<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3xukDC_1FPTZvfT00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3xukDC_1FPTZvfT00" width="1200" height="800" ></figure>As part of recent personnel cuts across Baker’s campus, Collins Library has gone from four to just two staff members. These changes over the summer left Library Director Melanie Massey and Reference and Instruction Librarian Amanda Luke alone with little time to adjust before the school year began.“Juggling is a good description, I think, because this morning I was at [Baker’s] school of nursing and then I drove back to campus and needed to teach health sciences,” Massey said. “I’m very comfortable in that counseling world, but then I come back and it’s an information literacy class.”While Massey moves between Baker’s campuses teaching students, Luke is the face of the department in Baldwin City, greeting students at the front of the library every day of the week. “I’m like the disembodied voice of the library,” Luke says. “If you’re coming into the library, the pillar makes it so you can’t see me. But it’s me, and I say hi to everybody.”<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1o0f64_1FPTZvfT00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1o0f64_1FPTZvfT00" width="600" height="400" ><figcaption>The library’s new comic book/manga corner creates comfort for students. ( N. Michael Houser )</figcaption></figure>Though libraries in many academic settings can feel stuffy or exclusive, Massey and Luke try to curate a comfortable and fun environment out of their space. Over the summer, they rearranged the main floor to include a comic book and manga corner where the movie section once was and moved shelves on the third floor to create a more communal space, giving the library a comfortability rare for such locations.One of the biggest struggles for librarians year in and year out is engaging students, and Massey is no stranger to this. “We’re having to really figure them out, their personality, and shift some independence and autonomy to them. It’s not us finding you articles; it’s you learning how to do research,” Massey said. “We’re here to walk alongside you and show you tips and tricks of the trade.”Both librarians, though, are jacks of all trades. Whether they are creating information literacy programs, guiding students through databases, walking students to class or teaching literacy classes within the library, Massey and Luke provide for all students, traditional and non-traditional alike. This focus on literacy stems from Massey and Luke’s backgrounds as first-generation and non-traditional students, respectively. Massey graduated from college as the daughter of a farmer and a school secretary, while Luke graduated as an adult student in her mid-twenties. These experiences on the “outside” of academia inform how Baker’s library department functions on a fundamental level.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1T7grY_1FPTZvfT00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1T7grY_1FPTZvfT00" width="900" height="600" ><figcaption>A well-placed banner brings the beach to Baker’s library. ( N. Michael Houser )</figcaption></figure>Luke explained that school was not always her home, “I was not a great student in high school. I tell my story all the time, because I say, ‘Look, if I can go back to college and do this three times, anybody can do this,'” she said. Meeting students where they are at happens to be Massey’s pedagogy too.“I don’t have to play the stuffy librarian, because I’m just not naturally that person. It helps me to be more relaxed at work, which helps me to help students, and I’ve always believed that,” Massey said. “You just have to meet people. Life happens all around us every day.”But more than anything else, the library succeeds because of who Massey and Luke are and how they balance each other. “I’m very chaotic, sort of like a Jackson Pollock painting, and I do know how to do a lot of database stuff while Melanie knows all these things that I’ve never considered before,” Luke said of her partner in crime.Massey, on the other hand, appreciates Luke’s ability to meet students where they’re at. “Maybe they played basketball and they had a bad game. Maybe they tried out for a play and didn’t get the part they wanted. Or maybe they’re trying to juggle two jobs,” Massey said. “I feel like Amanda’s very good at just acknowledging them as a human and helping them with whatever they need.”Whether they’re setting up a new inflatable friend or creating displays for the newest popular fiction, Massey and Luke always keep students’ interests first. Knowledge and whimsy aren’t mutually exclusive in this library; they are thick as thieves, just as Massey and Luke intended.</div></body>

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As part of recent personnel cuts across Baker’s campus, Collins Library has gone from four to just two staff members. These changes over the summer left Library Director Melanie Massey and Reference and Instruction Librarian Amanda Luke alone with little time to adjust before the school year began. “Juggling...

Baker librarians discuss staff cuts, changes and more at Collins Library

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As part of recent personnel cuts across Baker’s campus, Collins Library has gone from four to just two staff members. These changes over the summer left Li

Baker librarians discuss staff cuts, changes and more at Collins Library

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