Portrait of Jacqueline Portnell.

Jacqueline Portnell

Student Assistant, Basque Library Length of service: 1 year

Education

Major: Bachelor of Arts in Art (Digital Media) and in French; minor in Music Industry


Working in the Libraries

What has been your favorite thing about working in the Libraries?: I've really enjoyed the diversity of languages in the Basque library! I hear people talking in Basque more often than I hear English! The Basque book collection is equally diverse and we have a large collection of books in Basque, Spanish, and French. I've been able to talk with patrons and faculty in French as well, which is nerve-wracking as a language learner but always exciting.

Can you tell us about a favorite memory or job-related achievement from your time working here?: When I started working at the Basque library, we had just gotten a large collection of arborglyph rubbings. I spent a few weeks going through and cataloging the artworks and organizing them for storage - it was really cool to see the sheer scale and quantity of these artworks and was a fantastic way to start out my time with the library!

What’s next for you?: I applied to graduate schools in France to continue studying art, I'm just waiting for a response!

From Devon, Jacqueline’s supervisor: Jacqueline has been such a joy to work with in the Basque Library. Their always friendly and positive attitude combined with exceptional intellect makes them a one-of-a-kind student employee. Bon voyage, Jacqueline! Jacqueline discovered a fun article about UNR and the university's Basque community while processing some of our French-language materials that were published abroad. They utilized their impressive French-speaking skills to translate the article into English and share it with us. This resulted in Jacqueline and other staff members digging into more issues and finding many French cooking recipes to save for the future.

Jacqueline’s chosen book from the Libraries’ collection:

Blockheads, beagles, and sweet babboos : new perspectives on Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts