When it comes to the Hesburgh Libraries, Gabriela Sierocka has a word of advice for incoming freshmen.

“Don’t be intimidated. All of the resources are there for students — take advantage of them.”

First place winner of the 2026 Library Research Award in the Capstone or Thesis Research category, Sierocka says she remembers her own trepidation as a freshman, particularly when it came to Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC).

But after the computer science major added an Italian minor, emboldened by her semester abroad, she found her class visiting RBSC. There, she discovered the Zahm Dante Collection, which inspired her thesis, “Visions of Judgment: Reimagining Dante’s Inferno in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Art,” advised by Theodore Cachey.

“My senior honors thesis began with a question about seeing,” she said. “How do four artists across two centuries look at the same poem and find something entirely different in it?”

To answer that question, Sierocka began her research in RBSC. There, she explored depictions of Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” using the Zahm Dante Collection and medieval manuscript facsimiles.

When Sierocka couldn’t find what she needed in RBSC about a particular artist, she turned to the Libraries’ catalog. The resource pointed her toward an oversized volume of the artist’s work located in the Library’s stacks. The book’s size revealed illustration details that proved essential for Sierocka’s research.

“I needed not just books but objects: the kind of primary materials that ask you to slow down, that resist the speed of digital research and that insist on being read with attention,” she said. “The Hesburgh Libraries provided that, repeatedly and generously, in ways I could not have anticipated when I began.”

Sierocka also embraced the Libraries’ digital resources, such as JSTOR Image Search and Marble, a cross-institutional research tool that allows users to discover materials from the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, RBSC and the University Archives, to supplement her research.

“What I learned through this process is that library resources do not merely support an argument — at their best, they change one,” Sierocka said. “The Hesburgh Libraries did not provide a backdrop for this thesis. They were the condition that made it possible.”

Going forward, the research skills Sierocka developed at the Hesburgh Libraries will guide her as she pursues a master’s degree in applied digital health at Oxford University.

“The master’s program is very focused on writing papers and interacting with scientific research,” she said. “I will definitely take my experiences here at the Libraries and in the computer science department and apply them in the future.”

Sierocka was not the only student recognized in this year’s Capstone or Thesis Research category.

Senior Kate Rafford, who placed second in the Capstone or Thesis Research category, also credits the Hesburgh Libraries for inspiring her project, “Magic in the Sound of Her Name: Remembering the Female Faculty at Notre Dame 1970–1981,” advised by Kathleen Cummings.

“I definitely could not have even started my project without the Library,” she said. “I took a thesis class in the fall that required us to attend some of the Library’s workshops. One of them introduced us to the University Archives. That is where the most important sources for my research came from.”

For her thesis, Rafford examined the coeducational experience of women who served as Notre Dame faculty members between 1970 and 1981 — a topic she discovered in the Archives while seeking resources for her original research idea.

“Those resources piqued my interest,” she said. “Without the help of library staff and resources, I would not have discovered this fascinating research topic, nor would I have been able to learn so much about Notre Dame’s history.”

Like Sierocka in RBSC, Rafford, an American studies and economics major, initially felt intimidated by the University Archives.

“There’s so much there. I initially felt overwhelmed, but I worked with experts in the Archives, and they helped guide me to the resources that I needed,” she said.

In addition to the Archives, Rafford utilized Zotero, a program she was introduced to in a library workshop, to organize and manage all of her citations. She also took advantage of the Libraries’ search tools, print materials and databases. Through one of those databases — the South Bend Tribune archive — she found news stories from outside the University that helped her gain insight for her thesis.

“My thesis would not have been possible without the sources I found in the University Archives collection, further supported by library workshops, databases, search tools, print and digital resources and study spaces,” she said. “I am very thankful to the library staff for guiding me through this journey and consistently supporting the resources that enable student success.”

Before starting the process, Rafford was intimidated by the prospect of writing a 40-page thesis. In the end, she wrote more than double that. But finishing her nearly 100-page thesis doesn’t mean the end of the graduating senior’s research journey.

“The research skills that I have developed this year will be helpful in my future pursuits, as I will be pursuing a master’s in education with the Alliance for Catholic Education,” she said. “I’ll be teaching third grade in Northern California, and also taking master’s in education classes here at Notre Dame. So I’ll certainly be spending more time in the Library for at least the next two summers.”

And like Sierocka, she has advice for incoming students who may feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the Libraries or just research in general.

“Seek out the librarians’ help and take workshops,” she said. “There’s so much to discover in the Library, and it is fun exploring all of the possibilities.”