August Roberts has had their hands on more than a few Princeton University Library (PUL) projects. They’ve worked in Special Collections, creating reparative descriptions of women-owned books as part of the Her Book project. 

They’ve supported item tagging through PUL’s adoption of Homosaurus, a specialized vocabulary for describing LGBTQIA+ materials. 

They’ve supported the Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium, as well as the Princeton LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project, and helped the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) improve its lending library here on campus. 

And most recently, they’ve graduated as a member of the Class of 2025 with plans to earn a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Washington, Seattle, while continuing to address topics of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in libraries and archives. 

“I’m incredibly grateful for the support I received from so many other Library staff throughout my time at Princeton,” Roberts said.  

Despite their extensive work with the GSRC and Special Collections, Roberts got their start working at Princeton’s Architecture Library. 

“I really fell in love with library work during the spring of my first year, when I completed an internship with Special Collections through the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries,” Roberts said. 

Each of those experiences added up to Roberts embracing their passion for libraries through their thesis. “I knew that I wanted my thesis to be rooted in that amazing, hands-on experience of library work, so I took notes each day about my work and started reading library science scholarship whenever I had spare time.”

Realizing that their notes explored their “embodied and affective experience,” rather than the technical details of the labor, Roberts embarked on a thesis that asks “who” is doing the work rather than focusing on the outcomes. 

“And so my thesis really focuses on the personal experiences of librarians, experimenting with different approaches to the question of how doing library work impacts the people doing the work,” Roberts said. 

Though they are moving on to Seattle for their master’s degree, Roberts hopes that current and future Princeton students will utilize the Library’s resources to the fullest extent. 

“Through the Library, we have access to so many newspapers and periodicals, language learning tools like Rosetta Stone, e-books, audiobooks, and more,” Roberts said. “If there's a resource or piece of information you're trying to find—even if it isn't for coursework—always check the library!”

Related Reading: Notable works on LGBTQIA+ Topics (2025)