Photo by Rosemary Geib ’23.
Mount Holyoke students collaborated with the Language & Culture Commons to create and display free libraries highlighting diversity of languages.
By Lauren Cincotta ’25
Staff Writer
This semester, there are new language libraries all around Mount Holyoke’s campus. The outdoor libraries are a project by the Language & Culture Commons to help students connect with books in a variety of languages. According to an article from Mount Holyoke College, LCC coordinator Jean Janecki had the idea for the project after being inspired by Little Free Libraries she saw in the larger Western Massachusetts community. She worked with several Mount Holyoke students to make it a reality.
In her first year on campus, Ruby Sapkota ’25 worked as a part of the team that built the libraries alongside the Fimbel Maker and Innovation Lab design mentor and Technical Lead Kris Camp. “I was in the building team which included cutting the wood for the libraries, shaping them, attaching them together with nails and painting them. I was also involved in a few of the design meetings to finalize how to [create] the final design by decorating the little libraries,” Sapkota explained. Working on the project also gave her the opportunity to learn new skills and form a deeper connection with the campus community. “It was my first time using nails, painting in the woods [and] working with a wood cutting machine… together with other LCC friends. We put [in] a lot of time, effort and love so the little library is a precious project for me.”
The students that worked on the project are passionate about sharing their love of learning languages with other community members. “We want people to know about different languages taught here and appreciate their importance. We hope these libraries also become a symbol of inclusion present in the diverse student body at MoHo. Most people find it difficult to learn a new language but with the little library, I want people to get interested in learning them because it’s also about learning about other cultures,” she concluded.
Claudia Gonzalez-Vazquez ’25 joined the project to incorporate her love of books, learning and crafting into something to share with the community. She was involved in several aspects of construction including “the design of the boxes, from the structure to the colors… [cutting] the wood and [building] the boxes from scratch, [helping] with the painting and [producing] the decorative designs the boxes have on the sides.” Gonzalez-Vazquez noted that the books in the language libraries come from professors and students or other donors. “Instead of staying inside of a shelf gathering dust, people can check them out on the way to class and learn something new,” she explained.
The LCC has created a digital map of the libraries’ locations to help students easily find them. Spanish books can be found in front of the Ciruti Language Center, Arabic and Korean at Kendall Sports & Dance Complex, Chinese and Vietnamese at Pratt Hall, French and Italian at Dwight Hall, Japanese at Eliot House and Russian and German at Prospect Hall.