the chance to consider how my work-related philosophies influence those I supervise, and I realized that we truly cannot overlook the amount of mental and emotional labor that our student staff put into making libraries the wonderful places that they are.
The research I’ve done over this period of working from home has helped me understand the value of creating safe spaces and strong relationships with those I supervise. I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to work with Christine and Lexie on this assignment. They’ve used their personal experience and academic expertise to help me better understand the ways in which I can support those around me. For that, I am truly grateful.
Jessica:
My role as student supervisor has never been something that has come easily to me. In fact, when I took on this responsibility several years ago, it was something that made me anxious, and, I’ll be honest, that I dreaded. My fear and anxiety was twofold. First, I am a very introverted person and I struggled to see how I could be an effective student supervisor. Second, I feared that I would mess up, that I wouldn’t be good at it and the impact that would have on the students. These are two fears that I continue to struggle with today, but I am conscious of them and I like to think that I am continuing to grow and evolve as I continue this role. As I often tell my student employees and our volunteers when they make a mistake or the repair didn’t turn out quite the way they wanted, “You are not a robot! You are human!” We all make mistakes, the most important thing is that we learn from them and use that knowledge as we go forward. We are flawed, and that is okay.
When I reflect on Christine and Lexie, I am so proud of them. I am grateful for their commitment to the Lab and to their work. But beyond that, I am truly thankful that they came to work in the Lab and that I have had the honor to work with them, both in the Lab and remotely. I could go on and on about their amazing hand-skills, their dedication and focus, their intelligence, and their thoughtfulness. I am hopeful that the work they have done remotely will not only allow Sidney and I to create a happier and healthier workplace for student staff, but that it will impact me and my ability to continuously improve as a supervisor. I have no doubt that I will gain new understandings and grow; and that will directly impact future Preservation Lab student staff for the better.So, thank you both!
A huge thank you, on behalf of the entire Lab, to Christine and Lexie (who have been working with us remotely this past month) and Emily Wagner and Charles Harte (who will hopefully return back to the Lab once the pandemic ends and our “new normal” begins) for being valuable members of our team!
*While student employees are generally referred to as “student workers”, Sidney and I have decided to make a conscious shift in the language we use. We prefer the term “student staff”, as it more accurately portrays their role as members of our team and the great contributions they make to the Lab and to the libraries.
As the end of the year is drawing to a close (this is our last day before UC’s winter seasonal break when the university is closed until the New Year!!) I find myself looking back at the past year in the lab and thinking of all the things we’ve accomplished, individually and as a team. I know all of us in the lab consider ourselves very fortunate, our work is fulfilling and interesting and we are continuously surrounded by a great group of dynamic and talented people. And as the student supervisor for the lab, I have to say, our students have made this year even more stellar. They’re just the best! Ask any staff member in the lab and I’m sure they’ll say the same exact thing, we are so lucky to have the group of passionate, energetic, and skilled students that we have working with us.
Each year, instead of the usual departmental pizza party for students, the lab sets aside some time to thank our students and volunteers for everything they do for us by having two days of fun activities for our students and volunteers. These “fun days” are generally around finals, when the students are reaching the end of the semester and their holiday break, and usually involve activities that tie back into bookbinding/book arts/conservation/etc. somehow. This year we enjoyed papermaking, pulp painting, explosion books/ornaments and origami boxes. Our annual “fun days” are just that…fun, not only because we get to watch the students relax and unwind and thank them for all they do, but we always get to learn more about them and connect with them even more. One of my favorite parts is seeing which students get really into which activities; sometimes it’s fascinating and unexpected, and sometimes it just makes total sense. But that moment when a student gets to relax and enjoy, after a semester of rigorous schoolwork and general collections repairs, well that’s just the cherry on top!
This year has been extra fulfilling not only because our students are amazing and it is because of them that the bulk of our general collections repairs happen, but also because those warm fuzzy feelings all our staff feel for the students…well, apparently they’re mutual. For four years now the UC Libraries has been offering an annual UCL Student Worker Scholarship, thanks to generous donations from the faculty and staff at UCL. This year, we are happy to say, a Preservation Lab student was awarded the scholarship for the second time in four years! Two years ago it was our student, DJ Davis (who recently graduated earning his MBA….go DJ!), who received the scholarship, and this year it was our student, Stefan Apostoluk! Stefan is a senior Computer Engineering major who is also working his MBA through the ACCEND program. I am beyond proud of Stefan!
We actually had two students apply for the scholarship this year, Stefan and our DAAP fine arts student, Alex Phillips. This isn’t surprising, because in my eyes, all of our students are award worthy. In fact, our binding student and business major, Drew Eaton, was awarded the Student Quality Service Award in April of this year! So, our students have been killing it this year; again, that’s no surprise to the staff down here. They crush it on a daily basis in the lab, but it’s great that they are getting some public attention for it. What has been immensely fulfilling in writing the scholarship recommendation letters for Alex and Stefan was getting to read their essays on how working in the libraries has inspired them. They’ve both given me permission to share their sweet words about the lab and our team…
Alex wrote:
“Working for the University’s Preservation Lab has been a dream-come-true. Ever since I learned that such a job existed, I wanted to be involved…There is a sense of satisfaction with each book that passes through my hands in need of care, and my work feels purposeful. Not only do I enjoy my work, but my co-workers and mentors have been a great model of what a productive and positive work environment can be. It is a relief to work in a space where there aren’t constant negative and harmful conversations such as gossip. The Lab has proven that a positive work environment is not a myth, and I am so grateful.”
Stefan wrote:
“Working at UC Libraries has inspired me to find a job where I fit in and matter. I have the great pleasure of working in the Preservation Lab at Langsam, a place that I’ve come to love dearly in my four years there as a student worker. While the lab is small and has a full-time staff of less than 10, my coworkers are all heartfelt, funny, and interesting people. They are truly what makes my job so special and enjoyable. A few hours at the lab can be enough to turn a miserable day into a good one. Even though doing spine repairs on books and making enclosures is a far cry from software development and project management, I’ve learned some very important things working at UC Libraries. The lab has taught me about the importance of work culture, of loving where you work, and of loving who you work with. Wherever I end up working in the next year after I graduate from UC, I know it’ll need to be some place I love.”
It doesn’t get much better than that, right? If that doesn’t make you feel like you are doing something right and are one of the lucky ones, I don’t know what would. And darn it, if it doesn’t make me appreciate those students, volunteers, and staff that I get to call team members even more! A big thank you to our entire team, for all the amazing work you have done this year and for your enthusiasm, personality, and dedication! OUR TEAM: Students –
Here are some more pictures from the papermaking portion of our student/volunteer appreciation days…
You can also watch a brief video on the beating process of papermaking on our UCL MediaSpace channel, here.
Happy Holidays from the Preservation Lab! Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician [and the very fortunate student supervisor]
