MEMEX Vol 2 (2021) - The Annual Magazine of the School of Library & Information Science

MEMEX THE ANNUAL MAGAZINE OF THE

Vol 2

SCHOOL OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE

2021

Director’s Note SLIS Well Prepared for COVID written April 2, 2021

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oday marks 385 days since I sat in my office, redirected lost students looking for the other side of Coates Hall, heard the SLIS telephones ring, or had my morning coffee meeting with Ms. Rozas and Dr. Benoit. As I noted in my opening comments for last year’s Memex, SLIS continued operating relatively smoothly as the rest of campus scrambled into online teaching. In some ways, the past year remained typical—we offered classes, students graduated, regular meetings continued—but a lingering shadow hung over our work as students and their loved ones became ill. Priorities during a pandemic change and we offered as much support and flexibility as we could to help ease their burdens. We look forward to returning to our offices in the near future.

Even during these difficult times, SLIS moves forward. This past year we passed a significant milestone as our student enrollment surged past 300 students—by far the highest in my memory. The class of 2020 included 62 graduates receiving 25 Graduate Certificates & 58 MLIS degrees. Four SLIS faculty received promotions this past fall. Drs. Ju & Stauffer became Full Professors and Drs. Benoit & Stewart were promoted to Associate Professors with tenure. Additionally, we were excited to hire Ana Roeschley, our first Assistant Professor of Professional Practice (AP-PP), and Dr. Allan Martell, our first postdoctoral researcher. I would normally only include reflections on the previous year in my note—I guess I am breaking with tradition for the second year in the row—but cannot help but share that we recently hired Diane Gill, another AP-PP, and are currently looking to hire a third AP-PP and two additional staff members!

The past year also saw increased connections between SLIS and its students and alumni.

Early during the pandemic, SLIS decided to start holding regular virtual coffee hours for students to gather remotely. What started as just a way to relax and get to know each other quickly grew to include guest speakers who focused on stress management, career development, and other topics suggested by students.

Additionally, several students in our new LSU Online programs created their own online network on Slack. Early in the fall semester, several alumni met with Dr. Benoit and I regarding diversity issues. After several meetings, this group became formalized as the SLIS Diversity Advisory Council. The Council met with students and alumni to discuss their needs. SLIS is also creating a Student Advisory Council to provide us with feedback. We look forward to working with both councils moving ahead.

Every year I look forward to reviewing all of our alumni, student and faculty accomplishments. I’m always impressed with all of the good our people are doing in the community. Take a look in this issue of Memex for just some of these things—there are many more that we just don’t have room to include. Please help us tell your stories and let us celebrate with you by sending me any updates throughout the year. Be it a new job, promotion, publication, conference presentation, award, personal milestone (such as a wedding or birth), or community service—let us know!

Be well.

About the Cover

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tudents in the online SLIS programs live across the country.

The crossroads sign post demonstrates just how far away some of our students live from the main LSU campus. This is just the tip of the story. See our main article about students on page 3 of this issue. In addition to marking our physical distance, the crossroads also serves as a metaphor for the ongoing changes within SLIS.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2020

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he School of Library & Information Science congratulates the graduating class of 2020. The class includes a total of sixty-two students and eighty-three degrees. Within the class, students completed the requirements for the Master’s in Library & Information Science. Additionally, many of the following students also earned certificates in Archival Studies (CARST), School Librarianship (CSLIB), and Records & Information Management (CRIM) alongside their MLIS or separately. We proudly welcome our newest SLIS Alumni!

Robert Barnes, MLIS

Julia LeFort, MLIS

Breanna Benson-Pearce, MLIS

Madeline Mahony, MLIS

Courtney Britton, CRIM

Stephanie Mealer, MLIS

Tesa Burns, CARST

Jennifer Miller, MLIS

Monica Cammack, MLIS

Heather Mire, MLIS

Kimberly Cascio, MLIS

Alonda Morgan, MLIS/CARST

Michael Anna Catalanotto, MLIS

Kimberly Mosier, MLIS

Megan Collier, MLIS/CARST

Sean Neary, MLIS/CRIM

Creighton Durrant, MLIS

Katie Pennington, MLIS

Tyesha Evans, MLIS/CSLIB

Ashley Racca, MLIS/CSLIB

Anne Waguespack Hebert, MLIS/CSLIB

Michael Smith, MLIS

Ashley Hebert, MLIS

Regina Stewart, MLIS/CRIM

Jessica Joseph, MLIS

Taylor Toups, MLIS

Hannah Lanoux, MLIS

Sarah Waits, CARST Brittany Whitfield, MLIS

Additional students are not listed upon request of the graduates for privacy.

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Coast to Coast SLIS Student Body Growth Across the United States

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ver the past five years, the enrollment in SLIS programs more than doubled with over 300 students attending as of the Fall 2020 semester. Surveys of incoming students indicate the asynchronous online delivery of the SLIS graduate programs better suits their needs as a majority of SLIS students work during their graduate education.

Additionally, the online programs do not require students to relocate to the Baton Rouge area.

