Little Mysteries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nCukier hopes the Owen Science and Engineering Library\u2019s environment will help students feel more comfortable asking for help. With graduate students in particular, there is an unspoken pressure to problem-solve on their own, which is a painful way to work, Cukier said. While there may be some challenges when students learn more on their own, the library is not one of those places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cukier remembers helping a student researching codling moths\u2019 effect on apple trees in Washington state. She thought it was a funny research topic, but she later realized the problem was plaguing the apple tree in her own backyard and was applicable to her daily life. She also helped a student from a farming family who needed resources on soil-replenishing techniques. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was just so amazing to be able to see someone with a background that\u2019s very different from my own use library resources to try to solve a problem that is of extreme everyday importance,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cukier said she loves talking to researchers about \u201ccool science,\u201d something she gained as a reporter for the pharmaceutical trade journal BioCentury four years ago. Scientists were so passionate about their work and believed they could make a difference in the world, which she finds reflected in faculty and student researchers at WSU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe tiny little mysteries and understanding all of these things of how life works \u2014 I\u2019ve always found them really interesting,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Science is in Cukier\u2019s roots. Her father was a chemistry professor, and her grandfather was a chemist during World War II, becoming a part of the French Resistance before coming to the United States. In the back of Cukier\u2019s mind, there has always been an expectation that she would pursue a career in science, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With her unique background as a reporter and someone with a master\u2019s degree in molecular biology and biochemistry, she feels at home with the science community. Students often have trouble asking questions as they search for literature, and many of their courses are writing heavy, but Cukier\u2019s skills allow her to understand their needs, Leachman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe fits right in and can also have those deeper conversations with faculty members on a different level than I think somebody without a science background could have,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historical Collections Spark Joy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSpending time with botany books from the 1800s, Cukier often finds it hard to toss out texts centuries older than herself to make space for materials more relevant to student research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She believes it is her job to collect materials most other libraries have less motivation to collect, like texts about Washington state agriculture. Cukier said it is important to preserve local knowledge, although it might not be as obviously applicable to curriculums or research at the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a librarian, she said she has a \u201cjust-in-case\u201d mindset, meaning someone, someday might need the materials she keeps in her collection. However, the library has a finite amount of space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I, perhaps more than some other librarians, am willing to kind of Marie Kondo things a little bit,\u201d she said. \u201cSay to a book, \u2018Yes, you were published in the 1920s, but we have this knowledge in other forms right now. I honor you for having lasted as long as you did. This is not saying you\u2019re not valuable; it\u2019s just you\u2019ve fulfilled your purpose, and now it\u2019s time for you to move on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yes, she wears a cardigan. Yes, she owns a cat. But Emily Cukier also has purple hair, which sets her apart from the librarian stereotype, she said. Science Librarian Cukier always felt comforted by libraries growing up, surrounded by the musty smell of old books and basking in silence. She said it drove her to […]","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[91,90,71,92,56],"class_list":["post-519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-browse","tag-emily-cukier","tag-ig-nobel-prizes","tag-owen-science-and-engineering-library","tag-science-librarian","tag-wsu-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":521,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions\/521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}