Floor-to-ceiling shelves of thrilling mysteries, fact-filled encyclopedias, and nostalgic children’s books may be the first things to come to mind when one pictures a public library. However, they are also invaluable cornerstones of the communities they serve. Through a Summer Service Fellowship with the Memphis Library Foundation (MLF), philosophy and English literature major Laurel Phillips ’26 saw firsthand the impact libraries have and is now sharing her passion with others at Rhodes.
Phillips applied to the Summer Service Fellowship Program, an eight-week initiative in which students intern at a Memphis nonprofit of their choice. She was inspired by the passion of friends who had participated before and wanted to uplift the city that she had grown to appreciate deeply. “Memphis, with its history, soul, and neighborly communities, has been a wonderful place to live and grow,” says Phillips, who hails from Atlanta. “I was looking forward to spending more time in the community and giving back to it.” With the help of Career Services, she honed her resume and interviewing skills and was elated to learn that she received a fellowship.
With Memphis having more nonprofits per capita than any other U.S. city, Phillips had an abundance of choices for her fellowship; she chose the MLF because it provided an opportunity to explore Memphis’ 18 public libraries and their respective neighborhoods. For her project, she combed through newspaper articles, photographs, and Dig Memphis: The Digital Archive of the Memphis Public Libraries to compile an exhaustive record of the Memphis public library system.
Phillips visited many of the branches in person and got to know Memphis through the lens of its libraries. “Librarians are experts on their communities,” she says. “By talking to library staff, I got a better sense of each library’s unique personality and community.” Additionally, library staff often serve equal parts as bookkeepers and social workers, with libraries providing career and financial services, music and dance classes, public internet access and restrooms, and most importantly, safety and shelter. Phillips says, “This serves as a reminder of why public libraries, the resources they offer, and the types of places they represent are so important and must be protected.”
Phillips hopes her project will bring attention to, and cultivate appreciation for, Memphis’ public libraries. Now that her fellowship is over, she is extending her work by serving as the designated writing fellow for Professor Scott Newstok’s library-themed First-Year Writing Seminar, “Unpacking the Library: From Alexandria to AI.”
She is bringing the lessons she learned to her extracurricular and social endeavors, too. Seeing the way library staff care for their communities inspired Phillips to be more attentive to her own Rhodes community—whether it be in her capacity as Honor Council Vice President, Culture of Consent Support Committee Executive, or Kappa Delta Director of Scholarship.
Phillips urges all Rhodes students to serve not only the Rhodes community, but also that of the greater Memphis area. She says, “It can be tempting to forget that we are citizens of the city just as much as we are students at Rhodes. To be a part of a community is to be responsible for the other people in it, and it is equally important to be active participants in the wider Memphis community.”
By Hannah Meit ’25