This summer, librarians at the William H. Hannon Library partnered with LMU’s Upward Bound program as part of their Summer Seminar, a six-week program for 13 seniors from Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnets (formerly Westchester High School). Ray Andrade (Programming Librarian) and Aaron Beasley (Associate Director of Upward Bound) worked closely to plan three unique visits to the library to highlight the types of services and resources a university library has to offer.
For the initial visit, Ray conducted a library orientation and tour specifically designed for the high school students. He emphasized that LMU Library is open to the public and contains a wealth of resources and services for anyone to use, including academic resources and research assistance. Ray explained that almost all library events are free and open to the public. As a result, many of the students signed up for the library’s Happenings @ Hannon e-newsletter to stay up to date on future events.
For the second visit, Ray hosted a workshop to support the students’ summer project: exploring potential public and private universities to attend. The students investigated factors such as admissions requirements, academic programs, campus culture, and more. In conjunction with the class, Ray created an online library guide featuring links to relevant print and electronic resources (such as college directories and rankings), and also discussed how to evaluate those resources.
For the final visit (pictured), Aaron and Ray collaborated with the library’s department of Archives & Special Collections to introduce the students to the process of “historical artifact analysis” using a variety of rare and unique materials. Cynthia Becht (Head of Archives & Special Collections) personally welcomed the students and conducted an instruction session that featured books printed in the 16th-18th centuries, story boards from the original Planet of the Apes movies, miniature Japanese sculptures, and documents from LMU’s participation in the 1984 Olympics. This session left a lasting impression on the students by introducing them to in-depth analysis using foundational observation skills and learning how to develop college-level, scholarly questions.
It was a pleasure meeting all of the students in this year’s cohort. Best of luck in the coming years!
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