These Ideas Stick
Smith Library’s Fun Sticker Designs Inspire Conversation and Connection
Over the past two years, you might have noticed something unique at the Smith Library on main campus – the stickers that can be picked up for free at the circulation desk.
The sticker designs are home-grown, created by Access Services and Reference Librarian Christine Forbes, MLIS, and Library Access Services and Facilities Assistant Tanya Gupta, as well as Library Director Andy Kulp, and feature everything from a colorful, aquatic “Reads-O-Lotl” (a play on the word “axolotl”) to the library’s beloved coffee cart.
“The stickers are definitely part of cultivating a warm and welcoming environment,” Forbes said. “They are cute and fun and maybe present a different idea about what the library is like. Our stickers have the honor of being on students’ MacBooks and water bottles! That’s a big deal to us. I hope that they are conversation starters.”
I hope that students talk to one another about the quirky, one-of-a-kind stickers the library offers. The stickers are about connecting with our students, after all. I’ve noticed that the students are eager to see the new stickers we design each fall. There are definitely students who collect them all, year after year.”
Access Services and Reference Librarian Christine Forbes, MLIS
Forbes said library personnel started making stickers back in August 2021. “Andy Kulp, library director, really created the first stickers. I added some finishing touches to them but that is it. We did two designs. The first was a walking book sticker that said ‘To the Library.’ For the second, Andy found an Open Access image of a butterfly stuck in a spider web and added text that read ‘Get Caught Up.’”
Gupta began adding her designs in August 2023. “Seeing how Christine and Andy started this lovely tradition of free library stickers inspired me to contribute as well,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful to see the students collecting stickers and having a collection of Smith Library stickers.” So far, about seven free stickers designed by Smith Library staffers have been distributed at the circulation desk.
“We wanted to add some value to the library experience,” Forbes said. “Students come to the library and check out a book or study and now they also can pick up a unique sticker.”
Forbes said they create two stickers a year, and come up with designs each fall. But there are really no rules for sticker creation. “I think if we had a really good idea and a really good reason, we would make more for special occasions,” she said. Gupta has previously designed a holiday-themed sticker for library staff and the library’s student employees.
Forbes and Gupta each have their favorites, though. “I like the coffee sticker because we really do have a coffee fanbase of those who love the PM coffee cart! The sticker even includes a shout-out to the Provost’s Office, which funds the coffee,” Forbes said. “I also really like Tanya’s designs. Hers are so special and you can really see how talented she is.”
“I adore the ‘coffee sticker’ and the ‘Reads-O-Lotl’ sticker from this year’s collection, as one thanks everyone who has helped make our coffee cart popular, and the other is just for those who enjoy reading, as well as the ‘dung beetle’ sticker from last year’s collection,” Gupta said.
As for library patrons – they seem to be sticker fans, overall. “I don’t think any one sticker has been more popular than others,” Forbes said. “We have a sticker for everyone. Like our first stickers – the walking book was vibrant and cute; the butterfly sticker was a little darker, both in color and in theme. All of our stickers have been popular in their own way with different students.”
And more stickers are in the pipeline. Gupta said she has two rough designs ready for the future to delight collectors.
