UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries’ Eberly Family Special Collections Library will host "Research Coffee Hour: Special Collections Student Project Spotlight" 10:30 a.m. Thursday, April 21, via Zoom.
The virtual presentation will highlight examples of excellent work that Special Collections’ student workers have been providing this semester. Student presenters Glynnis Reed, Yunior Rodriguez, Cameron Cook, and Alyssa Capobianco will offer participants a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into creating an exhibit, processing a collection, and making collections accessible to researchers.
Engaging with students and supporting their learning and research is central to the work of the University Libraries and Special Collections, and each student who will share during this event has gained individualized educational work experience.
Glynnis Reed is a graduate student in art education and currently serving as graduate assistant for the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora since Aug. 2021. Her talk will include her recently curated Libraries exhibit, titled, "Haiti: Liberation of the First Black Republic." She will introduce the exhibit through photographs and share her experience working with the Blockson Collection and Special Collections Library. As she writes in the introduction to her exhibit, “Black people’s resistance against chattel slavery and other forms of colonial oppression and dehumanization is well documented in the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora.”
Alyssa Capobianco is a research services assistant and is a senior in the Smeal College of Business majoring in marketing. Capobianco has been working with Special Collections since May 2021. She’ll address the connection she feels with history through books and documents, some of her favorite projects and highlights, and how she came to work in Special Collections.
Yunior Rodriguez is the graduate assistant for historical and labor collections. He is a graduate student in human resources and employment relations and will graduate this May. Throughout his time at Special Collections, Rodriguez said he has acquired a new understanding of archives and how they function and has “gained countless skills that will stay with [him] throughout [his] professional career.”
Cameron Cook is a graduating senior in art history and marketing, as well as Stelts-Filippelli curatorial intern. Cameron has been involved in many different projects since he began working in Special Collections in 2020. For his first in-person exhibition (Jewish Histories,) colleagues Clara Drummond and Bill Minter helped him through the process of setting up an exhibition including deinstallation, requesting materials through Aeon, material retrieval, installation, mounting labels, and fitting materials to cradles. He’s enjoyed being able to apply these new skills to subsequent exhibitions and observe how digital exhibitions translate to physical spaces, and has been inspired by this internship to pursue a career in museums and special collections.
"Research Coffee Hour: Special Collections Student Project Spotlight" invites the public to learn more about exceptional student experiences as told through their unique perspectives. Registration for the virtual event is free but required at https://psu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jqzrwkLSQdiIthOP-jPDwQ . Support for this program is made possible, in part, from endowments that fund student internships and graduate assistantships.
For information about Research Coffee Hours, contact Rachael Dreyer, head of research services, at rad24@psu.edu or the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at spcollections@psu.edu or 814-865-1793.