As we reflect on the past 365+ days, it can sometimes feel surreal that the world has endured a full year of unprecedented change. In the spirit of International World Happiness Day, on Saturday, March 20th, our library communications and engagement team wanted to bring a bit of reflection to our community. A call-out to our spectacular library staffers has yielded a two-part plethora of positivity when they were asked, “What brings you joy?“
Eva Romanick, Information Services Specialist
Going on walks (coffee in hand makes it even better).
Natalya Brettle, Senior Information & Circulation Services Specialist
Going strong since 2008, the Cake Wrecks blog continues to be a source of much belly laughs and schadenfreude by spotlighting other people’s terrible baking mishaps!
Célin Gareau-Brennan, Librarian (Business)
One thing that brings me joy is going on walks in the Mill Creek Ravine on my lunch break while working from home. I feel very grateful to live somewhere where I can surround myself with trees and clear my head for a while before returning to work refreshed. This photo is from a particularly bright and beautiful day in autumn.
Christine Brown, Head, Faculty Engagement (Humanities, Social Sciences & Law)
What makes me happy? A beautiful street of flower delight in Athens, Greece and a happy dog!
Elizabeth Wallace, Collection Strategies Librarian
Jigsaw puzzles. I’ve completed 59 puzzles (63,000 pieces) since I began working from home on March 16th, 2020. That’s quite a lot of joy.
Hanne Pearce, Public Services Specialist
I don’t think it will be a surprise to my colleagues when I say that Photography brings me great joy. When I was young I wanted to be a photographer but I was discouraged at pursuing it as a career. It took me many decades to embrace photography again, and to recognize it not only as a means of communicating and artistic expression, but also as form of therapy. I had to learn to take photos for myself not for others.
For me photography is like a modern kind of magic that we take for granted. Not only do photos capture moments for what they were, but they can also capture more than what was visible to the naked eye at the time it was taken. We have these devices in our pockets that capture light and provide us with a remarkable way of expressing our own perspective and how we see the world. For me, there is nothing more marvellous than waiting out the sunset on a height somewhere on a nature trail, waiting for the light to be perfect.
Thanks for sharing Part I of this staff special, please join us tomorrow as we delve into Part II of ‘What Brings You Joy?’ Like our blog posts? We invite you to subscribe to our newsletter (scroll down to the bottom right side of this page). Love us on the blog? Then you’ll love us on social media! Check us out at @uofalibrary on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter!