{"id":7350,"date":"2025-03-25T15:14:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T20:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/?p=7350"},"modified":"2025-03-25T15:14:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T20:14:04","slug":"eleanor-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/25\/eleanor-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"Student employee spotlight: Eleanor Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Eleanor<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The University of Iowa Libraries offers students from the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) a unique opportunity to develop their skills and passion through student employment and practicums. Eleanor Ball is one of these students and she stands out through her many positive contributions according to her instructors, supervisors, and peers. Her passion to foster scholarship, empower students, and advocate for libraries are at the heart of Eleanor\u2019s dedication to her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eleanor came to Iowa in the fall of 2023 to earn a Master of Library Information Science, after graduating from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Science in public health and English in 2022. She quickly made an impression in a SLIS course taught by Katie DeVries, who is a social sciences librarian at the Libraries. This led to Eleanor\u2019s fall 2024 practicum, supervised by Katie. During this time, Eleanor developed and led a 50-minute information literacy session for a Communication Studies lecture section. Throughout the semester, she also staffed the Just Ask Desk, helping patrons with their research needs. Katie was impressed by Eleanor\u2019s dedication and abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEleanor maintains a consistent professional presence across contexts,\u201d says Katie. \u201cShe exhibits expertise and openness. Students in the classroom and students in consultations seem at ease following Eleanor\u2019s lead and her work in these areas is inspired and thorough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Eleanor<\/a>
Eleanor Ball works in acquisitions and e-resources at the Libraries.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Now, Eleanor works with Julie Gaida, electronic resources librarian, as a practicum student in acquisitions and e-resources. The Acquisitions Department purchases resources in all formats for the Libraries to build and maintain collections that meet current and future teaching and research needs. Julie has already seen Eleanor\u2019s meaningful impact in the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer enthusiasm for learning and her ability to quickly grasp complex concepts inherent within electronic resources work has been remarkable,\u201d explains Julie. \u201cHer strong work ethic, progress, and contributions have been nothing short of impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, Eleanor hopes to continue working in academic libraries. She is especially interested in liaison and instruction roles. Read the following questions and answers with Eleanor to get to know her, in her own words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What attracted you to the University of Iowa?
A:<\/strong> I am from Des Moines, Iowa. I chose to come back to the state for my MLIS because I feel passionate about fostering scholarship, empowering students, and advocating for libraries in our state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q<\/strong>: What do you enjoy about working at the Libraries?<\/strong>
A<\/strong>: Through my work at the Law Library and my practicums at the Main Library, I\u2019ve gotten to try a little bit of everything in academic librarianship: technical services, user services, instruction, and\u2014currently\u2014e-resources and acquisitions. At this stage in my career, I\u2019m trying to soak up everything that I can. So, I really appreciate the diversity of learning opportunities I\u2019ve been provided. Plus, librarians are some of the nicest co-workers out there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How has working at the Libraries impacted you, either personally or professionally?
A: <\/strong>Working at the Libraries provides me with the real-world experience essential for landing a job in my field. The working librarians here are an invaluable resource for my professional development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What has been your favorite class at Iowa so far?
A:<\/strong> I got my first taste of the world of acquisitions in SLIS: 6345 Stewardship of Information and Collections. This class made me realize that collection development and management aren\u2019t as intimidating as I thought, and it paved the way for me to do my current practicum in acquisitions and e-resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Iowa Libraries offers students from the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) a unique opportunity to develop their skills and passion through student employment and practicums. Eleanor Ball is one of these students and she stands out through her many positive contributions according to her instructors, supervisors, and peers. Her passionContinue reading “Student employee spotlight: Eleanor Ball”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":369,"featured_media":7351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[92,100],"syndication":[46,33,80],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7350"}],"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\/369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7353,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7350\/revisions\/7353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7350"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=7350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}