By Staff Writer Michaella Lesieur.

The Claire T. Carney Library staff celebrated Halloween on campus this year by holding a Library Halloween Costume Contest. “We wanted to promote our social media accounts,” said Kari Mofford, Division Head of Access Services and main coordinator of the event.

The contest consisted of eight staff members dressing up as a variety of book, television, and movie characters. Students had until midnight on Halloween night to fill out a form with their guesses as to which character each staff member was, in hopes to win a Halloween-themed prize and candy. This form could have been picked up at the Circulation or Learning Commons desk, or be filled out online. Whoever guessed the characters most specifically and received the greatest amount of points would win.

“This is the first time we’ve made the event into a contest,” Mofford said. “Before, it was more for our own fun.” Mofford, a fan of ​The X-Files​, was dressed as Dana Scully. Students could easily see the costumed staff members during the three “parades” held throughout the library around 10:30 a.m., noon, and 2:00 p.m. A group picture was also posted on the library’s social media pages, which include Instagram (@umassdlibrary) and Twitter

(@Carney_Library).

“We wanted to be visible,” said Denise Charland, Library Assistant Supervisor. Charland was dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West from ​The Wizard of Oz​, complete with green face paint and a broomstick. She even had the infamous witch’s cackle and iconic “I’ll get you, my pretty” line mastered.

Other staff members chose recognizable costumes, like Meg Griffin from ​Family Guy and Jack Sparrow from ​Pirates of the Caribbean.​ Evening Circulation Supervisor Maureen McDevitt’s handmade aardvark ears headband and yellow sweater identified her as Arthur Read from the children’s series ​Arthur​.

“I grew up with the books and watched the shows,” McDevitt explained. While many of the staff had chosen their costumes because they already owned them, McDevitt made the brown and pink construction paper ears specifically for the contest. The yellow sweater and white collared shirt were borrowed from her mother.

More difficult costumes to guess were Miranda Priestly from ​The Devil Wears Prada​, The Raven from Edgar Allan Poe’s work of the same name, and Janet from NBC’s ​The Good Place​, worn by Social Sciences & Data Services Librarian Rachel Baum.

Out of the sixteen entries, the two top prizewinners were announced on November 2 to be Bridget Harrington and Janet Ezemba. They were able to “choose from a few different Halloween-themed prizes,” according to Mofford.

The three runners-up were Beverly Louizor, Kyania Burke, and Heather Vanderpool. Each of the five students won Halloween candy goodie bags. Students should expect to see more staff-involved activities from the Claire T. Carney Library staff in the future.