If you’ve walked into the Weinberg Memorial Library even once in the past three years, you’ve undoubtedly come across the work of this week’s spotlighted student worker, April Francia ’15.
Since joining the Library in January 2012 as a Digital Services Technology Consultant, April has made significant contributions to all sorts of different Library projects. Here’s a just a small sampling of her work:
- Digital Collections. You’ve heard about the gigantic newspaper clipping collection we’re working on, right? April processed about 14,000 of those images on her own and trained fellow students to help out with the others. She’s also digitized, cropped, processed, described, and edited thousands of other digital collections resources over the past 3.5 years.
- Graphic Design. As the Digital Services Department’s resident Creative Suite expert, April has created hundreds of graphic designs for Library collections and services. You’ll spot her designs on our digital signage, web pages, presentation slides, and posters and flyers throughout the building and across campus. She’s especially talented with logos – we have her to thank for our new Reilly Learning Commons logo.
- Social Media. In addition to designing many of our Facebook cover images, April has experimented with using social media to promote the Library’s digital collections – from Flickr sets to Pinterest boards to HistoryPin tours of campus. Several of her Flickr sets were featured as photo galleries during the University’s 125th Anniversary celebration last year.
- Marketing and Promotion. You’ll find April’s graphic designs on many of the Library’s promotional items – buttons, water bottles, mouse pads, etc – but she has also contributed her creativity and talent to other innovative projects, like customized thank you notes and Moleskine notebooks, our #wmlenvart Instagram exhibit, 3D printed Christmas ornaments, and the extremely popular Unofficial University of Scranton Coloring Book.
While April jokes that the Library is her second home, she’s made her mark in many areas outside of our building. She is a double major in Philosophy and Political Science and a member of both the Honors and Special Jesuit Liberal Arts (SJLA) programs. (We once heard Dr. Parente compliment her coursework – and as many University community members know, praise from Dr. Parente is high praise indeed!) She is assistant editor of the Windhover, vice-president of the Pre-Law Society, a Royal Ambassador, and a student facilitator for Scranton Emerging Leaders. She’s completed internships with the Institute for Public Policy & Economic Development and the offices of U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. and Pennsylvania State Representative Doyle Heffley. When she takes some time off to relax, you might find her hiking, reading, baking, or watching House of Cards on Netflix.
What’s next for April? She’s currently weighing multiple law school acceptances and plans to work towards a career in law or policy analysis. Whatever direction her path may take, we know it will lead to success. While we don’t know what the heck we’ll do without her when she graduates this May, we’ll be proud to see April go and set the world on fire, and we’ll be cheering her on all the way.