Help Desk Newsletter- October

Welcome to our iSchool Help Desk monthly newsletter!! We use this to share updates about what we’ve been up to. Whether you’re a current student, faculty, or staff member, or maybe even an alumni or friend of the iSchool Help Desk and want to keep in-the-know about us, we’re glad to have you! You can expect updates about the major initiatives and projects we are working on, pictures and updates from our fun social events, and anything else up and coming at the iSchool Help Desk!

October Help Desk events: Banned Books Week & Halloween!

This past month, we put on two successful events: Banned Books Week and our Halloween-themed event “Don’t Be Scared of Mapping the Printers”. Thank you to everyone who came and participated in our events! We love interacting with our iSchool community.

The week of October 5th-11th was Banned Books Week! To celebrate freedom of speech, we had an interactive display at the Help Desk all week that our iSchool friends helped us to fill in by adding their own favorite banned books to our bookshelf. Thank you to everyone who showed up to celebrate reading freely with us!

And for Halloween, we addressed one of the spookiest horrors that we all face in the academic world- printing! Thanks to everyone who came by the Help Desk on Halloween for help with mapping the iSchool printers to your personal laptop, and some free Halloween candy, of course! Remember- no need to be scared when you have your friendly local Help Desk around 🙂.

Exciting News

As I mentioned when I posted our September newsletter a little late, both of us GAs who normally write our newsletters- Elliot and Saira- had some very exciting things going on during October, hence the delay.

Both of us got married on October 25th (to different people)! Both weddings went well and we are feeling very loved and happy- and relieved to be done with wedding planning and to try to get back into the swing of things.

The GAs Recommend

We all need more positivity in our lives! If you need a recommendation for a new piece of media, something to do, or something to try, check out all of our GA’s Recommendations on our social media (or on our digital signs at the Help Desk), and keep an eye out on our social media each Monday for more fabulous recommendations yet to come!

Accessibility Advocate Shoutouts

We have been helping support the iSchool as they work towards more accessible class materials to meet changing federal standards. We would like to celebrate those who have been stepping up to become Accessibility Advocates at the iSchool – whether they have been educating others about accessibility for years, or they’ve recently made the commitment to jump in and try their best, we think it’s important to recognize the effort and amazing impact that we can make as an iSchool community if we all do our part!

Feel free to email us at ischool-support@illinois.edu to nominate any instructors or TAs and let us know their impact!

Graphic reading "Send Nominations! Do you know an instructor or Teaching Assistant who are making an effort to increase accessibility in the iSchool? Please let us know to shout them out! https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/pHmJfNeeZp".

Pets of the Month!

Congratulations to our October Pets of the Month, Saturn & Shadow! Here at the Help Desk, we want to feature and celebrate your pet as the iSchool Pet of the Week! Send us a submission of your adorable furry, feathery, or even scaly sidekick by emailing us at ischool-support@illinois with their name, pictures, and any fun facts or stories you would like to share!

Help Desk Social Event- Halloween Party

Our Help Desk GAs had another very successsful team-bonding social event- a Halloween party, of course! It was full of tricks and treats alike. We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween as well- let us know what you got up to!

Upcoming…

Thank you so much for reading our newsletter, and for all of your support! We are excited to be able to keep everyone updated on the fun things happening at the Help Desk and in our community. Keep an eye out for next month’s newsletter!

Fall 2025 Help Desk GAs posing at the Help Desk, holding various frog stuffed animals and toys and smiling. From left to right: Saira, Catherine, Daniel, Maggie, Kyleigh, Fatihi, Elliot, Britany, Bashi, Evan, and Cecelia.

Help Desk Newsletter- September

The GA’s Recommend

Accessibility Advocate Shoutouts

Feel free to email us at ischool-support@illinois.edu to nominate any instructors or TAs and let us know their impact!

Pets of the Month!

