Lucy Scribner Library: Academic hub and home away from home

Lucy Scribner Library invites Skidmore students to imagine that an attempted art robbery has left beloved library mascot Scribbler Squirrel trapped. Desperate for the release of her brother, studio art major Nibbler Squirrel calls for help from the first-year class, tasking Scribner Seminar students with a very important mission: solve the puzzle, figure out the code, and save Scribbler.

The escape room-themed activity is the latest iteration of the “Save Scribbler” saga, an experience designed to introduce incoming first-year students to the library and its resources. “Save Scribbler” is one of many ways that Skidmore helps prepare students for college life through its innovative First-Year Experience (FYE) program.  

“We created ‘Save Scribbler’ because we used to have faculty come in and ask for tours of the library for their students, but we realized that tours are just not as engaging,” said Instructional Design Librarian Johanna MacKay. “We wanted to design something that created an impetus to use some of our tools and take initiative to explore the library floors.” 

“Save Scribbler: Art Heist” is just one of many exciting events hosted by Scribner Library with the goal of helping students de-stress, have fun, and flex their creative muscles. Other yearly events include The Great Pumpkin Challenge, its Altered Book Contest, and its Stress ReDUCKtion scavenger hunt. All help to cement the library’s location at the very heart of campus life. 

Students can check out a movie, the latest mystery novel, or grab a cup of Starbucks coffee for late-night study sessions. Suitcase record players are available for borrowing, along with the library’s extensive collection of vinyl. New furnishings also support collaboration, creativity, and coziness. 

Scribner Seminars that opt into “Save Scribbler: Art Heist” are divided into teams and tasked with completing a variety of puzzles located around the library in order to free Scribbler. By collecting clues, the class will have to come together to guess the code and free Scribbler Squirrel from confinement. For any teams that may struggle with their puzzles, librarians provide up to two additional clues; the goal is for students to have fun while exploring the library, not to have them arrive at a frustrating impasse. In the past, students have had to decipher a rocket launch code in “Save Scribbler: Squirrels in Space!”; in 2022, the theme was “Quest for the Holy Grail.”  

Inspiration for the series' main protagonist, Scribbler, emerged from a display MacKay created about the squirrels of Skidmore Campus. She and Humanities Librarian John Cosgrove had been brainstorming creative ways to introduce first-year students to the library. Their efforts produced the very first "Save Scribbler" activity.

Since then, Scribbler has been joined by his sister, Nibbler, and Nutsy Flying Squirrel, who appeared for the first time in fall of 2022. This year, Nutsy features on a wanted poster as the suspected art thief. Nibbler, meanwhile, appears yearly in outfits corresponding to the theme, created by College Librarian Marta Brunner.  
 
Participants are required to utilize the library’s website and catalog to locate clues scattered throughout the building — in doing so, familiarizing themselves with the library’s physical layout, classification system, and resources.  
 
Events like “Save Scribbler” are evidence of the ways that the library has continued to adapt to the digital age. Now, when the answers to many questions seem to be available with the touch of a button, the needs of students are changing. “Save Scribbler” demonstrates that the library is prepared to metamorphose with these changes.  

It also introduces new students to the full breadth of what the library has to offer. Scribner Library is not just the proprietor of books, but home to study spaces, art, printers, creative displays from Skidmore’s history, the Skidmore GIS Center for Interdisciplinary Research, and DOCLab (part of the Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative, or MDOCS).   

What’s more, the library is the location of several forms of in-person assistance offered to students, including the Research Help Desk, Media Services, the IT Help Desk, and the Philip Boshoff Writing Center. Through events like “Save Scribbler” and various other initiatives, Scribner Library staff make sure that the library is seen as a space of community-building and support.  
 
“Ultimately, our relationship with students is our priority. Today’s students have the option of not using the library at all. They can Google stuff; they can use our databases from home. So, I think that kind of changed how we at the library saw ourselves,” explained MacKay.

 
 
“The library is here for students to use however they need it, and we do our best to accommodate those needs — whatever they are."

In 2023, Skidmore embarked on the creation of the Creative Corridor, a redesign of the central space of the library’s first floor. The renovations will provide more spaces for students to gather in a social setting that values communication and collaboration.  
 
“Since the Creative Corridor will be right in front of you as you enter the library, we wanted it to be as welcoming as possible — we want all students at Skidmore to be able to find a place in the library that is comfortable to work and study in,” said Cosgrove.

These new spaces may be especially useful to first-year students, who seek out the library as an environment to assist in adjusting to the collegiate workload and establishing their initial connections at Skidmore.  

First-Year Experience Program Director and Professor of Mathematics Rachel Roe-Dale  stressed the importance of the library to campus life. 

“I think of the library as a hub for students — a place to find some comfort during the transition to college. It’s full of resources, but not just research or book resources, but printers, tables, and quiet spaces to study with new friends," she said. “It’s your home on campus.”  

As Lucy Scribner Library gears up for new students, it’s clear that Scribbler Squirrel’s antics represent neither the beginning nor the end of its contributions to the student experience at Skidmore. Even as technology continues to advance, the library remains at the core of campus life, helping students, connecting classmates, and saving squirrels.