Photographs and interviews by Melanie Busbee
Nobody knows Carolina’s libraries like the students who research, study and work here. That’s why we asked eight undergraduate and graduate students from a range of disciplines to share what the University Libraries means to them. From inspiration, relaxation and community to secret study spots and the best jobs on campus, these students share the tips and discoveries that shape their Carolina experience.
ANNABELLA SCHMIDT
B.A. ’24 in U.S. history and studio art
Student assistant in the North Carolina Collection Gallery
Hometown: Lexington, North Carolina
I was taking a tour of UNC’s campus in January 2020, passing in front of Wilson Library, and the tour guide suggested we go inside. We ended up [in] the North Carolina Collection Gallery. And I immediately was like, “They have a museum here. No way!” I didn’t even know if I was going to Carolina yet, but asked if there are ever job openings. I hoped to get in. I was like, “Hold that job for me.”
Now, I work as a student assistant at the Gallery. I clean. I photograph artifacts. I write up inventory. I give tours. I have even created my own exhibits. We are such a small museum that I’m really getting hands-on experience and getting to see the inner workings. People always come to me at some point during their visit [to Wilson Library] and tell me they didn’t know this place existed.
LUKE BARRON
MSLS ’24
Graduate assistant at the Health Sciences Library
Hometown: Waco, Texas
It feels like cheating to me that we have access to as much as we do as students. It’s so easy to get to the catalog, to get full text PDFs of practically anything, or to get stuff from other libraries. I feel like I’m getting away with something.
Every once in a while, I want to get my hands on something random. Like, there’s a book published by the Moore Special Tool Company in 1970 that I’ve always wanted to look at. My friends who are machinists tell me if you want to learn anything, you go to this book. The company used to give the book out for free, but it’s no longer in print, and they’re like $600 or $700 a copy used on eBay, if you can find one at all.
A couple of months ago, I was doing an assignment for a class, and we got to choose our own topic. I was like, “What if I can work with this book?” And sure enough, our library has it in [storage] across town and with just a click, it showed up on my desk in a week. That’s wild to me. I can get down with that.
ABIGAIL (ABBY) MARTIN
M.L.S. ’25, B.A. ’23 in archaeology and art history
Assistant in the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center
Hometown: Southern Pines, North Carolina
My first time walking into Davis library, I remember being within this massive, massive library—we didn’t have buildings that tall where I was from. It was just this huge building and I thought, “Oh, it’s FULL of books.” You go up to the second, third, fourth floor, and it’s just stacks and stacks and stacks. In that first moment I really came to understand all the different ways you can interact with libraries.
I don’t think I would have gone into library science if it wasn’t for the UNC libraries. My undergrad really opened my eyes to how important [libraries] are and instilled in me this understanding and appreciation for the services they provide. It made me want to go into a field where I could provide those same services.
MIGUEL MAGANA-MELENDEZ
B.S. ’26 in information science
Student assistant at the Health Sciences Library
Hometown: Louisburg, North Carolina
Growing up, my dad was a mechanic and still is. He would often have to research online the programs for the car motherboard and would teach me a little bit about that. I got more and more into that.
I came here to study computer science, and ended up working at the library, which has been a lot of fun. You learn a lot of new things—cataloging books, entering them in the system, putting barcodes on them. It’s a lot like computer science—dealing with technology and how you process information, just a lot less programming. So, I was like, “Let me get into this.” It’s always been a big thing to me since I was in middle school with my dad, programing those car computers.
ABBEY ALLRED
B.A. ’24 in sociology; applying to SILS
Student assistant in Davis Library circulation
Hometown: Hillsborough, North Carolina
There are books [in Davis], you just can’t immediately see them. The books start on the third floor and then go to the eighth floor. People can’t even fathom how many books we have. There were so many topics that I didn’t think of as research topics. It has really opened my eyes to the humanities and inspired me to engage with more untraditional subject matter and do my own research projects.
I [love] the eighth-floor north lounge because you can see the Chapel Hill water tower and the Bell Tower from there. At night you can sit there and watch as the sun sets over campus. I take my friends up there and we have picnics during the summer when there’s no one here. It’s my favorite spot on campus.
JASON CASTRO
2nd year Ph.D. student in history
Graduate assistant in East Asian resources, Japanese collections
Hometown: Hong Kong SAR, China
My first day on campus was my second day in America. I didn’t even have a bed yet. I just went straight to the libraries. It was very impressive because I was not expecting to see such a huge amount of physical books. I love the feeling of wandering meaninglessly among shelves. It gives me pleasure to dig something from the unknown, from random places. It’s a kind of unexpected journey, an adventure. After being here a year, that feeling remains. I still feel the same pleasure every time I walk through the shelves.
HANNAH-MARIE SANTOS
B.S. ’25 in neuroscience and B.A. in women’s and gender studies
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Looking [as a prospective student] at places on campus where you see yourself spending the most time is important and provides an overall picture. It’s about what you value most in a campus. For me, that’s the libraries. I knew coming into UNC that it is one of the more academically rigorous schools, and I was going to be spending a lot of time at the library. I wanted to make sure that the libraries were nice, comfortable and had signs of life in them.
There’s a place for everything at UNC Libraries—a place to socialize with friends, the Rare Books Collection, the media center, the quiet of Wilson, free journals and subscriptions, and just all the staff support. Here, I feel a sense of community and belonging.
VICTORIA NEFF
M.L.S. ‘24
Graduate assistant at the Information and Library Science [SILS] Library
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
I really love the SILS library because of the pop-up books. They can’t circulate because they’re fragile, but if I have just 10 minutes in between classes or something, it’s really nice coming in here, sitting down, looking through a pop-up book, and you can kind of feel your blood pressure lower a little bit, even if things have been intense during the day.
There are so many picture books [here]. It’s funny sometimes when you’re checking in a book, you think, “Oh, I remember when my mom read this. I remember when my second-grade teacher read this.” It’s a place where you can build community. You’ll overhear students sharing their own perspectives of what was happening in class … all connecting to a book they had read. And it is just kind of magical.
