By: Kyle Munoz
It’s the Great Graceland Gremlin Gathering here at the library on campus. A pack of small, mischievous, and sometimes ill-mannered creatures have invaded the F.M. Smith Library. While there is usually a clue in the Facebook post or the graphic printed out, about the creature's whereabouts, sometimes there are no clues at all so students should keep their eyes open for any small creatures poking out from the bookshelves. Why should students keep their eyes out you ask? Because the bounty for catching one of these creatures is a candy bar.
In order to better understand what was going on with the mischievous creatures appearing in the library, I interviewed head librarian Jacob Starks. As a way to draw students to the library and encourage students to check out sections of the library they may never have seen before, Starks decided to hold a fun month-long event for students to participate in. Starks explained “every few days we are putting out a Gremlin or two in the [library] collection. We are putting them in the places we wish to showcase.” Furthermore, by hiding Gremlins throughout the library and releasing clues through Facebook and print outs posted in the library, Starks is hoping to get students to learn a little more about where things are located in the library.
As a matter of chance, I had gone to the library to do some work and stumbled upon a little green Gremlin poking out from a bookshelf. I quickly snatched it up and turned it in. This is how I found out that some Gremlins may be hidden without any clues, so students should check the library each day for a chance to win a candy bar. The culmination of this event will end with the library showing Gremlins 1 and 2 on Halloween because, as Starks explained “one of the things that we found out as we were doing this is that not everyone knows about Gremlins,” which he described as “not only a classic Halloween movie” but a “classic Christmas movie too,” he added jokingly. For information about the showings, students should keep checking out the libraries Facebook page for updates.