Author: benread

Name: Yoela (they/them)
Year: Senior
Major: Religion

Favorite library resource: The stacks! Specifically rolling through the stacks to find book after book

Favorite place to study in the library: North stacks basement and miscellaneous second floor couches

Reason you wanted to be a reference assistant: I love the Reed library! A Reed librarian taught me how to find physical book copies my first year at Reed and I spent the rest of the year navigating the maze of books. I wanted to be a reference assistant to help future students and soak up more of that library glory.

Hardest thing about research: I always have a hard time finding a myriad of sources that approach a topic from different angles, while ensuring that they are all scholarly and peer-reviewed.

Favorite thing about Reed: Crunchy buildings, different colored leaves, gargoyles, nooks and crannies.

Cool class you’ve taken at Reed: Semantics of Love in Sufism with Kambiz Ghanea Bassiri. In the class, we explored the development of Sufism over time in the Islamic world and traced changing themes in the evolution of Islamic mystical thought.

Favorite hidden gem in Portland: Sellwood Riverfront Park!

Name: Nina (she/her)
Year: Junior
Major: Sociology

Favorite library resource: The many esoteric databases and the zine library!

Favorite place to study in the library: The cubicle desks by the L2 Center Stacks.

Reason you wanted to be a reference assistant: I wanted to help make the library feel more accessible to students; the many resources are awesome but only if students feel confident utilizing them!

Hardest thing about research: Definitely finding the right question.

Favorite thing about Reed: This year I’ve really loved being back on campus and getting to see the leaves change. Reed has such a beautiful campus.

Cool class you’ve taken at Reed: I’m currently in Memory, Desire and the Modern Novel with Jay Dickson and it has a great reading list. Because the books are so good it’s a really enthusiastic class which is a fun change of pace.

Favorite hidden gem in Portland: An Xuyên Bakery on Foster, no question. Never misses.

Name: Ella (she/her)
Year: 2022
Major: Psychology

Favorite library resource: Online journal articles

Favorite place to study in the library: Pollock Room

Reason you wanted to be a reference assistant: I wanted to learn more about library resources and help people access them.

Hardest thing about research: When articles don’t have the keywords you expect, which makes it hard to find what you’re looking for

Favorite thing about Reed: How pretty the campus is

Cool class you’ve taken at Reed: Developmental Psychology with Jennifer Corpus

Favorite hidden gem in Portland: Waffle window!