Christine Nobbe, Instructional Coach, has her collection of R2D2 merchandise featured at the Schlafly Branch Library.  This was in celebration of “Star Wars Day”, May 4th, which comes from a play on words with the franchise’s famous line “May the force be with you”.

Among these items were a R2D2 purse, screwdriver, apron and phone charger, to name a few.  Nobbe says her favorite item on display is her R2D2 purse.

“Its practical and fun.  When I wear it, people talk to me.  It’s a great way to meet people, a scary R2D2 purse…You carry the purse, people come and talk to you,” Nobbe joked.

Nobbe said she chose to collect R2D2 merchandise because the robot character actually inspired a lot of significant people in the field of robotics in a time when robots were very simple.  She also said that the “cute” design helped get rid of the fear of robots perpetuated through films.

“When I was teaching full time I taught robotics…at that time a lot of kids were actually scared of robots because in movies, they are often the scary terminator kind of thing…so R2D2 became the cute robot that helped kids connect better to robotics.” Nobbe said.

The Saint Louis Public Library contacted Nobbe to see if she had anything space related to be displayed for their celebration of Star Wars Day.  Nobbe has never been associated with the Saint Louis Public Library before, so she was surprised they reached out to her for the collection. She believes it is because she is well known in Saint Louis because of her involvement in the STEM field.

“The librarian contacted me…he said ‘hey, do you want to come do something space related?’,…and I said ‘sure, I’d be glad to come.  What I’ll do is an R2D2 display.” Nobbe said.