We had a lot of pizza at the student party.
The complex, daily work of an academic library could not be easily completed without the support of our industrious team of student workers. This afternoon, Gleeson Library staff, librarians, and the Dean’s Office, honored our wonderful, hard-working, student assistants with an end-of-the-year appreciation party. This spring semester in particular, our party felt a little more poignant, since we reluctantly bid farewell to a number of terrific students who are graduating from USF, and moving on to greater things.
Pizza, beverages, snacks, and a raffle filled our time during the celebration, but really — being “dead day,” the day before final examinations — I think it’s safe to say that our students just enjoyed the opportunity for a good meal, the company of friends, and hopefully the chance to know that the staff, librarians, and the Dean’s Office of Gleeson Library appreciate all the work they do for us… and for you.
Two of Gleeson's wonderful student assistants.
Congratulations on another great year, Student Assistants! Have a terrific summer!
Dean Cannon awards some raffle prizes.
To view more photos of the event, feel free to visit this link at Flickr.
On a recent trip to Washington, D. C. I was able to make a quick visit to the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, one of many visits I have made over the years. The building never fails to be awe inspiring. The person most responsible for bringing about the construction of this magnificent building was Ainsworth Rand Spofford, the sixth Librarian of Congress. Spofford referred to the building as the "Book Palace of the American People". I scanned the first image shown above from the Harper's Weekly issue of February 27, 1897. It shows the crowded conditions in the old Congressional Reading Room in the Capitol just before the move to the new building. Spofford actually appears in the illustration. He is the tall bearded man walking from the right. The second image is the cover of a folder of postcards of the library. It calls the building "The World's Most Beautiful Building". The final image is a picture of the Great Hall which I took on my recent visit. It's a shame that at least one of the major buildings of the Library of Congress couldn't have been named for Spofford. After all, Spofford had more to do with making the Library of Congress the world's greatest library than did Jefferson, Adams, or Madison. More about the buildings of the Library of Congress can be found HERE.
