My name is Keyyatta Bonds, and I am part of the second cohort of the William & Mary Libraries Mosaic Program. I am Sophomore at the College, planning to major in International Relations (even though taking more ECON classes is not what I envisioned for my future). On campus, I am on Alma Mater Productions' (AMP) Live Committee as well as on Council and serve as the Undersecretary for Socioeconomic Affairs under the Diversity Initiatives committee of Student Assembly Cabinet. I am very passionate about inclusion and diversity, which is a large reason for why I applied to the Mosaic Program. I wanted to demonstrate that people of color, when given the opportunity, can be successful in a variety of fields.
The application for the program came out around the same time as the Forbes op-ed piece arguing that Amazon stores should replace libraries. It was a very disturbing to see how removed the writer of the piece was from social and economic problems that prevent people from accessing a luxury like Amazon. Libraries are an essential part of serving and educating a community; arguing that these fountains of knowledge should be replaced by a profit-driven, powerhouse company like Amazon, because of high taxes, is an ultimate slap in the face to people who cannot afford such luxuries.
I was very excited when I got the email congratulating me on getting the position, not only because the program represents something I am passionate about, but also because this would be my first job ever. I currently work in the External Relations Office under Tami Back as a Marketing and Library Administration Intern. During my short time here – as I've only been working at the library for about a month and a half – I've worked on many projects. One of my biggest projects thus far has been the creation of a video touring W&M's institutional repository, ScholarWorks, which debuted during Open Access Week. I have a bit of media training from high school (as I was in Yearbook and was the Public Relations Director for my high school specialty program's student committee) but have never done a project this comprehensive before on my own. From that project, I learned a lot about Final Cut Pro and the intricacies that come with video editing. I will never rush anyone who is editing a video for me again! In the near future, I will be creating another video: it will be a holiday-themed video as a way to thank our donors and the W&M community for supporting and using W&M Libraries.