

Annette Vadnais ’99 brings fun and color to the library
The second floor of the W. E. B. Du Bois library is a true choose-your-own-adventure. Take a left, and you’re in a quiet study room. Take a right, and you’re in RECESS. This aptly named space is home to foosball tables, ring toss, coloring books, and plenty of space to spread out with friends. It’s the perfect refuge for a stressed-out college student.
RECESS—which stands for Recharge, Engage, Connect, Energize, Support, and Succeed—also eagerly hosts events from a librarian-run international snack taste-test to a student-led American Sign Language club.
RECESS is the brainchild of Annette Vadnais ’99, the Student Success & Wellbeing Librarian. Her office is a converted supply closet behind a pillar—her idea, not her boss’s—along one of the walls in RECESS. If Vadnais were a different kind of person, it might seem like she elected to be in this student space to patrol it in a schoolmarm kind of way. But that’s not at all her vibe. She just wants to be part of the fun!
Vadnais might be better known as the “Purple Hair Librarian,” a moniker she took up to make her more memorable—and therefore, accessible—to students. We sat down with her to chat about her journey to UMass, her role in students’ lives, and, of course, her purple hair.
How did you get to UMass?
I’m first gen and low-income, and I grew up in Ware. I was never thinking of college. My father had only completed the seventh grade. I wasn’t very academically minded, and I graduated and wasn’t planning on going to college at all. So that was the plan, and then, when I was working after graduating high school, I met this girl, Beth, who was going to Mount Holyoke. She was like, “You should apply to UMass!” and I was like, “Eh, okay!”
She’d lure me to her house to go swimming, and then she’d be like, “Let’s work on your essay!”
I was like, “I’ll try this college thing for four years and see what it’s like!”
When did you start working at the libraries?
I was walking by the library in February 1995 and saw a sign that said, “We’re hiring.” So I got a job here, and I just loved helping people. I graduated in 1999, got a job in admissions, then quickly got a job here as a building monitor. Then I ran the info desk, and then I went back for my library science degree.
Luckily it worked out well, and I do love working at my alma mater. I love the students, and working with them, and creating a space for them, and supporting their well-being.
How did the purple hair happen?
Originally, I was going to dye my hair gray. But my lovely husband pointed out the fact that that wouldn’t look good on me, as I could almost already have the gray—it wouldn’t be like the young people.
And so my hairdresser—I call her my “hairapist”—did silver on the back and purple on top. But then the silver always came out, so I was like, “Just do it purple.”
Students sometimes ask me if I feel trapped by this choice. I don’t really care. The fact that I don’t have to think about what to do with my hair is fine. And the purple works, and having a normal hair color would be weird now.
Where do you get the passion for your work?
I like to be the campus aunt. Need someone to cheer for you because something happened, and you want to celebrate? Come here! Is your roommate being annoying? I’ve been there.
The new students are just friends. They let me be cool and hang out with them, so it’s like I have a new group of friends every year.
Visit the RECESS website to learn more and see upcoming events. Get in touch with Annette Vadnais at purplehairlibrarian@umass.edu.
Share your most intriguing nooks, niches, coordinates, or curiosities on campus or anywhere in the region. Email magazine@umass.edu and we’ll investigate!