Congratulations to our September Pets of the Month, Saturn & Shadow! Here at the Help Desk, we want to feature and celebrate your pet as the iSchool Pet of the Week! Send us a submission of your adorable furry, feathery, or even scaly sidekick by emailing us at ischool-support@illinois with their name, pictures, and any fun facts or stories you would like to share!

Help Desk Social Event- Pottery Painting

This month, the Help Desk GA’s painted their very own pottery items at the Pottery Place in Champaign! We had a blast getting to select our own piece, paint, and decorate it. If you’re looking for something fun and artistic, we recommend you check this place out!

Upcoming…

Help Desk Newsletter – August

Welcome to our iSchool Help Desk monthly newsletter!! We use this to share updates about what we’ve been up to. Whether you’re a current student, faculty, or staff; or maybe even an alumni or friend of the iSchool Help Desk and want to keep in-the-know about us, we’re glad to have you! You can expect updates about the major initiatives and projects we are working on, pictures and updates from our fun social events, and anything else up and coming at the iSchool Help Desk!

Meet the GAs!

We are so excited to welcome our 5 new Help Desk GAs, who are already doing phenomenal work supporting the iSchool community! Check out this semester’s “Meet the GAs” bios to learn just a little bit about all of our GAs, both new and returning, and come say hi to us anytime from 8:30am-5:30pm (4:30pm on Friday) to get to know us even more!

Accessibility Advocate Shoutouts

Feel free to email us at ischool-support@illinois.edu to nominate any instructors or TAs and let us know their impact!

iSchool Resource Zine

Last Spring, our wonderful former GA Delia created and illustrated this beautiful “Welcome to the iSchool” Zine. It is full of resources and information for iSchool students, covering everything from advising contact information to food and housing resources to how to get involved in the iSchool. We are excited to announce that they can now be found not only on our community shelf at the Help Desk, but also at the old iSchool building; in the reception area of the advising suite; and even in some advisor’s offices! Keep your eyes out for these, whether you’re a new or returning student, faculty or staff who want to have some on hand, or just a lover of adorable art!

If you are an iSchool faculty or staff member and would like to stock more than a few in your office or space, reach out to us at ischool-support@illinois.edu and let us know how many you’d like, and we would love to get you set up with some!

Small Zine with illustrated art of animals reading books & hanging out on the front. It reads “Welcome to the iSchool Future Librarians! A Resource Guide for Students in Information Sciences. Written and Illustrated by Delia Kerr-Dennhardt. Sponsored by the ALA & QLA in collaboration with the Help Desk.”

Pet of the Week

Calling all pet parents! Do you have an adorable furry, feathery, or even scaly sidekick that deserves the spotlight? The iSchool Help Desk wants to feature your pets as iSchool Pet of the Week! Send us an email at ischool-support@illinois with their name, pictures, and any fun facts or stories for their nomination!

Check out last week’s featured pet!

Graphic featuring a black cat. It reads "Pet of the week: Shadow (AKA Shadillac). As a retired barn cat he spends his days snoozing in various soft locations and watching birds through the window! Submitted by: Ava C. Submit your pet(s) to school-support@illinois.edu". — Graphic featuring a black cat. It reads “Pet of the week: Shadow (AKA Shadillac). As a retired barn cat he spends his days snoozing in various soft locations and watching birds through the window! Submitted by: Ava C. Submit your pet(s) to school-support@illinois.edu”.

Upcoming…

Help Desk Newsletter – May

Accessibility Advocate Shoutouts

In March, we began spotlighting some of these advocates on a monthly basis. This is a great chance to recognize and uplift these efforts, to encourage one another as a community to keep striving, and to help students get to know our instructors a little better! Please check out our shoutout from May, professor Melissa Wong! Feel free to email us at ischool-support@illinois.edu to nominate any instructors and let us know their impact!

Check out the blog post here!

Black background with a spotlight, and a headshot of Melissa Wong in the center. It says “Melissa Wong” at the top and “May ’25” at the bottom.

