“It’s a place where students — regardless of major — can explore, feed their curiosity and share knowledge through equitable access to tools, technologies and resources,” Markgraf says. “While the library is still a place for students to access books and articles or consult with a librarian, it is also a place where they can transform an idea into physical form on a laser cutter, 3D printer or sewing machine.”

McIntyre Library has been honored as the recipient of the 2024 Wisconsin Library Association Library of the Year Award for distinguished achievement in service by a library, library system or library network. Based on information from the National Center for Education Statistics, Markgraf estimates Wisconsin has more than 2,000 libraries.

Library staff will receive the award Nov. 7 at the WLA’s annual conference in Green Bay.

“McIntyre Library is most deserving of the Library of the Year Award for its unceasing commitment to helping our students, and the campus and greater Eau Claire communities,” says Chancellor James Schmidt. “The staff incorporates traditional library resources and advanced technological tools to make McIntyre Library a hub of innovative experiences for Blugolds and a repository for Chippewa Valley residents examining our community’s past.”

Markgraf is delighted with the award because it is an opportunity to celebrate publicly her library colleagues who are “second to none when it comes to being creative, capable and committed to enhancing the student experience.”

“They continually amaze me with their ideas for moving forward, their ability to anticipate need and their resourcefulness that makes things happen,” Markgraf says.

Library staff mentor students through internships and faculty-student undergraduate research experiences, including internships in digital studio technology and training, graphic design and archival management.

McIntyre Library has an innovative makerspace and digital studio, and hosts multiple activities through the academic year, including annually welcoming about 1,000 students to a back-to-school party. The library hosts more than 100 therapy dog visits a year, student film festivals and art exhibits, and provides a pingpong table, yoga classes and a large board game collection.

UW-Eau Claire’s award nomination submission stated that McIntyre Library upholds the Wisconsin Idea that universities should use their resources and knowledge to improve people's lives in the community. Among McIntyre staff efforts were the digitizing of 30,000 pages of cultural and regional history from the past 22 years of Volume One magazine, researching house histories for neighborhood associations and providing more than 500 consultations with community members.

B.J. Hollars, professor of English, utilizes the library for an information literacy and research demonstration for his first-year rhetoric and composition students, and in his upper-level nonfiction writing course, to introduce students to archival research.

“The library’s knowledgeable and passionate staff provide carefully curated, experiential opportunities that allow students to thrive in both capacities,” Hollars says in a letter of support to the Wisconsin Library Association. “A trip to the library is never a ‘sit and be talked to’ endeavor, but rather, a hands-on, collaborative approach to learning.”

Hollars, a writer and researcher, also has used McIntyre Library’s support services to retrieve information for the publication of six books and for production of a documentary film.

“While some archives and libraries occasionally add bureaucracy to the already exhausting research process, this has never been the philosophy here,” Hollars says. “Instead, McIntyre Library and its various offices make short work of the red tape, providing an efficient, collaborative experience in the service of the work.”