One of the library’s most popular events, “Penfield Library Loves You Day,” was held on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Penfield Library.
Those who stopped by the library were able to get free snacks and refreshments and had the option of participating in various activities. Students gathered around the Valentine’s Day themed photo booth, taking pictures with the photo props provided. Other activities included Valentine’s Day themed word scrambles and Mad Libs, coloring pages, make your own valentine and make your own button.
Access Services Librarian Erin Kovalsky and Access Services Manager Deidre Devlin helped organize the event. “Penfield Library Loves You Day” has been held for over 10 years, and is one of the ways the library gives back to campus.
“It’s a way for the library to appreciate our patrons and campus community,” Devlin said.
This year’s event was sponsored by Penfield Library, Auxiliary Services, Office of Learning Services, Educational Opportunity Program, Dean of Students Office and Office of Sustainability.
Communication and collaboration between these departments is crucial to the work that goes into the event, according to Devlin. Organization takes a few weeks, while the set up and decorating in the library takes a couple of hours.
“A couple of things, like the photo booth there, they started that a while ago,” Kovalsky said. “It kind of just depends on how much decoration is required.”
Besides refreshments and activities, attendees also had the opportunity to talk with students from the Office of Sustainability. Graduate student Spencer Johnson and senior Linden Merrill had reusable cups and a bucket for compostable food scraps and paper products at their table. Johnson and Merrill wanted to inform those at the event about the Office of Sustainability and its programs.
“So, our involvement in Penfield Loves You Day was to get them to not use throwaway cups was,” Johnson said. “And then also zero waste, you’ll notice that there’s brown napkins that can be composted, and a lot of the food scraps as well can be composted. So, really not much is going to go into the garbage after today. We’re here to inform people about that, about how composting can kind of help reduce your footprint. And then also just to share our message of sustainability.”
Merrill, a sustainability advocate, feels strongly about pursuing environmentally conscious habits.
“We try to find any opportunity on campus to reduce our waste,” Merrill said. “Every little bit does count, and the more that we do small things like this, the more normal it’ll become and the more it’ll be integrated into people’s day-to-day lives.”
One of Devlin’s favorite things about the event is the traffic it brings into the library.
“I enjoy seeing all of the people come in,” Devlin said. “We get a lot of different people than normal.”
As for Kovalsky, the activities are her favorite part.
“I like the activities, I like the little games that we have and card making, you know, and the coloring pages,” Kovalsky said.
Penfield Library will be holding another event, Maker Madness, next month. It is currently set to be held on March 7 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Photo by Katie Gaffney | The Oswegonian
