Category: Feature Friday
Beyond the Textbook – Students Preserving Local Black History at Simms
Posted January 30, 2026
Next time you’re in the Northeast neighborhood of Harrisonburg, look for the Lucy F. Simms Center—a large brick building next to Ralph Sampson Park. If you think it looks like a public school, you are correct. This community center was once the Lucy F. Simms School, a cornerstone of the Black community in Harrisonburg, VA, until it was closed in 1965 as part […]
From the Stacks to “I Do” — A JMU Love Story
Posted January 21, 2026
Some love stories start with a chance meeting in class or a swipe on an app — but for Jess Hoare and Cameron Kelahan, their journey began on the Club Quidditch Team in 2016. Though they didn’t meet through the Libraries, the […]
Feature Friday: 5 Former Libraries Student Employees and What They’re Doing Now
Posted November 14, 2025
Each year, JMU Libraries provides on-campus jobs to almost 100 hardworking student employees who develop professional skills and make lasting memories while serving the campus community. But the story doesn’t end when they graduate. The lessons learned behind the desk, […]
Feature Friday: From Classroom to Camera – Madison’s Story
Posted September 26, 2025
Every year, students nearing the end of JMU’s Physician Assistant (PA) program are required to complete a Capstone Project. As part of the Capstone Project, students are given the opportunity to play the part of a PA in a mock […]
Feature Friday: Students Helping Students with Business Research
Posted August 22, 2025
Peer Research Advisers (PRAs) are student employees in JMU Libraries trained to help their peers in the College of Business with the in-depth research required to create a business plan for COB 300. The PRA program has been assisting their […]
More Dynamic Leadership Library Makes Its Debut
Posted January 28, 2025
The School of Strategic Leadership Studies (SSLS) has partnered with JMU Libraries to transform their Leadership Instruments Library (LIL) into a more accessible, user-friendly, and evolving resource for leadership scholars and researchers. Originally a collection of static PDFs, the LIL […]
Feature Friday: The Evolution of Educational Technology at JMU
Posted January 24, 2025
Have you noticed there used to be many ways of contacting the Libraries, depending on whether you wanted help navigating Canvas, using a projector, creating a video, or borrowing Libraries equipment? In fact, many Libraries services related to teaching and […]
Open Access = Greater Impact: Insights from JMU’s Ben Selznick
Posted October 19, 2024
In celebration of International Open Access Week (October 21-27), we interviewed JMU faculty member Ben Selznick, an associate professor in the School of Strategic Leadership Studies who has published 5 articles in open access journals. Keep reading to find out […]
Feature Friday: Getting Black Humanities Research on the Map
Posted September 19, 2024
For the last nine years, JMU faculty member Mollie Godfrey and former faculty member Seán McCarthy have been working alongside local Harrisonburg community members and students on a project to recover the histories of a local Black teacher–Lucy F. Simms–and […]
Feature Friday: Meet Your New Data Services Librarian
Posted September 12, 2024
JMU faculty, staff, and students, if you are trying to figure out how to manage your research data, we’d like to introduce you to someone. Meet your new data services librarian! Samantha Harmon (M ‘22) joined the team in JMU […]
