Libraries Honor the 2026 Spring Semester Library Student Assistant Award Recipients

The University Libraries held our biannual Library Student Assistant Award reception on March 26, 2026. Six students were selected for the Spring semester awards and received a $500 award for their excellent job performance. Library Student Assistant Awards are funded by contributions to the Campus Scholarship Innovative Campaign and from the University Libraries’ staff and other donors, and interest earned from the Friends of the Libraries endowment fund. To date, 457 awards have been distributed to 264 students totaling $214,650.

University Libraries staff and the Friends of the Libraries Board would like to congratulate this semester’s winners:

Alexandra Arn is a Junior majoring in Nursing who has worked in the Resource Delivery Services department since January 2025. Alex is a friendly welcoming presence at the circulation desk. She provides courteous and professional customer service and fulfills her various responsibilities at the desk in an accurate and timely manner. She puts her nursing knowledge to use every semester when she makes sure that all of our bone boxes are complete. These are some of our most heavily used materials and are crucial for all Nursing and Medical students for studying anatomy. The bone boxes are expensive and require anatomy knowledge to keep in proper working order, so Alex’s work with these has been indispensable. She has a great attitude and gives all her duties the same care and professionalism as she puts forth with keeping the bone boxes in order. Alex’s dependability, maturity, helpfulness, and warm demeanor is a true asset for the library and are all traits that will make her an excellent nurse in the future.

Genevieve Brown is a Freshman majoring in Marketing who has worked in the Special Collections and Archives (SC&A) since September 2025. As a student worker coordinator for the Special Collections and Archives, her responsibilities consist of general tasks include answering phones, welcoming patrons, and answering questions from walk-ins. Genevieve performs these tasks with a positive attitude, politeness, and in a professional manner. She has a knack for research which has been made evident while assisting researchers over the phone with complex research questions. This knowledge has led to her being assigned a multi-layered research project relating to Wright State’s history. In this task, she is well organized, enthusiastic, and approaches the assignment with a sense of humor, sharing her findings and expected frustrations with SC&A staff. Drawing on her research techniques she learned in high school, she is well on her way to completing a sophisticated research project that would typically have been reserved for our graduate students. This demonstrates her exciting potential as an archival assistant. We’re fortunate to have her on our staff. She provides excellent support for the department and our patrons and we hope to have her with us as she works her way through school.

Caden Conley, a graduate student working toward his MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, has worked for the Instruction and Research Services department since June 2025. Caden supports a wide range of daily operations, including assisting patrons and the Information Desk with technology-related questions, providing help with library research, and contributing to a variety of ongoing projects. One of his most impressive strengths is his ability to learn new systems quickly. When our library implemented a complex new database system, he mastered it in a short period of time and went above and beyond by sharing tips and insights with other staff members. His confidence with technology, paired with his clear and patient communication style, make him a valuable resource for both patrons and colleagues. These skills carry over to his ability in assisting patrons with research questions as well. Oftentimes research questions are complex and not always easy to answer. Caden excels at handling research questions. If he needs assistance answering a question, he never "hands off" the question – he remains and learns how to handle the situation the next time the question occurs. This has given him an edge on his skills and has made him a knowledgeable, tech-savvy student employee. He is hardworking, capable, and deeply committed to both his education and his work. Caden is a valuable addition to the Instruction and Research Services team.

Gabrielle Halcomb, a graduate student working toward her MA in History has been working for Special Collections and Archives since June 2025. As a summer intern in 2025, Gabby worked on processing the Fordham Library Collection, a complex and fairly advanced project. The collection included administrative papers, publications, reports and photographs of the former health sciences library. As she worked through this guidance-assisted project, she learned with hands-on experience, how to make sound decisions on her own and when to balance that decision-making with input from other archivists. She worked extremely hard on the project, and despite the breadth of the project, she finished ahead of schedule. She was assigned additional collections work in the university archives and by the end of her internship she had completed a large quantity of work and accumulated a tremendous amount of hands-on experience. Her work was so impressive that the Archives offered her a student archival assistant position beginning in the following Fall semester. Gabby continues to excel and approaches ever responsibility with enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn. She recently expressed interest in digital work and asked to assist with our digital initiatives. This development not only helps our departmental goals, but underscores Gabby’s potential in the professional archival field. Gabby shows outstanding judgement, initiative, and skill. She has been a valuable member of the Special Collections and Archives team.

Alondra Mallia, is a Public History graduate student. She has worked for Special Collections and Archives since August 2023. Alondra has shown amazing growth, and her skills and knowledge of archival processes has grown tremendously in her time working as the student worker coordinator. When she first came to the Archives, she was assigned primarily administrative tasks at first, and as she completed her work at a high level, she was gradually given more archival work. She became increasingly curious about the type of work we do and continued to push to learn more. What sets Alondra apart is she not only catches errors or inconsistencies in our collections and related tools, but she problem solves and recommends solutions. She is at the point now where she is helping the Archives staff review and reprocess archival collections, seeking out additional projects at a steady pace, and accomplishing as much for our collections as many practicing archivists. She has brought such an interest and dedication to her work that as she completes her graduate coursework, much of it has become review as she has gained so much practical experience already. She has gained confidence and experience. She talks through tricky processing situations with the archivists and asks questions when she needs to. Alondra has become a guide to some of the younger student workers. She happily interacts with them and they know they can get reliable answers from her. Alondra is a tremendous asset to the Archives and the University Libraries. She is successfully doing the work she will likely do professionally when she soon becomes a Public History graduate.

Ray’Ven Tillis, is a Sophomore who began working in Special Collections and Archives in September 2025. From the beginning, Ray’Ven has been an enthusiastic student employee with an admirable work ethic. Whether she is working on the desk or digitizing rare materials, Ray’Ven is punctual, focused, and reliable. Her willing attitude towards her projects matches her friendly demeanor when interacting with patrons in the reading room. Her interest in learning more about the function of an archive led her to request additional work responsibilities. Since then, she’s learned how to refile Dayton Daily News photographs, which involves understanding and navigating one of our largest and most-used collections. Ray’Ven also started transcribing oral history interviews – a slow and detailed process. She approaches the interviews with curiosity and an unshakable determination. Another strong suit of hers is her scanning skills. Many who have never done professional scanning do not realize how much skill and knowledge goes into the job. Ray’Ven does a great job in this area and is always willing to help those new to scanning learn the ins and outs of the scanning process. Ray’Ven performs all her tasks with enthusiasm and professionalism. We are so happy to have her as part of our team!