Digital Literacy

By Ava Gessl, Undergraduate LibraryMaking Fellow, 2023-2024

A large part of my Berkeley experience has revolved around lectures, exams, and assignments. However, the Makerspace has become a creative outlet for me and many other undergraduates. This year, I have had the opportunity to help plan and execute workshops, including learning to crochet in order to teach others. I think that for anyone who wants to find a creative outlet at Berkeley, the Makerspace is an amazing place to explore and learn new skills, and I am happy that I have had the opportunity to be a part of it for another year. What I’ve come to appreciate most about teaching sewing, crochet, and every other craft offered at the Makerspace is the gratification it brings to students. I think the Makerspace is an important part of student life at Berkeley. It is the perfect place whether someone wants to learn a new skill or have a space to pursue a craft they already know. By sharing my passion for crafting and providing a supportive learning environment, I hope to inspire other students to unleash their creativity and pursue their projects with confidence.

As a library fellow, I have had the opportunity to share my passion based on over a decade of sewing experience, and use my learning process in crochet to help others. Learning crochet for the Granny Square Workshop was challenging but fun. It is always good to put yourself into the shoes of someone learning a new skill to remember what it’s like. I was able to apply the mistakes and tricks I learned to help new crocheters in the Granny Square and Crochet Rose workshops. It was exciting to work with students new to crochet and see them use what I learned to transform yarn into something beautiful. This felt different than teaching sewing in the T-shirt Tote Bag or providing one-on-one sewing help because of my years of sewing experience. My prior experience has helped me assist with a wide range of problems and projects. However it has also made it harder for me to remember what it was like to be a beginner. Threading a sewing machine is now a trivial step for me, but I must always remember to go slow, explain all my steps, and why when introducing someone to a sewing machine. I love both teaching experiences and how they each inform each other about what is the best way to teach a new skill and provide the most helpful advice and support. I hope to be able to provide a mixture of guidance that comes from mastering a craft with the perspective of someone who just started in order to give tips that are not obvious but extremely helpful to a beginner. 

This year my making journey has focused more on learning new skills, both crafting and organizing. This process has been dynamic and not without bumps, but I think that it helped me be a more effective library fellow. I found a way to master the vinyl cutter, or specifically its unwillingness to connect to my computer. I am happy with how learning crochet has opened a door for me to help students learn a skill that is on the rise with undergraduates. Taking a more active role in designing and working with my library fellows in workshops has been a rewarding process of logistics, effective communication, and troubleshooting unexpected student hurdles. Working in a workshop environment with  time constraints has forced me to streamline my teaching process and ability to quickly move between students at different levels of experience. In the Crochet Rose Workshop I worked with students who had never crocheted before and their enthusiasm for creating a chain with even stitches was another reminder that every step in a creative process is important and worth celebrating. As a library fellow, I’ve had to be patient and supportive, guiding students through the process step by step, encouraging them to persevere, and quickly troubleshoot unexpected problems. It has been a practice in tailoring my teaching approach to meet the diverse learning styles and skill levels of the students. Overall, working in the Makerspace and helping students learn has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. It’s not just about teaching a crafting skill, it’s about fostering creativity and community. I look forward to continuing to share my passion for sewing and learning alongside the students in the Makerspace. 

By Adelaide Phillips, Undergraduate Library Making Fellow, 2023-2024

I started working in the Makerspace in Fall 2022 during my junior year at Cal. I’m graduating this Spring as an architecture major meaning most of my education was design and model making. The Makerspace has provided me with so many resources and learning opportunities like leading workshops, utilizing new tools, and providing peer-to-peer design tips these past two years. I’m truly going to miss this space when I leave Berkeley.

During my time as a library fellow, I’ve learned how to operate various equipment like 3D printers, vinyl cutters, button makers, sewing machines, and more! This work would not be possible without guidance from dedicated Makerspace staff. Whether assisting fellow makers with their projects or navigating the challenges of a physical move and leadership transitions, the Makerspace has been a constant source of inspiration and learning. This space would not be what it is without the people and the students who make wonderful projects here every week. I always enjoy bringing friends to the Makerspace and seeing them get so excited about all the cool equipment and supplies we have to offer! Helping out my friends 3D print tiny stairs or do some last-minute pieces for their architectural models is so rewarding. I love seeing the look on their faces when they see the 3D printers zooming away.