Exciting Life Updates

We are excited to announce that our newly-graduated GA Wanheng has accepted a job as the Asian Studies Librarian at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is excited to work just a couple of doors down from our other former help-desker Audrey. We know she will be an amazing addition to their team!

Our other recently-graduated GA Delia, who is still around at the Help Desk for part of the summer, has recently finished a wonderful project for the city of Bloomington. Working with the group Strong Towns Blono, Delia was chosen to create murals that lead from the Bloomington Public Library to the McLean County Museum of History. Here are a few photos of the beautiful murals she created, honoring the circus history of Bloomington while aiding pedestrians with wayfinding. We are so proud of her and this project! Check out a news spotlight about the mural project.

Collage of photos of sidewalk mural art. In the first photo, Help Desk GA Delia sits on a sidewalk and paints part of a mural. Second photo: sidewalk mural in which a ballerina with blue skin sits atop a pink circus elephant. Third photo: sidewalk mural in which an aerial dancer with pink skin hangs upside down from blue ribbons. Fourth photo: sidewalk mural in which a line of blue rabbits jumping down the sidewalk and one blue rabbit is peeking out from inside a blue top hat.

Graduation & Farewells

We are very proud of our five Help Desk GAs who have graduated this May and are moving on to the next big step in their lives! We are so sad to let them go, but we know they are all going to do amazing things. You can check out our blog and Facebook to see some farewell posts for each of them.

We are also very proud of two of our graduated GA’s who received special iSchool student awards at graduation. Delia received the Herbert Goldhor Award for Public Librarianship and Audrey received the Downs Faculty Special Award of Merit. We are so glad that their wonderful leadership, creativity, and contributions to the iSchool community have been recognized!

Five Help Desk GAs sitting on a couch and smiling together. Left to right: Victoria (MSLIS ’25 graduate) in her gown and hood; Britany; Maggie; Wanheng (MSLIS ’25 graduate) in gown and hood and holding her cap; Elliot.

iSchool Resource Zine

Our wonderful, recently graduated Help Desker Delia has been working very hard this past year to create a beautiful new resource for the iSchool community, and we are so excited to announce that these zines are now available at the Help Desk! Check out our new iSchool Resource Guide zines, which you can currently find on our community shelf near the Help Desk at 614 E Daniel. Including beautiful, one-of-a-kind illustrations, this zine is a great guide to the iSchool as well as other important campus and off-campus resources for students. Feel free to take one, share them, and/or bring your own zines for the zine shelf!

Small Zine that reads “Welcome to the iSchool future librarians! A resource guide for students in Information Sciences. Written and Illustrated by Delia Kerr-Dennhardt. Sponsored by the ALA & QLA in collaboration with the Help Desk.” There is an illustration of six Help Desk GAs depicted as various cute animals, reading books and hanging out.

A shelf with a sign that reads “Zine Library. Feel free to take, make, and donate your own zines!”. On the shelf is a collection of iSchool Resource zines and other small zines.

Upcoming…

2024-2025 Help Desk GAs posing behind the Help Desk, which is decorated with paper candy hearts for Valentine's Day, holding paper hearts. From left to right: Victoria, Mohammed, Daniel (face hidden, wearing a party hat), Maggie, Kyleigh, Delia, Audrey, Britany, Elliot, and Gates. — Most of the current Help Desk GAs posing behind the Help Desk with paper hearts, one party hat, and smiles. Left to right: Victoria, Mohammed, Daniel (his face is covered), Maggie, Kyleigh, Delia, Audrey, Britany, Elliot, and Gates.

bon Voyage, Victoria

As we wish a fond farewell to our graduating GAs, we’re taking another opportunity to get to know them better and to share their fabulousness with you. They might be graduating, but Once Team Awesome, Always Team Awesome.

Where are you from and what’s your favorite part about it?

Ghana. You don’t get bored. You can have fun and be yourself, it is welcoming.

