UTA Libraries Staff Spotlight: Jessica Haws

Jessica Haws works daily to guide the team of student employees she leads at UTA Libraries and ensures that tech resources are available to patrons in her role as the FabLab coordinator for technology lending. 

As the FabLab coordinator, she works with her staff of 10 to address any problem people might encounter with the tech lending machines and the locker machines for the laptop computer rentals. She strives to make a person’s experience at the library go as smoothly as possible. 

Jessica stated that the wide selection of resources that UTA Libraries offers its patrons sets it apart from other universities in the area. She noted that there are more than 2,000 tech lending items in circulation. 

“I know that many other public universities offer laptops for rent for a certain amount of time, but to my knowledge, UTA is the only one with such a diverse offering of resources,” Jessica said. “The variety I have seen so far has been unique to UTA. It goes from the real specialty items to the stuff that I would expect students to need, like a laptop.” 

Jessica stated that she looks to build upon the strong foundation of community that is present at UTA Libraries to be a resource to help others. 

“I would like to build a community around shared knowledge and resources, and this seems like the perfect place to do that,” she said. “The library’s function is to give folks access to certain things, whether it be technology, knowledge or books. I am looking forward to being able to build that out.” 

One way Jessica wants to accomplish this goal is by having several virtual workshops, which would educate library patrons about using the available technology to check out. Plans are still being made for these workshops, with a launch sometime during the summer. 

Since joining the library staff, Jessica stated that she had received a warm reception and that people have made her feel welcome.  

We at UTA Libraries want to extend that welcome and officially welcome you to the team. Welcome aboard.