Visitors to the Lee R. Glatfelter Library at Penn State York have a colorful surprise as they enter the building and peruse the first floor. There are hundreds of colorful handmade paper flowers decorating the front doors, windows, book shelves, and more. The project, orchestrated by Angela Caldwell, information resources and services support specialist III at the library, was a labor of love, and a wish for warmer weather. Caldwell, along with five students, gave of their time to turn the library into a colorful flower garden.
“The purpose of the project goes beyond just a ‘think spring’ theme, and although the basic idea did originally stem from an overwhelming desire for warmer weather, there is more to our project that meets the eye,” said Caldwell. “Here in the library we strive for making our space the most welcoming environment possible for students and patrons to spend their time, and hope that our efforts to create a warm and inviting atmosphere catch the hearts and attention of our students and patrons,” she said.
Penn State York students, faculty, staff and members of the York community were welcomed back from spring break with the beautiful flowers in place. Caldwell, along with five students, Jesus Ayala, St. Croix, V.I.; Katie Bolling, White Hall, Md.; Sarah Kwon, York, Pa.; Ha Pham, Saigon, Vietnam; and Komal Shaikh, Hyderabad, Pakistan, made the flowers and then decorated the library. In addition to the flowers, Ha Pham, shared her creativity and made more than 300 origami birds (cranes) and nearly 50 of them are now strung across the overhanging lights above the circulation desk from monofilament. The display of paper cranes is hung in a gradation of color creating a rainbow of birds suspended in mid-flight.
Caldwell shared that a number of the students donated their time to work on the project outside of their regular work hours. One of the students, Katie Bolling, spent most of her spring break helping Caldwell to set-up the flowers and display them from a variety of locations in the library. Paper vines, complete with flowers and leaves adorning them, climb up the entrance doors of the library and on many of the bookshelves and interior windows.
The project has been deemed a success and the flowers and cranes have inspired many visitors to the library. Comments to Caldwell have included everything from “it feels really good to enter the library” to “this display has made my day.”
To see photos of the decorations in the library and some of the creators at work, visit https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152351796020590.1073741950.88848090589&type=3