Earlier this week, the Leatherby Libraries had a group of visitors slightly younger than our usual users – high school students! Student from Ms. Rockwell’s AP Research capstone class at Villa Park High School came to the Leatherby Libraries to learn about academic research and the ins and outs of a university library. The students met with Development Librarian Essraa Nawar, who gave them a tour of the Leatherby Libraries, showing off some of our unique libraries, like the Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections & Archives, where they saw a display of early printed materials put out by librarian Rand Boyd, and chatted briefly with archivist Wendy Gonaver.

The students then came downstairs to the Center for American War Letters Archives where Essraa led them in an Information Literacy seminar, in which they discussed library resources, and ways to evaluate information sources. Between the hard work these students have already done on their AP Research Projects, and the knowledge they gained from this visit, they’ll all be well-situated to start writing research papers when they start college next year! They ended their visit with a short conversation with Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives Annie Tang, who told them more about what an archivist does, and specifically what the Center for American War Letters Archives does. We hope to see these young faces again, using the Leatherby Libraries’ resources!

A woman in a headscarf stands to the right of the frame, and a group of high school-aged boys and girls stand to the left.

Development Librarian Essraa Nawar (right) with the Villa Park High School students.