{"id":6620,"date":"2024-04-12T12:25:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T17:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/?p=6620"},"modified":"2024-08-13T10:15:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T15:15:30","slug":"student-worker-spotlight-cassandra-parsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/12\/student-worker-spotlight-cassandra-parsons\/","title":{"rendered":"Student employee spotlight: Cassandra Parsons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Hawkeye senior Cassandra Parsons arrived on the University of Iowa from her hometown of Williamsburg, Iowa, she knew that a student job would be a key part of her time as an undergraduate. And when Parsons, an English and creative writing major and anthropology minor, started work as a student assistant at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, she immediately felt that she\u2019d ended up somewhere special.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a student assistant at Hardin has honestly been my favorite job that I\u2019ve ever had, and I\u2019ve had many jobs,\u201d says Parsons. \u201cI\u2019m so glad I\u2019ve been able to learn from and work with such caring staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parsons\u2019 time at Hardin has been so positive that it eventually cemented her decision to apply to graduate school and pursue a career in librarianship. In fall 2024, she\u2019ll head to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to begin a master\u2019s program in library and information science, with a particular focus on archives and special collections. Her role at Hardin has not only been a core part of her experience as a Hawkeye; it\u2019s also given her clarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cA student job can be the first spark of inspiration for figuring out how exactly you want to apply your degree to a career,\u201d says Parsons. \u201c[Student jobs] offer the opportunity to build connections with your peers and staff, and those who work in our libraries care about their work \u2026 they want to make a difference by helping patrons gain access to the knowledge the university facilitates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she\u2019s not a medical student herself, Parsons enjoys working in an environment with such driven students and a unique area of focus. In her opinion, one of Hardin\u2019s most outstanding resources is the Anatomage Table<\/a>, a long worktable covered with a tablet-like screen that can be used to view thousands of three-dimensional images of the human body. It\u2019s particularly useful for students of medicine who are looking to memorize and review anatomy outside of a lab setting.<\/p>\n

Parsons, who has her sights set on working with archival material, has a special fondness for the John Martin Rare Book Room (JMRBR). She looks forward to seeing the JMRBR\u2019s new space on the fourth floor when renovations are completed later this spring.<\/p>\n

According to Janna Lawrence, director of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, Parsons\u2019 coworkers and supervisors have noted her consistent dedication to her work, calling her a \u201cnatural\u201d in the field. \u201cCassandra enthusiastically takes on new tasks and works well with both patrons and staff,\u201d says Lawrence. \u201cShe helps out in interlibrary loan most mornings and has provided invaluable assistance in the JMRBR, keeping books and shelves clean, installing new displays, and setting up for classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawrence and the rest of Parsons\u2019 colleagues have no doubt that her future in librarianship is bright. For her part, Parsons credits Hardin with much of the knowledge that will serve her in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking at Hardin Library has taught me many invaluable lessons about the function of academic libraries,\u201d Parsons says. \u201cI\u2019ve had the chance to not only learn in the classroom at Iowa but also through practical experience, and that has enhanced my appreciation of the resources available here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Hawkeye senior Cassandra Parsons arrived on the University of Iowa from her hometown of Williamsburg, Iowa, she knew that a student job would be a key part of her time as an undergraduate. And when Parsons, an English and creative writing major and anthropology minor, started work as a student assistant at the HardinContinue reading “Student employee spotlight: Cassandra Parsons”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":6624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,8,14,15,3],"tags":[],"syndication":[46,49,69,33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6620"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6841,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6620\/revisions\/6841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6620"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=6620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}