You’ve likely seen the Dartmouth Libraries stickers dozens of times around campus, stuck to water bottles, computer cases laying out at the library's circulation desk. I first discovered them at the Baker-Berry Library open house, where a handful were out on display. There are 27 sticker designs in total, distinguished by their unique style: colorful, imaginative and playfully abstract. Each circular sticker represents a specific library or study space, designated in bold font on the bottom.
The stickers were first created in 2021 as “part of a competition” where students were asked to “submit designs for stickers,” according to Dartmouth Libraries communications manager Leonee Ariel Derr. Though the competition crowned Library fellow Betty Kim and student worker Iva Devic winners, the previous communications manager was very impressed by the colorful designs of the Tower Room and Sanborn Library made by Davey Barnwell ’13. According to Derr, Barnwell’s designs evoked the spirit of the libraries so well that library staff commissioned Barnwell to work on a much larger series of stickers depicting every major Dartmouth library space.
Barnwell said that working on the project allowed her to reconnect with spaces that “always provided solace and refuge in a time when I was very much searching for meaning and community.”
In her time at the College, Barnwell said she “always loved Sanborn,” and wanted to capture the “familiar feel” of each spot in her designs, which meshed with her “abstract” yet “descriptive” style.
“Each library space seemed to have a distinct character and function — everyone I knew had a favorite alcove or a preferred table,” she said. “I have tried to capture the feeling of each space in this art collaboration, honoring those days as a student when I would stumble upon a new corner of the library to discover exactly what I was looking for.”
While she didn’t win the contest due to a technicality — Sanborn is owned by the English department rather than Dartmouth Libraries — her sticker was good enough that she “was commissioned for the Tower Room,” and later every major library space, Barnwell said.
The stickers were originally designed to encourage students to explore new study spots, support the arts and for use in a fun scavenger hunt, Derr said. However, the stickers served another important purpose — to “revitalize the libraries” and encourage students to explore new spaces within them after the pandemic caused students to spend more time working in their dorms, according to Barnwell.
Derr said that when the stickers debuted in 2021, library staff pitched them as a vehicle through which students could explore the libraries in a school-wide scavenger hunt. The stickers — each style only available at the library it depicted — brought students across campus, exploring both popular and lesser known libraries in their quest for the full set.
While many stickers, such as those illustrating the 1902 Room, first floor Berry and Baker Library, “went quickly,” others sent students on a larger detour and were thus less collected, Derr said. The scavenger hunt was an informal poll of Dartmouth students’ favorite libraries, with popularity measured by how frequently stickers needed restocking.
“No offense to Feldberg, but [the Feldberg stickers] can’t be the best loved ones because they’re still around,” Derr said.
At first, only 26 of the 27 stickers were available for public collection. The remaining sticker — one depicting Ivy, the previous social media manager’s dog who Derr said “was [at the libraries], like 24/7” — was the prize for those who had collected the previous 26. However, now that Ivy no longer frequents the library, her sticker is scattered throughout the library and appears at Dartmouth Libraries events.
Sticker collector Nina Kieserman ’28, who was introduced to the stickers through the library open house during New Student Orientation, has collected 26 out of the 27 stickers in her five terms so far. She is only missing 3FB’s sticker. She said she plans to “put them all on a wooden chest” with duplicates on her laptop.
“I think that there need to be more scavenger hunts around campus,” she said. “Something like this connects people and it’s the kind of background campus event that’s just really fun to participate in.”
In restocking the various sticker locations with Derr, I found out that some stickers have hundreds, if not thousands, of copies left, while others have dwindled down to single digits. While the stickers are stocked less frequently now, most are still available if you arrive at the location depicted in the sticker at the right time.
According to Derr, the library currently stocks just one Reiss Hall sticker, two 1902 Room stickers and three Book Arts Workshop stickers, which she intends only for a student who brings a near-complete collection to her office. Additionally, students can acquire the Baker Tower sticker through a tour of the tower, which occurs during special events and sporadically throughout the year, Derr said. Students can find most of the stickers, however, at libraries’ information booths, strewn across tables or even through a quick conversation with a librarian.
The hunt for this iconic sticker collection is still alive and well. Well into my freshman fall, I’m currently at 24 out of 27 — just 3FB, 4FB and the Tower Room still elude me. Part of the appeal is the limited edition aspect of the stickers: They haven’t ever been reprinted. However, despite the fact that the collection was released four years ago, a few full sets are still out there.
In my quest for these stickers, I’ve explored so much more of the library, had dozens of conversations with librarians and staff members and found new study spots. While they may appear to be just colorful vinyl, the library stickers represent so much more: the initial desire to reengage with campus after COVID, an alumna’s fond memories of the various nooks and crannies of the library and the 26 academic spaces and one dog that shape Dartmouth community.
Correction Appended (Nov 16, 3:29 p.m.): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that there are only three Jones Media Center stickers remaining — it has been corrected to say that there are only three Book Arts Workshop stickers remaining. Additionally, the article previously stated that the stickers would never be reprinted. However, this statement was not confirmed and has now been removed.
