Photos: Paula Groff
Tuesday, Oct. 23, the High Library hosted its second-to-last event of the Wizarding Events series.
The event was a Potions and Transfiguration Class hosted in the McCormick Classroom by Instruction and Scholarly Communications Librarian Jennifer Strain.
Strain said the themed program was inspired by the 20th anniversary of the release of the first book of the popular “Harry Potter” series in the United States.
The event series, as a whole, began as an idea Instruction and Outreach Librarian Josh Cohen had that grew into the month-long series.
Strain and Catalog Librarian Susan Krall, who also hosted this program, each have their own inspiration to host such events.
“I started ‘Harry Potter’ in middle school. I met friends online that loved Harry Potter… Then, about three years ago, I got a chance to connect with these friends I made from places like India,” Strain said.
“I got to meet people I wouldn’t have been able to at thirteen.”
Krall said that “Harry Potter” also brought her closer to others: her children. She started reading the books before her children were born.
Later, she “could read it to them and with them. It was something really special to do with my kids.”
Many people feel the same way, that the Wizarding World brings people together, so the librarians thought it was an appropriate way to bring together students on campus, whether they are “hard-core fans” or just like crafts.
This event included potions classes such as “Butterbrew” mug cakes and fizzing sugar scrubs, and the transfiguration classes featured “howling letter” making, bookmark coloring, pop-up pendant making and keychain making.
First-year student Isabel DuBois and junior Erin Vago said their favorite activities were making scrubs and pendants.
DuBois came to the event because “[she is] a Hufflepuff, [she likes] crafting, and [she likes] Harry Potter.”
Vago said the event “sounded like fun and [she likes] crafts.”
“It’s better than what I expected. I thought it’d just be coloring, but [it was] above and beyond,” DuBois said.
On the other hand, Vago was “a little bit disappointed because [she] read that there would be bath bombs, but [she supposed] that they replaced them with the sugar scrubs.”
DuBois said she is also drawn to “Harry Potter” because it unites people. In her case, it brought her closer to her great-great-grandmother after she had passed away.
“The characters embody something very human…and everyone feels lonely growing, but ‘Harry Potter’ makes you feel very safe and at home,” she said.
She and others feel this is a lot of what makes “Harry Potter” so significant; the series relates to readers in ways most other books don’t.
Strain said that this program series has been unlike others that the library has put on in the past.
“Not so many people get excited about the library, so it’s fun to have people come up and tell me that they love it,” Strain said, comparing it to last year’s World War I series.
In addition to increased excitement, participation has been much higher than expected for library programs, and many students have gone to Strain “with huge smiles, saying ‘I love this’ and ‘Thank you so much’.”
Planning for this program has also been unlike planning for programs in the past. Strain and Krall got to spend time over the summer testing activities for the event.
“It’s a labor of love… It’s great to work with a smile on your face,” Strain said.
“[This series] is probably one of the most fun things I could be a part of at the library,” Krall added.
The last event of the High Library’s Wizarding Events series is an escape room, available to groups of two to four, being held from Monday, Oct. 29-Friday, Nov. 2 in the High Library. Registration is required. Each group is equal to one seat for registration.