The Makerspace has also been a great place for my personal projects. Whether it’s 3D printing pieces for an architecture model, hemming my graduation dress on the sewing machines, or crocheting a new pillow while learning to make granny squares; the Makerspace has provided me with all the resources I need and more! The craft guides I and the other Making fellows have compiled over the past couple of years have been a great resource for me and my peers. Additionally, learning how to lead workshops, like our Crochet Rose and Grad Cap Decorating workshops, has been a wonderful opportunity to develop my leadership and teaching skills.

Another one of my favorite things about working in the Makerspace is getting to help so many people on so many different projects. I’ve been able to hone my problem-solving skills and think on my feet. Finding solutions where there seems to be none; and never saying no to any idea! Like I said, I’m truly going to miss the Makerspace after I graduate but I will take with me the lessons it has taught me as I embark on my professional career.

By Lily Garcia, Undergraduate Library Fellow (2022-23)

The start of each semester brings a new weekly routine. Classes and extracurricular activities structure your days and influence where you spend your time on campus. Gradually, you become accustomed to your schedule, going to the same place, sitting in the same seat, and doing the same activity on repeat week after week. Novelty becomes easy to forget. During my time as a Research Fellow, I learned how to look at routine experiences and recollect that novelty to help others navigate academic spaces. 

One project I was involved in over the spring semester was completing UC Berkeley Library (Hub) Profiles. As a former Main Stacks student library employee and frequent visitor to Heyns Reading Room, these two libraries had long been cloaked by familiarity for me. The project of visiting Main Stacks and Doe Library while imagining I was entering them for the first time again, thus proved to be an enlightening exercise. Using the “I Like, I Wish, I Wonder” and “One thing to know before…” frameworks, I navigated through these spaces I had visited consistently for the past two years and asked myself, what did I enjoy about that library when I first saw it? How did I figure out where to go initially? I became aware again of how confusing, yet exciting, everything is in the beginning. Once I had reflected, I recorded my ideas into our online profile templates, which is data that can be used to improve the wayfinding experience for future visitors to the UC Berkeley libraries.  

As I prepare to graduate next week, I am practicing this skill of remembrance. I have been (re)visiting my Berkeley haunts for the last time and thinking about how I have grown throughout my journey. In particular, Doe Library has been a place I have thought a lot about. Not only was it the first place I went to on campus, but it acted as the home of my community at Cal. It is where I went weekly to meet with my ULF peers and mentors. Being a Research Fellow in the ULF program has been an invaluable experience that I will treasure well into the future and has helped me see the novelty again in the routine. 

By Timothy Kim, Undergraduate Library Fellow (2022-23)

Looking back on the efforts of the Undergraduate Library Fellows, I’ve come to realize and appreciate how much the program has matured. A theme I noticed this semester had been on wayfinding, or the ways in which people navigate unexplored places and orient themselves. 

We started off in January optimistic but a little unguided. The fellows and I knew what our main goal was–to help bridge the gap between library resources and students–but we didn’t have a clear path on how to do this. Great ideas were conceived, from developing our social media presence to creating library profiles and grouping them in hubs for easier access, but I felt there were too many avenues and not enough time to properly explore each one. Each fellow pursued projects they were most interested in and developed frameworks for how they could best accomplish their goals. 

As the semester progressed and students began to navigate their research projects, however, I think the other fellows and I were reoriented to really focusing on the student experience. We had peer-to-peer consultations and were given the opportunity to lead a Research 101 Workshop, which encouraged us to develop frameworks on how to approach individual and group learning and forced us to look at the path to research from different perspectives. Some students had no experience with research but needed to complete their assignments while others were very experienced but had reached a dead end. We had to look at how students approached their projects and create a map that they could use to help them with their needs. 

Leading the workshop in front of my fellow undergrads and guiding students through consultations was very rewarding, and with each experience I learned to rely less on a rigid framework and instead cater to where each student was at on their journeys. I believe this allowed me to be more useful as a fellow and grounded the other fellows and I to our main goal. 

Our final project, the Bancroft User Experience, was a culmination of the skills and experiences we had throughout the semester. In this project all of the fellows concentrated on how users would navigate archival research from the Bancroft collection and any roadblocks they might encounter while doing so. Now that we had a framework and more importantly, experience and perspective, we could ask ourselves where students and researchers might encounter obstacles when using Bancroft library resources. We were able to identify and present our findings to the librarians of the Bancroft library.

As I reflect on the past semester and past year overall, I can see how much the other fellows and I have grown. I can see where we have gained perspective on what research is and the path it takes to help students benefit from the library’s vast wealth of knowledge. More importantly though, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experiences I’ve had and the interactions with so many wonderful people that taught me the ability to find this direction.

