This summer, I was thrilled to be gifted this gorgeous library card catalogue from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, my alma mater, complete with original labels following the Dewey Decimal System (these drawers are all from the D’s). HUGE thanks to Drs. Andy King and Abs King for passing this on to me after they picked it up in Illinois when they were there a few years back. My library loving heart will bask in the glow of this piece for many years to come.
I have especially fond memories of UIUC’s library: its people, materials, spaces, and infrastructure. There is no way I could have done my early research without both my advisor, Dr. Cara Finnegan, and those resources. As Cara isn’t willing to hang out permanently in my office at the University of Utah (ha, ha), this card catalogue will have to stand in as a beautiful symbol of my burgeoning early scholarship, graduate education, and the institution where I learned to be an academic.