For UCLA students, library work becomes a launchpad

When the UCLA Film & Television Archive recently redesigned its website—a complex and consequential undertaking for the world’s largest university-held moving image collection—it tapped into an inspired source of talent: UCLA Library’s student user experience (UX) design team. This group of students brought ideas and ingenuity to the redesign, while gaining hands-on experience that shaped their path at UCLA and beyond.

Student employees are indispensable throughout the Library, their contributions reaching far beyond the visible roles staffing access services desks and shelving books. Their impact ranges from Data Squad students helping faculty and researchers tackle complex coding and data analysis, to communications student employees creating social media content from start to finish, to Film & Television Archive workers conducting hands-on preservation work.

Axa Liauw, the Library’s lead UX designer, who led the FTVA website redesign and managed the student UX design team, said working with students is “one of the most energizing parts of my job.”

In a recent interview for a tech publication, she said the students “contribute to real library projects—not hypothetical exercises—which gives them meaningful, hands-on experience while also strengthening our design work. They also bring fresh perspectives and curiosity that constantly challenge my own assumptions, which makes the mentorship feel very reciprocal.”

Taylor Che ’24 was studying Design Media Arts when she joined the student UX design team. Now a UX designer at Microsoft, she said she still relies on the skills she picked up. “I’m forever grateful for the experience and often think back to what I’ve learned and gained from working at the Library.”

For Michael Elizarraraz ’24, the role offered a chance to build on previous UX internship experience while feeling more connected to UCLA. Working with Liauw through every stage of the FTVA redesign has proven essential to their recent work at various startups. “My Library experience helped me tremendously,” they said.

Like her fellow student designers, Mila Luo found the experience transformative—after graduating last year, it inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in Human-Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. “The real-world experience I gained at the Library definitely helped with my acceptance,” she said. “Working in a collaborative team environment strengthened my leadership skills and my ability to execute tasks within real constraints, both of which I’ve carried into other projects for my graduate study and personal work.”