Support for Student Assistantships at Mann Library
Student library assistants are to Mann Library what bindings are to books. Over the course of the academic year, over 50 students on the library staff play an essential role in the reliable operation of all facets of our library services and programs—from Circulation Desk services to stacks management, public computing support and programming. Helping us secure these important positions has been the support of several funds, such as the Marie L. Lavallard Student Support Fund at Mann Library.
For over ten years, the Lavallard Student Fund has funded a student intern position in the Mann preservation department, where our young assistants receive hands-on training in the repair, binding, and protective encasement of damaged or fragile books in the library collection—all with the goal of helping to ensure that both high-circulating books and fragile artifacts stay in the shape they need to be for the researchers who need them. Mann’s Lavallard Student Support Fund began with a generous gift from the late CALS alumna Marie Lavallard (1912-2006), a graduate of Cornell's plant science program in 1932 and a woman who dedicated much of her life to realizing opportunities in college education for deserving young scholars.
Other fund-supported student positions at Mann have included studentshelping to publicize Mann’s student exhibits in the Mann Gallery, assisting at the library's circulation desk, and providing patrons with some expert help in the use of the array of hi-tech information management tools the library offers. As budget constraints for Cornell University have grown ever tighter with the very difficult New York State economy, our student assistants have become ever more important to the library’s basic functions. And if the stories that many of our graduated Lavallard interns have eagerly shared with us over the years are any indication, for students, Mann's funded student assistantships offer not only a great college job, but also valuable work experience that can lead to rewarding professional careers—sometimes even in library science!