Last year, first-year students at Williams College used library resources to solve a theft of Shakespeare's First Folio from the college's Chapin Library of Rare Books in 1940.
This fall's introduction to the campus libraries and their resources asked first-year students to put on their thinking caps to solve yet another college mystery - more macabre than the last: What happened to founder Ephraim Williams head?
In 1854, a group of Williams alumni went to place a memorial on Ephraim Williams grave and found that Ephraim's skull was missing. A cloud of suspicion has hung over Ephraim's nephew and Williams graduate, Williams H. Williams! Was he the thief? Did he steal the head? Why?
More than 450 first-year students began the mystery tour by watching a humorous welcome video starring librarians and students. Along the way, the first-years used archival material and online resources, including the library's catalog, a database containing historical New York Times articles, and the course reserved readings system.
Students also gathered clues from members of the library staff, who, entering the spirit of the game, swore them to secrecy saying, "We're not supposed to talk about it." Students also gathered clues from videos of Williams professors who, entering the spirit of the game, swore them to secrecy saying, "We're not supposed to talk about it."
First-year student Brookes Clemmons, from Charlotte, Vt. was enthusiastic about the tour. "I thought it was a good introduction to the different library computer systems," she said. "I got to see how I'll be using them in courses. I also liked the fact that we did this in groups because it was a great way to meet people."
The main point of the exercise said Lori DuBois, reference and instruction librarian, was to bring students into the library. "By making the introduction fun, I hope we've encouraged students to feel more comfortable in the library," she said. "When it's time for them to do research, they'll know we're approachable and ready to help them."
As a further step in enhancing the approachability of librarians, students received two Librarian Trading cards in their campus mailboxes. Each card bore the picture of a librarian and provided details about his/her "superpowers" (specialties), vulnerabilities, and contact information. All of the cards may be seen on the library website at http://www.williams.edu/library/trading-cards.php .
Evan Seely of Woodstock, Vt., the first to finish the Library Mystery Tour, said the game was a great way to introduce students to the libraries and to the campus. He also learned a little bit about the history of the college. "We had fun," he said.
"And that, after all, is what the Mystery Tour was all about," said DuBois. As to the answer to The Mystery Tour: How Did He Lose His Head? Sorry, but she's sworn to secrecy.
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Mount Greylock Regional School District 2nd Quarter Honor Roll
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School District 2025-2026 2nd Quarter Honor Roll.
The total school enrollment is 538, of which 356 have made the Honor Roll for the 2nd quarter.
Grade 12
William Apotsos, Teigan Brady, Alexander Briggs, Jaime Brito, Molly Cangelosi, Paige Cangelosi, Adriana Carasone, Ava Charbonneau, William Cortes, Everett Crowe, Shubham Devre, Ruby Dufour, Maxwell Easton, Frances Evans, Arianna Henderson, Skylar Johnson, Emilie Jones, Violet Kornell, Kiera Kristensen, Nora Lopez, Amelia Madrigal, Krishiv Malhotra, Luca Mellow-Bartels, Teresa Moresi, Natasha Nugent, Audrianna Pelkey, Madison Powell, Kofi Roberts, William Svrluga, Dana Taylor, Fanny Thomas, Jesse Thompson, Honor Tidmarsh, Charlotte Towler, Jack Uhas, Thomas Warren, Mateo Whalen-Loux, Antonia Wied, Evora Xu, Andy Zheng, Olivia Zoito
Grade 11
Sofia Asch, Zamir Ashraf, Everett Bayliss, Sam Beck, Anthony Bianchi, Shaelyn Breault, Nathaniel Brody, Lukas Burrow, Addison Cart, Serena Chen, Autum Cobb, Cassidy Cohen-McFall, Caiomhe Conry, Beonca Cunningham, Mai Dekel, Haydn Derby, Ashby Edmunds-Warby, Sara Ehle, Noah Fredette, Anna Garnish, Nathan Gill, Robyn Gregg, Sabine Guerra, Maia Higgins, Patrick Holland, Haylee Jackson, Benjamin Kapiloff, Timothy Karampatsos, Nathan Keating, Cecelia Keogh, Grant Landy, Coralea Lash-St. John, Adele Low, Corey McConnell, Kimora Melanson, Lauren Miller, Claire Morin, Bryce Mullally, Aodhan Murphy, Jin Namkoong, Gabriella Nicastro, Marley Pesce, Miles Primmer, Reese Raymond, Lexxus Rolnick, Leo Slater Lee, Maxwell States, Nora Stricker, Nolan Stuebner, Cornelia Swabey, Paige Tudor, Zoe Woo
Grade 10
Aiden Abreu, Myra Annuva, Rowan Apotsos, Amelia Art, Carmela Banzon, Josephine Bay, Dominique Bernier, Chelsie Bertolino, Lilian Bertolino, Tate Carothers, Aiden Champagne, Ella Charbonneau, Dylan Clowes, Antonio Constantine, Cole Creighton, Jillian DeChaine, Charlie Della Rocca, Jada Devenow, Tanley Drake, Jackson DuCharme, Keira Errichetto, Aliza Evans-Mahoney, Landon Filiault, Hailey Fredenburg, Emma Frost, Lydia Gaudreau, Jordyn Goerlach, Stella Gold, Margot Gordon, Oscar Heeringa, Jacob Hillman, Maximus Holey, June Holzapfel, Luke Irwin, Morris Israel, Kaleigh Jaros, Bella Kennedy, Jackson Killam, Kai Kornell, Londyn Labendz, Parker Langenback, Hunter Lawson, Walter Love, Charlotte McKenna, Katharine Mercier, Alessandra Moresi, Ava Neathawk, Finnegan Noyes, Reed Olney, Averill Oxborough, Olivia Perez, Keaton Repetto, Anthony Richardson, Corey Rudin, Miyako Schonbeck, Elizabeth Spelman, Elise States, Edward
Strolle, Addyson Sweet, Joseph Szymanski, Emily Thayer, Finnegan Voisin, Henry Wall, Maximilian Wied, Dow Young, Andrew Zuckerman
The Holyoke wrestling team Saturday took the final two championship bouts to pull away for the title by a 12-point margin over Mount Greylock at the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Championships. click for more
The Community Preservation Committee last Wednesday heard from the final four applicants for fiscal year 2027 grants and clarified how much funding will be available in the fiscal year that begins on July 1. click for more
The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee is grappling with the question of how artificial intelligence can and cannot be used by the district's faculty and students. click for more
