Our Favorite Things

A salute to our librarians in photos for the month of December 2024 / January 2025

Photography by Gus Ruelas
University of Southern California
 

Antique ENCYCLOPÉDIE book open on a wooden table, showing a detailed illustration and aged, blank page with elegant typography.

As the caretakers of 6 million books and over 2 million digital items, USC librarians are the knowledgeable guides to a bounty of literary, digital and tactile treasures. Follow along as we feature the objects and collections they prize most across our 18 libraries.

Three people stand in a wood-paneled room with bookshelves, around a table with an old book and map. (From left) Taylor Dwyer with a charred piece of the book Jud Süß (Power) by German writer Lion Feuchtwanger. Derek Quezada, USC Libraries special collections, with a volume from Denis Diderot, Encyclopédie (Paris, 1751–1765). The Encyclopédie was a comprehensive attempt to describe everything in the natural world. Jessica Gambling with a photo of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority members in front of Widney Hall, taken circa 1890.

Torn, aged paper with German text on a white background, showing historical document fragments.“[This] remarkable artifact is a burned fragment of a page of Jud Süß pulled from the embers by a passerby in Berlin on May 10, 1933. It intrigues me that it was saved; I wonder by whom, and at what risk. To me this artifact symbolizes survival in the face of intentional destruction.” —Taylor Dwyer
Hands hold an old sepia photo of a group of people in vintage clothing outside a building.“I love this photo because it demonstrates that history is filled with human beings with human emotions, instincts and motivations.” —Jessica Gambling

Person walks toward ornate library entrance with statues, arches, and greenery on a sunny day.
Spacious library with ornate ceiling, wooden bookshelves, tables, chairs, and students studying.Doheny Memorial Library

“When in doubt, go to the library”­

—J. K. Rowling, author

Woman in black shirt holds film reels labeled KOREA on a table in a library with bookshelves.Jungeun Hong, director, special projects Japanese Studies librarian, with film reels made in 1936 in Korea by USC alumnus Victor Wellington Peters for the 50th anniversary of Ewha college (established in 1886). Peters went to Korea for missionary work during the Japanese Occupation. These films were restored by the USC HMH Foundation Moving Image Archive.

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of a library.”­

—Jorge Luis Borges, author

Ornate ceiling with stained glass windows and intricate patterns in a historic, stone-walled room.

Doheny Memorial Library

Woman in blue shirt holds a book, standing by shelves in Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow Reading Collection.Jynna Hughes, librarian assistant manager, Library for International and Public Affairs at the Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow Center, with Brave Wolf and the Thunderbird by Joe Medicine Crow.

Large library building with red-tiled roof, surrounded by trees, under a clear blue sky. Leavey Library

Woman in black sweater reaches for a book on a shelf in a library filled with rows of books.
Woman in blue shirt holds a stone sample, standing by a model of a building and bookshelves.

(From left) Alexis Bard Johnson, curator with ONE Archives USC Libraries with “Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagination,” and Shannon Marie Robinson, head, Architecture and Fine Arts Library, holds a sample tile that is a mixture of aggregate and debris scooped directly from the river from the Material Lab. “The terrazzo is an excellent example that materiality isn’t just about physical properties or aesthetics. Rather, materials tell stories, and those stories deeply connect us to objects and the built environment.”

Person on red couch using laptop by window, with gray chairs, tables, and city view outside.

“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life.”

—Sidney Sheldon, author

Man in green shirt and jeans holds a sword, standing in a library with wooden beams and tables.
Woman in green shirt holds a book, standing by wooden shelves with books and plants in a library. Three people in a tech room with computers, standing by a table with a book and papers.

(Clockwise from top left) Billy T. Smith, Cinematic Arts Library, holds one of the swords featured in the 1995 film, Braveheart, part of the Cinematic Arts Library collection; Olivia Carreon, library supervisor of Wilson Dental Library, holds I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee; (From left) USC Digital Library director Deborah Holmes-Wong and metadata librarians Zoë Nissen and Wayne Shoaf. “I chose to be photographed in front of one of our high-resolution cameras because the quality of the images it produces ensures that viewers get the best, most faithful reproduction of the original book or artifact…” —Deborah Holmes-Wong

Two people stand in a tech room with servers, one holding film reels, against electronic equipment.
(From left) Katie Ehrbar and Alan Auyeung, video archivists and post-production specialists, at the Digital Repository.

Woman in USC shirt holds a book in a grand library with chandeliers, bookshelves, and checkered floor.Melissa L. Miller, head, Hoose Library of Philosophy, with her favorite book, Dr. Flewelling & The Hoose Library: Life and Letters of a Man and an Institution.

“The most important asset of any library goes home at night – the library staff.”­

—Timothy Healy, former New York Public Library president

Night view of a lit building reflected in a pond, framed by trees under a dark blue sky.

An evening view across the Leavey Library reflecting pool to the Doheny Memorial Library (Photo/Chris Shinn)