Truth be told, Leanna Barcelona found, the legendary Stacks can be a scary place on that first visit.
“I remember the first time I walked through and didn’t realize that there were light switches — it is quite a creepy place, especially in the dark,” she says. “Eventually, I learned how to turn on the lights and found my way around.”
And the rest, as they say, is history. Barcelona earned two library science degrees, won two C. Barber Mueller Prizes for Exhibition Design at the UI and spent countless hours in the building that became her favorite on campus.
“I frequented the Main Library often as both an undergraduate and graduate student, whether to study or to use the computers during a quick break between classes," says the Baylor University archivist. “There was something about studying in a space that had been used by students for decades that resonated with me — I felt like I was connected to the students of the past."
