Nicolette Dobrowolski seeks to humanize special collections in new role as Director
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Nicolette Dobrowolski’s approach to her new role as director of Syracuse University’s Special Collections Research Center is informed by a combination of empathy and a calling to highlight and preserve other people’s stories.
“It’s very personal to me to ensure these people’s stories that are in the collections, their work, and their creativity, is kept safe for years to come,” Dobrowolski said.
The Special Collections Research Center at Bird Library is in charge of keeping primary source materials safe, preserved, accessible and discoverable for the current generation and generations to come. Dobrowolski was promoted to serve as the SCRC’s director in July after being interim co-director since Nov. 2021.
“It was wonderful to have somebody in our midst who was ready to take this on,” said David Seaman, SU’s dean of libraries, university librarian and interim dean of the School of Information Studies. “I really look forward to seeing how the Special Collections continues to grow with Nicolette.”
The SCRC will host its first event of the semester on Sept. 21. The exhibit, titled “In Pursuit of Justice: Pan Am Flight 103,” will feature materials donated to the SCRC’s Pan-Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archive. The archives were at the center of controversy last fall after it was discovered that it included antisemitic materials. This year will mark the 35th anniversary of the Pan-Am Flight 103 terrorist attack.
“The voices that are within these collections, the stories that are within these collections, the experiences — it’s like no other,” Dobrowolski said. “What you get to do in this role is help people learn how to discover them.”
Dobrowolski, who is originally from the Hudson Valley, graduated from the University of Buffalo and obtained her Master of Science in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin before becoming a reference librarian at SU in 2004.
Her library background began at the Harry Ransom Center, an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas, Dobrowolski said. She then oversaw the reserves at the Austin Public Library.
“The voices that are within these collections, the stories that are within these collections, the experiences — it’s like no other,” Dobrowolski said. “What you get to do in this role is help people learn how to discover them.”
Vanessa St.Oegger-Menn, an assistant university archivist and SU’s Pan-Am Flight 103 archivist, wrote in an email to The Daily Orange that Dobrowolski’s experience in libraries contributed to her work at the SCRC.
“Nicolette has been an invaluable mentor, advocate, and reliable center of the department,” St.Oegger-Menn wrote. “It’s fitting that her expertise and vision have now been recognized in her promotion to director.”
As director, Dobrowolski’s responsibilities go beyond the caretaking of the SCRC’s physical collections; she is also in charge of programming, donor relations and directing a staff of professionals, experts, curators, librarians, conservators, student workers and technicians, she said.
“It’s a lot of balancing, it’s a lot of creative problem solving, which is kind of probably what I love the most,” Dobrowolski said. “No day is exactly the same as the day before.”
Dobrowolski said that in her new position, she wants to add to the SCRC’s reparative archival initiative, which aims to incorporate voices from underrepresented groups in the university’s archives. She plans to review the SCRC’s language in its cataloging, policies and other procedures to ensure inclusivity to achieve this goal.
“She’s looking to fill gaps to make sure that in both the university’s history and in the materials that there is a multiplicity of voices being represented,” Seaman said. “That hasn’t always been a strength of special collections.”
Another initiative Dobrowolski is overseeing as director is the restructuring of the physical SCRC space on the 6th floor of Bird Library. The restructuring process aims to create an inclusive environment with an “administrative” feel, Dobrowolski said.
“Traditionally, we’ve kind of been seen as a scholarly ivory tower,” Dobrowolski said. “We’re trying to, in a physical way, welcome people into our space.”
Along with the restructuring process, certain materials are being moved out of Bird to SCRC’s new storage vault for historical material on South Campus that opened last summer, Dobrowolski said. Both these projects, Dobrowolski said, will make the SCRC collection materials and activities more accessible and visible to SU students.
Dobrowolski’s experience with SU’s special collections and her desire to extend the reach of the SCRC to undergraduates and beyond is what set her apart for the role of director, Seaman said.
“She has very strong leadership skills and she knows the collections extremely well after all these years,” Seaman said. “She’s really passionate about opening the collections up to everybody, especially undergraduates.”
To help students get involved in its work, the SCRC provides opportunities like internships and paid positions, both in the libraries themselves and in the special collections.
The SCRC also hosts events, exhibition openings and workshops through the libraries in an effort to connect with the SU community, Dobrowolski said. Dobrowolski said students can engage directly with the SCRC by viewing its collections and digital exhibits online.
“What we try to do is get the students to really see themselves in our collections,”she said. “It doesn’t have to be scholarly. It doesn’t have to be related to your project. It could be something you’re just personally interested in.”
