Catalyzing the next generation of researchers

On May 7, amid the hustle of finals and bustle of commencement, scholars, parents, and advisors packed College Library Room 1193 to participate in a time-honored UW–Madison tradition: supporting research. 

The Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Reception recognizes rigorous and complex research performed on campus. Presenters at this year’s event included the 2026 Undergraduate Research Award recipient, two participants in the Student Historian Program, and exhibitors from the Undergraduate Symposium. 

More than just a showcase of research, “the reception gives the Libraries a way to show how much we support and value undergraduate research,” says Jessica Newman, science and engineering librarian at Steenbock Library and the event’s co-chair.

Empowering research is a tentpole of UW–Madison Libraries’ mission, but many undergraduates may not know what’s available — or where to start. While events like the Undergraduate Research Reception can help demonstrate the Libraries’ support, they’re just one component of the full suite of research services the Libraries provide.

“Libraries put the entire continuum of the undergraduate research process into one space,” says Ian Benton, user experience coordinator at College Library, “whether that starts with conceiving of research to performing research to creating an output using our technology and resources to then displaying and disseminating that research.” 

The network of services available at the Libraries functions as a safety net for new researchers, minimizing any unease that can come with an unknown process and exposing undergraduates to a new world of discovery. “You don’t have to have a PhD for your experience of the world to provoke an interesting question and to frame research in a new way,” Benton assures.

Supporting research from the beginning

UW–Madison Libraries provide research support to undergraduates at every step in the scholarly journey, says Kelli Hughes, director of undergraduate library services. 

“We’re always happy to talk with students, no matter where they are — if they’re not sure what topic they want to pursue, we can help them think about different topics or narrow a topic,” Hughes says. “If they’re not finding any relevant research in their area of interest, we can work through that and help them try different databases and different search strategies that they might not have thought about.”

Novice researchers are best served when they seek the Libraries’ support before launching headlong into databases and catalogs, Benton adds. Both subject and generalist librarians can help new researchers begin their project on firm footing: “We can get them to probe their research questions a little bit more deeply and experience the connections that they may not have anticipated existing.”

Services like Ask a Librarian, says Reference Services Coordinator Raina Bloom, were designed with the goal of meeting the needs of undergraduate researchers. The reference service, which offers chat, call, or text support as well as in-person assistance, gives students an easy way to seek out the Libraries’ help early in a project.

That early support also comes right to the classroom, with information literacy instruction embedded into introductory classes across campus. During the 2025–26 academic year, for example, the Libraries staff conducted 1,118 library instruction sessions reaching 25,738 undergraduates within their academic courses. That training is critical to optimizing a research project.

“People can have really deep, really impressive subject knowledge and then not know how to do the information seeking necessary to continue that kind of project,” Bloom says. “Information literacy instruction can help build that skill set.”

Capitalizing on connection

Libraries can set up undergraduate researchers with tech and tools — and even community.

The Digital Scholarship Hub (DSH) helps scholars get comfortable with digital resources that let them reimagine ways to present their research — think maps for a history project or tools that organize archival and research materials, says Brady Krien, digital humanities coordinator at the DSH. In addition to one-on-one consultations and trainings, the unit also offers events and programs that invite researchers to expand their understanding of what’s possible in digital scholarship by networking with their peers. 

“They can start to see what some folks in other departments are doing, really start to connect with some of the possibility,” Krien says. “Engaging with that community is a big part of what we offer.”

At Steenbock Library, students will find ways to interact with the broader research community outside classes or lab placements, which can be hard to come by even on a research-driven campus like UW–Madison, says Newman. The Libraries’ partnership with the Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement (WISCIENCE) gives students in the sciences opportunities to gather, while programming like job panel talks and research mentor workshops can galvanize the next generation of researchers. 

“That space and intention in the libraries is to provide programming that can help students find ways to connect with research on campus, which is invaluable to anyone looking to pursue a career in the sciences,” Newman says.

Benton also sees an opportunity to explore a new type of relationship between libraries and scholars, with Libraries serving as both the supporter and beneficiary of undergraduate research. College Library explored that idea in fall 2025 with ThermoComfort, an undergraduate-led research project that asked students to report their comfort level in areas around the library, with the lofty goal of helping the Libraries’ staff optimize temperature controls across the building. That initial phase was just a jumping-off point, says Benton, “but it’s a proof of concept that we benefit when we’re the client of research.” 

Promoting discovery and celebrating achievements

While graduate and faculty research often comes with publication and funding, many undergraduate researchers navigate their investigations without recognition or financial backing.   

The Undergraduate Research Awards is one way the Libraries fill that gap. Initially conceived to spotlight a completed research project, the award was reenvisioned in 2019 to give one undergraduate scholar $2,000 to fund their library-based research. The award also comes with start-to-finish mentorship and connection with Libraries resources like subject librarians and complex databases.

This year’s award winner, Marie Meyer, a graduating senior majoring in religious studies, relied on relationships with Hannah Swan, history of health sciences librarian at Ebling Library, and Beth Harper, government documents and reference librarian at Memorial Library, to bring nuance to her investigation into the history of Christmas Seals’ public health campaigns.

“I just wouldn’t have found the research to make my argument as strong as I did without the library support,” says Meyer.

College Library has also partnered with the Undergraduate Symposium to display the research posters of 20 symposium exhibitors through mid-August, including during SOAR’s in-person advising at the library. Hughes says the intention is twofold: to recognize the researchers’ hard work and spark interest in a new league of scholars.

“These incoming students will have the opportunity to look at the posters and see themselves in some of these research opportunities and just be inspired, like, ‘Oh, maybe I could do a botany project,” Hughes says.

Capturing stories to inform the future

Research isn’t a one-size-fits-all process; there are many ways to gather, interpret, and share findings. The Student Historian Program approaches the research process from a storytelling angle, inviting undergraduate scholars to explore a topic centered on a historically underrepresented community on campus. 

“Our goal with the program is to give undergrads a platform of support, where they can pursue research based on their own curiosities,” says Cat Phan, digital and media archivist at UW Archives and the program’s director. “We know it’s important to meet students where they are in terms of their research experience. We’ve had students come into the program having none to lots of previous research experience.”

Student historians must meticulously sift through records, documents, and images during their project. Many also conduct oral history interviews that are processed and made available on the Libraries website.

The ability to preserve a spoken historical account was a draw for V Hernandez-White, one of this year’s student historians researching the experience of trans students on the UW campus. When navigating written documents, they faced a challenge finding trans voices or even a “little scrap of trans history.” They hope their work to share the stories of trans students on campus — their challenges, but also their advice, goals, and journeys as individuals — can help fill that gap for future students. 

“This is a very significant time in trans history. We are more visible than we’ve ever been before on the national level,” Hernandez-White says. “To be able to see what the actual lived experience of trans people was like during this time is very, very important.” 

For student historian Haleigh Smith, who studied queer resistance on the UW-Madison campus during the HIV/AIDS crisis, the process of archival research didn’t just illuminate her understanding of her research topic — it also shifted her perspective on what’s possible in research.

“Working with [Archives] was really transformative in the way that I thought about learning and presenting history and the value of storytelling, which is something that I value a lot in my own personal life,” Smith says. “This experience really opened my eyes to it being a valid option.”