Introducing Jessica Blackwell and Rachel McNeil

The Library is pleased to welcome Jessica Blackwell and Rachel McNeil to Waterloo’s league of librarians! The Library’s newest librarian hires, Jessica and Rachel are both recent graduates of Western’s MLIS program and both also worked here during their co-op placements and then later in contract positions.

Jessica Blackwell (ext. 35743) is the Special Collections & Archives Librarian. In this position, she performs and supervises archival description, assists researchers with their collection questions, and creates initiatives to engage the academic community with the Special Collections’ many local and unique collections.

She recently completed work on the fonds of the Motz family, who owned and edited what is now The Record for four generations. "We currently have an exhibit in the display cases following the history of the family and the paper," she says.

Jessica curates many other exhibits for Special Collections throughout the year. She also provides in-class instruction and orientations to introduce students to archives."I look forward to continuing to engage our patrons and getting them excited about archives!"

Rachel McNeil (ext. 37151) is the Engineering Liaison Librarian at the Davis Centre Library. In this position, Rachel is the primary contact for many of Waterloo’s engineering departments. She manages collections, provides in-class instruction, and offers research help for students, faculty, and other researchers.

So far, Rachel is enjoying getting to know the people in the various academic departments. “I’ve had great success in attending department meetings,” Rachel says. “I am enjoying meeting the faculty members and hearing their perceptions of the Library.”

Rachel also sits on the Library’s Instructional Committee and has a strong professional interest in information literacy and instruction. She is also involved in library-wide projects, such as the Library’s “Beyond the Desk” working group, which is piloting offering research help to students at locations across campus, and the “Services For” working group, which is reviewing and re-envisioning how information in the “Services For” section of the Library’s website will be presented in the Library’s new website.