The College of Liberal Arts launched its first Faculty Book Fair at the Glickman Conference Center in Patton Hall on Friday. 

The four-hour event featured over 50 titles from faculty from over 17 departments, live music, catering and free book donations from faculty members, said Leora Visotzky, assistant director for public affairs at COLA.

“There are publications from Latin American history, philosophy, to geography and everything in between,” Visotzky said.

Daniel Oppenheimer, director of public affairs at COLA, said the turnout was more than the office had expected, with an estimated visitor count of around 600.

“I wasn’t expecting so many students,” said Alaina Bookman, a journalism junior and public affairs intern at COLA. “I thought it’d be more of a faculty event and more stringent, but it seems more relaxing. The line was wrapped around the building with a lot of students.”

Visotzky said she planned the event to feature faculty members’ work from the academic year 2020-21, which didn’t get enough spotlight due to the pandemic.

“People have really been productive during this time,” Visotzky said. “It’s a nice opportunity to get back into the celebratory parts of academia that we’ve lost during COVID.”

Anthropology professor Martha Menchaca wrote a book featured at the event about the Mexican-American experience in Texas. She said the book fair is an opportunity for faculty members to look into research from other departments.

“Especially COLA faculty, I think we have so many it’s hard to keep up with what all of them are doing.” said Kaley Aguero, a visitor at the book fair and senior administrative associate at COLA. “Being able to have some reasonably published books here available to purchase is even more exciting.”

For students, Visotsky said, the event is an opportunity to discover various liberal arts disciplines and explore the research and publishing aspect of being an academic, beyond just teaching in a classroom. Aguero said the book fair is a great way for students to interact with faculty research, which is sometimes intimidating.

“I know when I was a student, they’d always say, ‘Go to office hours and just ask (professors) questions about what they do,’” said Kacie Vanecek, another visitor at the event and administrative assistant at COLA. “But it’s so hard to know what they do. I think (the book fair) is a great way to kind of like get a look into that.”

For future COLA book fairs, Oppenheimer said he hopes to gather more resources and include a book signing event for students to interact with their professors.

“I’m excited to see what changes are going to be implemented,” Bookman said. “I think I’d like to see a structured book talk as well.”

Oppenheimer said he hopes the book fair acts as a reminder and recognition for both students and faculty members of the value of understanding the world through the lens of the liberal arts.

“I think the event is a celebration of the essence of liberal arts,” Oppenheimer said. “COLA is dedicated to the exploration of knowledge in humanities and social sciences, and one of the ideal forms of that is through a book. (The book fair) is a celebration of the faculty, their work and why they’re here.”