Return of the Library Fair

Crandall Library hosts annual event

How’s it going, Union students and faculty? This is Daniel, filling in for James Smartt with my debut article for The Clocktower. There were dozens of cool topics that were distributed among the Clocktower. I got lucky and received the best assignment: writing about the library fair and all the awesome activities that they were up to there. 

Last Thursday, September 20, Crandall Library hosted the 2024 library fair, an event that ranks among one of the most looked forward to by the students here at Union. And for good reason, as I walked into the library at the time that the library fair was taking place, I was greeted with the buzzing, electric energy that one does not find in your standard school-hosted affair. The library had come alive, with aisles of books being lit up by rows of LED lights as well as by natural light coming in through the door and the half-cylinder dome in the ceiling. The hallmark of the event, however, was an incredibly impressive stand set up close to the entrance of the library. It was what made the event so special. No longer was the library just a place that stored books in order according to the standards set by the Dewey Decimal System and the Library of Congress, it was a place of warmth and welcome. Of the students who attended the event, none were turned away from partaking in the amazing activities. Some of these activities included making bead bracelets and fun bead necklaces at the massive amount of bead stations set up for the fair. 

One of the student library assistants said, “More people than I thought actually came in and made necklaces.” There were also fun drinks provided to the students who attended the fair. Drinks included flavored water and powdered drinks that you could pour into your water or other favorite beverages. The most touching part of the library fair, although it was hard to pick since it was chock full of memorable and amazing moments that changed the lives of many students, was an activity where students were able to spell out their names phonetically. The purpose of the activity was to let other students know how to pronounce their names correctly. But most importantly they had fun as Ethan Ross, another student library assistant, put it when he answered the question of whether the event had a lasting impact on students “I would say so I mean they had fun, they talked to each other they learned about people’s names whether it was serious or goofy.” After reading this article, I hope to have made you realize that maybe, there is a library fair inside all of us. This is Daniel, signing off. 

by Daniel Canarsky-Galo