One skeleton and his counterparts shake up the Ellender Memorial Library throughout the year during their many adventures.
Biology majors may be familiar with Fred the skeleton because many of his parts can be checked out in the library for educational purposes. However, there is a more lively side to Fred that many students may not know about. Although Fred is primarily used for those looking to study his anatomy, he comes to the aid of all students twice a year for Halloween and Valentine’s Day.
For both holidays, Fred is open to take pictures with all students between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. This same time slot applies for those needing Fred to be their Valentine on Feb. 14. All photos are put in a photo album dedicated to Fred. This album can be viewed in the library near the circulation desk. All of Fred’s photos also are put on the library’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nichollslibrary.
Fred’s family recently grew in the past year with the addition of a girlfriend, Lady Cadaver. Lady Cadaver actually was an old Halloween skeleton dressed as a bride found by the library staff. Once the staff decided to add her to their collection of skeletons, they needed to find a name for her. This led the library to hold a contest in which they asked the Nicholls community to name her. The winner of the contest, Grant Ordoyne, education senior from Thibodaux, received a large bag of M & M’s for his winning name entry.
Along with the addition of Lady Cadaver, Fred is also in the company of the traveling “Fred Head,” who joined the Fred family a few weeks ago. This addition was a collective idea made by the library staff. The Fred Head is a skeleton head which is permanently decorated with Nicholls gear. Students and faculty can check out the traveling Fred Head just like a regular book checkout, but are asked to bring Fred back if they return home early from their adventures with Fred Head.  
So far, Fred has been on three adventures including a trip to Iowa where he visited the set of the History Channel show American Pickers. His inaugural trip was to Gonzales, where he went to see some hot air balloons with April Rome, Library Specialist 3 from Chackbay.
“I had him in my purse, and my daughter and husband thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen,” Rome said.
Throughout her trip with the traveling Fred Head, Rome took many “selfies” with the skeleton head, attracting much attention from thousands of other spectators at the hot air balloon show.
Fred travels in a “to-go” box and can be found at the circulation desk. If Fred has been checked out, there will be a sign in his place stating that he is on a new adventure.
Rome said that the idea of the traveling Fred Head is to get students interested in coming into the library. Library Director Robert Bremer said that the Fred family is a great representation of the library and that it is a good way to draw students into the library.
“The traveling Fred Head adds to the total Fred experience, and we in the library are so lucky that April Rome and her colleagues came up with the Fred idea and have continued to grow Fred and evolve the Fred idea into the attraction it is today,” Bremer said.