Good evening! This week’s edition of Meet the Staff stars Becca McGuire, a Moline native who has been everywhere from Champaign to South Africa! She is a GA and TA at the Help Desk/Office of Instructional Technology and Design, and her concentration within GSLIS is a wonderful amalgamation of community informatics, public librarianship, community outreach, and instruction, and she even has experience with creating and overseeing plans for a new community space through a studio class with Martin Wolske!
Her favorite item to borrow from the Help Desk used to be the “Don’t Waste Labels” headset, but alas, due to so much love from the students, it has been retired (RIP, notes Becca). Luckily, we have purchased several new headsets to assist students who have forgotten theirs or simply need to utilize one for an interview or study session, and Becca “The Best” McGuire has even had the honor of having one named after her.
Becca says that an interesting class that she took recently was entitled “Community Informatics Studio,” and she really enjoyed it!
The top three things she’d bring with her if she were stranded on a desert island:
- Trixie, my unicorn pillow pet. I’ve seen “Castaway” and understand the importance of having an inanimate object to bond with, and Trixie is much more comfortable than a volleyball.
- Long, pretentious books like “War and Peace” that I would only have the time to read if I was stranded on a deserted island. Also, maybe some foreign language books so I could teach myself new languages even though I’ll be alone and won’t have anyone to talk to in those languages.
- A picnic basket full of wine, chocolate, and Craisins.
Finally, one unique thing about Becca is that she really hates cotton balls. Recounting a particularly traumatic experience, she notes, “I was once chased by a monkey with cotton balls in its mouth. It was terrifying.” Truly harrowing! To hear more about Becca’s cotton ball issues or borrow a great headset for class, listening to music, or skyping with your best friend Sergey, stop by the GSLIS Help Desk today!