By Avery Klauke, Undergraduate Library Fellow (2022-23)

When I tell people I work in Doe Library, it is sometimes followed by, “Is that the big building people take grad photos in front of?” Although true, it has previously amazed me that some students don’t know more about Doe (or many other libraries). But as I was reflecting on this year, this didn’t come as much of a surprise…

When you enter Berkeley in your first year, there’s often a stigma around the libraries. They’re big, quiet, and intimidating. Their sole purpose is to be a place where students can cram for finals or get in a quick nap between classes. And most of the time, this stigma doesn’t go away in the years you’re here. That was the goal for the library fellows this year. To make strides in painting the libraries as a place of collaboration, creativity, and fun.

The first thing the research fellows got to do this semester was teach a Research 101 Workshop. This workshop was our way of merging our 1-1 research consultations with the ways Research 101 is traditionally taught. And between presenting all of the material well to trying to keep everyone engaged and collaborative, it was no easy feat. But we thought that if students could see their peers presenting, it would help our goal of making the library less menacing of a place. Personally, being able to field questions and work together with the rest of the research fellows made this experience my personal favorite. 

Another project we did this semester was coined the “Bancroft User Experience Project”. Unlike the other projects this year, I didn’t have to put myself into the shoes of a new student because I too had almost no experience with the Bancroft Library. Our goal was to identify advantages and “pain points” when requesting a special collection item. One of my conclusions from this project was that despite the employees and librarians in Bancroft being so helpful and understanding, there’s still an intimidation factor that turns away most undergraduates before they even enter the front door. If you’re a new student reading this- don’t believe what people say about Bancroft being an exclusive library! If you can get over this hurdle, you’ll be exposed to some of the most extensive collections on campus!

Although the goal for this year was to give back to the Berkeley student body, I cannot say that I didn’t experience any personal gain. This year’s fellows and mentors provided me with the most enjoyable space to spend my afternoons. I hope to continue our goal of making the library more welcoming to students, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish next year!

By Sofia Hernandez, Undergraduate Library Fellow (2022-23)

A highlight of my ULF experience this semester was being able to bring our peer-to-peer consultation experience outside of Doe 190 and into a different setting: Doe 223! Last semester, I learned a lot about hosting peer-to-peer consultations and meeting the needs of a wide variety of learners. Assuming the role of a “mentor” to my peers while simultaneously being an undergraduate student myself gave me unique insight into the research consultation experience: it is daunting to ask for help, but that fear slowly dissipates as you work alongside someone who looks just like you and is on the same educational journey as you are! I loved getting to know our consultees and the wide-ranged string of research ideas they brought us to untangle together, therefore, I was delighted to learn that this semester would bring in the opportunity for the Research fellows to host a “Research 101” workshop of our own in the library classroom (infamous and aforementioned Doe 223) on the second floor–talk about moving up in the world!

As a returning fellow, I’ve attended a couple of Research 101’s in my time; all of them uniquely wonderful and engaging. The rotating teams of librarians who host these workshops have a seemingly natural “synergy” to their presentations and teaching styles, a quality I greatly admire as an aspiring librarian myself, so the idea of hosting a workshop for students, by students, made me feel equal parts nervous and excited. 

After some tentative scheduling and planning, a date was set: March 16. The lead up to that Thursday was short lived (as was the rest of the spring semester…where did the time go?!). Alongside two of the three other Research fellows, our consultation-free days were spent going over changes we’d like to see in the current workshop module. We played around with the order of information, reworded text-heavy slides with student-friendly language, and most importantly: bonded and got to know one another the more time we spent together tinkering with our Google slides. 

The day of our presentation rapidly crept up on us, and though I was nervous beforehand (and admittedly during), our workshop ran quite smoothly. Hosting a research workshop was no different than hosting a consultation, plus, I had the support of two awesome Research fellows beside me who I could rely on to take the reins and fill in for spots or details I missed. Everything did not fall solely on one person–a feat unknown to many who have experienced college group projects. Hosting Research 101 allowed me to exercise the skills I have been learning in our consultations (for instance, how to be flexible and open to throwing “the rule book” out when things don’t go as planned) and apply them to a larger and more collaborative scale.

As I close out my junior year at Cal, I am excited and eagerly anticipating returning to the fellowship in the Fall and seeing what new opportunities and doors the fellows and I can open together.