Student gives back to her town’s library
By Alexa Shughart
Knightly News Reporter
alexa.shughart@mymail.centralpenn.edu
When determining where I wanted to spend my time volunteering for my COM420: Projects in Corporate Communications class, one place came to mind: the Bosler Memorial Library.
The Bosler Library is the community library of my hometown, Carlisle.
It is a staple to the Carlisle community, and has been for over 100 years.
Bosler has made a tremendous impact in this small town. Its continuous support, drive for excellent customer service and involvement in the community have continued to impress me.
Growing up, I would often spend time at Bosler. My mom would drive me to check out books, movies, games and anything else I could find. There were times I would go to the library after school to relax, work on homework or spend time with my friends.
I truly feel the library has given a lot to me over time, so I felt it was right to give back in any way I could.
When reaching out to Bosler in hopes of working there on my project, I contacted Community Relations Coordinator Nick Macri. Macri told me about a potential volunteer opportunity in which I would be going through old newspaper clippings and sorting them into the dates they were published. I was also given the opportunity to take pictures of the library for the library’s use. I recently became interested in photography, and I was ecstatic for the opportunity to apply my skills.
The photo-archive project I’ve been working on has been very interesting. It is unique to go through these old newspaper articles from the 1950s all the way up to the early 2000s, to read over the different concepts that have changed, and even some that have stayed the same. Even during the 1950s, Bosler was a significant contributing factor to the Carlisle community. I have found news clippings and photographs that display community events the library hosted, its involvement with Dickinson College and much more. This assignment really felt like I was looking back in time, and I loved every second of it.
Not only has the photo-archive project been a wonderful experience, but Bosler also gave me the opportunity to display my own talents. When presented with this project, I wanted to find a way to contribute while also helping to gain experience in a way that would help benefit my career. I was able to do this through photography. I wanted to take my interest in photography and apply it to my current project with Bosler and, thankfully, I was able to do just that. I was able to take pictures of the library from many different angles that I feel helped to display all the interesting details of the building.
I am grateful that Bosler allowed me to apply my skills and gain experience in doing something that I love to do. It has been a pleasure working with Bosler. I have had many eye-opening experiences working with the library and I’m happy I was able to give back to Bosler and support it the same way the library has supported me.
I absolutely see myself going back to help the library.
Editor’s note: Shughart produced this story as part of Professor Paul Miller’s projects in corporate communications course this term. She is The Knightly News’ photographer.
Have a comment or story idea? Contact KnightlyEditors@CentralPenn.Edu.
Edited by media-club co-adviser and blog editor Professor Michael Lear-Olimpi
