Introducing Sophie Fahey

College Library welcomes Sophie Fahey, a Teaching & Learning Program Specialist, assisting primarily with library instruction. She replaces Elizabeth Tappy, who recently accepted a permanent position at Edgewood College. Sophie will split her time between College Library and Steenbock Library throughout the spring semester, while also continuing her studies as a graduate student in the university’s iSchool. With an anticipated graduation date of May 2019, she hopes to secure a similar public service position at a research university.

A native of Missoula, Montana, Sophie’s love of books was fostered during her first job at a local independent bookstore, Fact & Fiction. While an undergraduate at Scripps College, Sophie double-majored in English and French and was drawn to a career in librarianship. Although she didn’t work in university’s library, a study-abroad experience at the Archives and Museum of Literature in Brussels cemented her love of rare books and manuscripts. After a semester of retrospective catalog conversion, during which she updated nearly 600 records for items added to the collection in the mid-1990s (when the institution was between systems), Sophie discovered that what she truly found rewarding was “human interaction – the opportunity to teach others how to discover and access these marvelous materials.”

With family in Milwaukee and Dodgeville, Sophie decided to pursue her graduate education at the iSchool at UW-Madison. She recently completed the Teaching & Learning practicum in which she was able to observe the pedagogical approach of over a dozen instruction librarians on campus. As she notes, “the opportunity to put into practice everything I learned while it was still fresh in my mind is so valuable to me.”

An avid reader, Sophie admits to a deep love of Shakespeare and medieval literature. She wrote her undergraduate thesis on “Voice and Agency in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Aimé Césaire’s Une Tempête.” Favorite contemporary novels include Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and the similarly-inspired If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio.

Please join us in welcoming Sophie Fahey to College Library!