What was your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?

Being able to help people with their problems make their lives easier is fun.

Favorite game?

Chess.

Favorite place to hang out on campus?

The Quad.

Is there a technology that you’re super excited about?

Camera.

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

My daughter.

Theme song of your life?

I’ve got Joy.

Favorite memory from the iSchool or what you’ll miss most?

My colleagues (at the Help Desk) and being with them.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what kind of animal would it be, what would you name it, and what unusual tricks would you teach it?

Cat; Bambi; teach her to dance.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it for good (or fun!) in the world?

Fly in and out, to go back to Ghana.

Plans/goals after graduation?

Hoping to get an offer to be a research librarian and manage social media and work on information literacy.

Whimsical Wanderings, Wanheng

Where are you from and what’s your favorite part about it?

China, Sichuan. The relaxed vibe and Pandas!!

What was your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?

Team Awesome/co-workers and our social events, connections with others at the iSchool.

Favorite game?

Baldur’s Gate 3.

Favorite place to hang out on campus?

iSchool HUB building/MPR.

Is there a technology that you’re super excited about?

AI Tools for slides.

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

Anime instead of real life.

Theme song of your life?

Anime song Number One from Bleach.

Favorite memory from the iSchool or what you’ll miss most?

The Help Desk/Social Gatherings.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what kind of animal would it be, what would you name it, and what unusual tricks would you teach it?

Bird; AI; teach it to talk in my voice to answer phone calls, etc.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it for good (or fun!) in the world?

Invisible (nothing illegal) to watch people and learn so it’s not weird.

Plans/goals after graduation?

Get a job! Get an apartment for long term to grow plants and vegetables.

Glorious Get-away, Gates

Where are you from and what’s your favorite part about it?

Chicago. Lakefront Trail/the Food.

What was your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?

The people who we work with and the people we help.

Favorite game?

Pathfinder 2nd edition; Kenshi.

Favorite place to hang out on campus?

Boneyard/Quad/Main Library.

Is there a technology that you’re super excited about?

Built PC/Linux (ed. note: getting pretty nerdy there, Gates!).

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

Jake Gyllenhaal.

Theme song of your life?

Underdog by Spoon.

Favorite memory from the iSchool or what you’ll miss most?

The friends made, being close to Chicago and close to folks.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what kind of animal would it be, what would you name it, and what unusual tricks would you teach it?

A Raven. Doug. Stealing Money.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it for good (or fun!) in the world?

Telekinesis, vigilante stuff.

Plans/goals after graduation?

Going to Chicago; Model Painting Project; get a job.

Delightful Departure, Delia

Where are you from and what’s your favorite part about it?

Rural Illinois. Sunset and fireflies.

What was your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?

The people, everybody’s nice.

Favorite game?

Scrabble.

Favorite place to hang out on campus?

MidSummer Lounge.

Is there a technology that you’re super excited about?

iPads.

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

Lily James.

Theme song of your life?

Teenage Mutant Turtles Theme Song.

Favorite memory from the iSchool or what you’ll miss most?

GEO Parties. Dancing is fun.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what kind of animal would it be, what would you name it, and what unusual tricks would you teach it?

Dog that I have (or a tiny Griffin); Thumbelina, to not jump on people.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it for good (or fun!) in the world?

Make plants grow, save rain forests.

Plans/goals after graduation?

Public Libraries/Art Programming.

Au revoir, Audrey

Where are you from and what’s your favorite part about it?

Versailles Missouri. The most beautiful sunsets from the back porch.

What was your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?

Everyone coming over and chatting, being a central hub of the iSchool and getting to know people.

Favorite game?

Hollow Knight.

Favorite place to hang out on campus?

Caffe Paradiso.

Is there a technology that you’re super excited about?

Drawing tablets.

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

Keira Knightley.

Theme song of your life?

Walk by the Foo Fighters.

Favorite memory from the iSchool or what you’ll miss most?

