Student Highlight: Rosie Lopolito

When Rosie Lopolito started at WashU, she was undecided about her major, but when she graduated from WashU in the spring of 2024 with a BA in English literature, she says, “I feel like I was destined to be a librarian.”

Lopolito didn’t just spend time studying and working with other students in Olin Library during her time at WashU. She says that she considered the strength and diversity of campus libraries when applying to schools, and during her first years on campus, she continually checked the Libraries website to find an open student worker position.

After visiting special collections with a class to see a collection of zines and pamphlets, she said that she “had never handled delicate materials other than the books that my grandma would keep on high shelves,” and that “talking to the librarians who specialize in those areas made me realize that it was all so accessible.”

Eventually, Lopolito started working with the Libraries’ Digital Preservation, Processing, and Reformatting department located in the West Campus Library, reporting to Marijane Ceruti, digital imaging supervisor. Lopolito says that “I don’t think I would have ever gone to West Campus if I hadn’t worked there, but it’s a really special part of campus. I never considered myself a tech-savvy person, but seeing all of the cool digitization machines, like the MISHA [Multispectral Imaging System for Historical Artifacts], was amazing. It uses different spectra of light to uncover hidden layers, like pencil marks that you couldn’t see, and made me realize that there was a lot of the ‘sciences’ in library sciences.”

Lopolito was also a member of the inaugural cohort of the Libraries Student Advisory Group (LSAG) and reflected on her experience. “It was great to get to see a diverse group of students come together for the Libraries. One of my big frustrations with WashU was it felt like it was hard for students to be heard, but in LSAG, it felt like the Libraries were on my side and they wanted to listen and make things better for students and support my ability to pursue research and use the tools available.”

After graduating last year, Lopolito was hired as a library clerk in Youth Services at the University City Public Library. She says that this experience really let her get to know and understand different roles within libraries and different ways that people come to the profession. She was encouraged by the director to serve as a volunteer to help with the Missouri Libraries Association Conference and became the co-coordinator of the 2025 event.

Lopolito will take all of this experience with her in her next chapter as she embarks on a dual-degree graduate program in library sciences and children’s literature at Simmons University in Boston this fall. “I feel hopeful about library sciences because librarians are so resilient and tenacious and unwilling to deal with intolerance. I know that library people are going to fight for libraries, for funding, and for their patrons, and it feels cool to be part of that community.”