Category: Student Spotlight

Name: Bianca G. Rell 

Pronouns: she/her

Degree Program/Track: MS-School Librarianship 

How Many Years in the Program: 2+ years

Hobbies: riding ATVs with her husband and friends on trails in CT, NH, NY, and West VA, riding horses, and writing 
Blurb: Bianca Rell loves being a UB student. UB has given her great opportunities. Her professors have taught her how to be a great library media specialist, and her advisor has been a huge support. Thank you, Mary Jo! She is a part of two honor societies and is so grateful for everything that she has accomplished! Outside of UB, she is a library media specialist at Cairo-Durham Elementary School, where she is currently working on a project to prove the importance of her position. She is also a published children’s author.

Name: Anthony Catanese

Pronouns: he/him

Degree Program/Track: MS-ILS

How Many Years in the Program: 1.5 years

Hobbies: Swimming, cooking 

Blurb: Anthony works at the circulation desk of UB’s Lockwood Memorial Library and volunteers at local libraries. In addition to pursuing an MS-ILS, he is also currently working on a MA in Jewish Thought. He has created research guides for UB Libraries, including the one for Jewish Thought found at https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/jewishthought.

Name: Rebecca Isbell

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Degree Program/Track: MS-ILS

How Many Years in the Program: almost 3 years

Hobbies: reading, writing, poetry, knitting, drawing (media that I use include pencils, colored pencils, pastels, and pen), and spending time with friends and family

About: Rebecca Isbell is a librarian in training who is determined to make a difference in social justice with creativity, information searching and community connection. She plans to graduate with her master’s degree in 2023. Her interests in the information and library science field are reference services, information searching and collection development in either public or academic libraries. She is also interested in working with diverse populations. This semester she is conducting a directed study about library workers with disabilities. She is excited to work on this project because, as someone with a disability, she believes there is more that libraries can do to better serve this community. Outside of her studies, she works at a thrift store, which she describes as being similar to working in a library because there are people who are responsible for selecting items (collection development) and people who help customers (references services). Rebecca also has a library-themed Instagram account: @intothelisverse