The day Sinclair’s opened. Walking with GAs to get coffee.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what kind of animal would it be, what would you name it, and what unusual tricks would you teach it?

House Cat; Rubard; juggling.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it for good (or fun!) in the world?

Stop time, use it for more crafting.

Plans/goals after graduation?

Hoping to get a job a Vanderbilt for creative and instruction libraries. (Editor update: manifesting works! She got the job!)

Help Desk Newsletter- April

Accessibility Advocate Shoutouts

In March, we began spotlighting some of these advocates on a monthly basis. This is a great chance to recognize and uplift these efforts, to encourage one another as a community to keep striving, and to help students get to know our instructors a little better! Please check out our shoutout from April, lecturer Craig Evans, and keep an eye out for our last Advocate of this semester to be shared later in the week! Feel free to email us at ischool-support@illinois.edu to nominate any instructors and let us know their impact!

Check out the blog post here!

Help Desk Social Event- Game Night

We had another successful Help Desk social event, a game night! We enjoyed snacks and some fun board and video games as a group, including Quiplash, as you can see below.

Quiplash prompt on a TV screen that reads “You need three things to live: food, water, and [blank]”. The answers below read “Spite” and “Federal Grants”. Beneath them it reads “Pick your favorite on your device now!”.

Exciting Life Updates!

We have several exciting life updates as our GAs continue to search for jobs, prepare to graduate or to train our incoming GAs in August, and more!

Help Desk GA Audrey has accepted a position as the Librarian for Creative and Instructional Technologies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee!! She is very excited to be starting this position in July! We will be lost without her, but we’re so excited to see her take her amazing skills and positive personality and use them to succeed.

Help Desk GA Victoria has accepted a position as Research and Learning Librarian & Assistant Professor at Stetson University in Florida!! She will be starting in June. We are going to miss her warm presence so much, but we know that no one is more qualified than her and she will do an amazing job wherever she is!

First-year GA Elliot is also very excited to share that they have recently gotten engaged and will be married in October!

We hope you will keep on cheering on our GAs who are about to graduate and looking to find their next steps! We know they’ll all do great, and we all appreciate how supportive our community is.

April Fools Day

As per tradition, the Help Desk partook in many April Fools Day shenanigans. For the day, we became the Psychic Help Desk – offering cootie catchers to tell your fortune, tarot readings by absolute amateurs, and lots of fun graphics on our signs. Check out just a few of them below! Thanks to everyone who entertained our silly endeavors.

Graphic that reads “Psychic Readings Presented by the Help Desk” at the top. It lists the Zodiac signs and various silly, made-up readings or advice for each one.

Graphic with a meme on it. The meme includes a man with his partner. The man has been labelled “my anxiety” and is looking away from his partner, who’s labelled “calling the Help Desk on the phone” and towards a woman who is labelled “using tech chat”. Underneath the meme the graphic reads “Getting assistance with tech service needs? More likely than you think…”.

Graphic that reads “it looks like you emailed the help desk- do you need help?” with an image of Clippy next to it. At the bottom it reads “Spread messages of love and support on this special occasion”.

Hygiene items in bathrooms

While this is not directly Help Desk related (although we like to think we had a hand in pushing for this to get done), after months of waiting, the bathrooms in our building on the 4th floor now have hygiene supplies in them! We are excited for this building to be just a little bit more inclusive and accessible. Thank you to our awesome Facilities team!

Plastic receptacle holding pads and tampons on a bathroom wall. Taken in one of the gender-neutral bathrooms in the new iSchool building.

Help Desk Menu

Lately, we have had several creative presentations given at our Team Meetings. If you’ve ever wondered what sort of coffee shop drink one of us Help Desk-ers most embodies, or if you’re curious to get to know us a little better, this presentation about the “Help Desk Menu” by Elliot might be of interest to you. Maybe you will even be motivated to try out one of the Help Desk-er inspired drinks!