In Fall 2020, SLIS expanded to offer three of its graduate programs through the LSU Online platform; specifically, the Graduate Certificate in Archival Studies (CARST), the Graduate Certificate in Records & Information Management (CRIM), and the MLIS focused on Archival Studies. The LSU Online programs offer courses in a term-based format, with two terms per traditional semester and use a flat rate for tuition and fees—thereby eliminating the out-ofstate fee.

Historically a vast majority of SLIS students came from Louisiana. SLIS, always innovating, moved to an entirely online degree (what we refer to as SLIS Online) years before LSU created its own online platform, LSU Online.

At the time, the SLIS student body expanded to include more out of state students. In particular, students

from Arkansas, Delaware, Virginia, and West Virginia who could pay the in-state tuition rate as part of the Academic Common Market (ACM). During the Fall 2020 semester, 44% of students in the SLIS Online programs resided out of state. Of those, more than half came from the ACM states. The introduction of LSU Online vastly increased the number of out-of-state students attending SLIS (more than 83% out-of-state students).

All combined, a significant majority of SLIS students (68%) now reside outside of Louisiana.

Surveys indicate SLIS students enjoy the geographical diversity of their classmates as it broadens the background experiences they draw on during class discussions. Likewise, SLIS students are engaged in more local, regional, and national professional organizations than ever—representing nearly the entire country. SLIS anticipates this geographical diversity to only increase in the future as it continues expanding its LSU Online offerings.

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Indigenous in LA M adeline Conrad, a School of Library & Information Science (SLIS) student, has published a research guide on Indigenous materials within the LSU Libraries’ Special Collections. Conrad was able to do so through her directed independent study, which is a course of concentrated study to investigate a problem or subject otherwise uncovered

by SLIS courses.

“I encourage other students to take this chance to explore their individual interests,” Conrad stated. “Dr. Benoit provided me with the appropriate amount of freedom and guidance throughout the process, and I came out of the semester with a project that I am ultimately very proud of.”

The research guide represents the many hundreds of items on Native North Americans that the LSU Special Collections maintain, and it places emphasis on those items that pertain to Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley. Conrad viewed it as an “opportunity to explore how non-Native collecting institutions, such as LSU Libraries’ Special Collections, can ethically display materials,” as pertains to Indigenous peoples.

Conrad emphasizes the important of being able to access these materials. Over a dozen Indigenous nations have ancestral lands in the region, and have also left a lasting influence on the region’s culture.

Madeline Conrad (MLIS & CARST, 2021)

“I’m not talking about the distant past, when I talk about these nations,” Conrad said. “The people who constructed the mounds on LSU’s campus, who met de Soto along the Mississippi, who facilitated the French colonial market economy —their descendants still live in this region, care for this land, and maintain the traditions of their ancestors today.”

The research guide has features such as suggested search terms, subject terms, and highlighted texts.

Subjects of interest include the history of different Indigenous tribes, languages, archaeology, early historic accounts, and current governmental relations and legal information on tribes.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The School of Library & Information Science would like to acknowledge the indigenous history of Baton Rouge, and more broadly, Louisiana as part of our responsibility to acknowledge, honor, and affirm indigenous culture, history and experiences. We recognize the communities native to this region including the Caddo Adai Indians of Louisiana, Biloxi Chitimacha Confederation, Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, Choctaw Nation, Coushatta Tribe, Four Winds Cherokee Tribe, Muscogee (Creek), Point au Chien Tribe, Tunica Biloxi Tribe, United Houma Nation, and others whose memories may have been erased by violence, displacement, migration, and settlement. We thank them for their strength and resilience as stewards of this land and are committed to creating and maintaining a living and learning environment that embraces individual differences, including the indigenous peoples of our region.

To identify the indigenous communities in your local area, please see the Native Land Map at http://native-land.ca/

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New & Promoted SLIS Hires New Positions & Promotes Four Faculty Members

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he School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) has grown in more ways than one this year. While student growth has already been noted, SLIS has welcomed two additional members and promoted four professors. Ana Roeschley joins SLIS as an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Archival Studies, and Allan Martell joins as a Postdoctoral Researcher who will collaborate on the Virtual Footlocker Project (VFP).

Prior to Roeschley accepting her new position, she taught as an adjunct instructor in SLIS for the 20192020 academic year. Currently a doctoral candidate in the College of Information at the University of North Texas, her dissertation research focuses on event-based participatory and community archives.

Assistant Professor of Professional Practice Ana Roeschley

grandchildren.

Martell graduated with his PhD in information from the University of Michigan in May. His dissertation focused on the memories of former refugees and guerrilla army veterans during El Salvador’s civil war, as shared by children and

“I was interested in working on the VFP because its mission humanizes the experiences and sacrifices of army veterans. The project will highlight the complexities and nuances of war,” said Martell.

“These veterans’ stories of struggle, resilience, and hope are an important historical source for people to reflect and engage with them as individuals

rather than anonymous service members.”

Roeschley stated of her new position, “As an archivist, librarian, and educator with over a decade of related experience, I am eager to work for a university that committed to serving a community of diverse archives and information science scholars.”

Roeschley also expressed her Postdoctoral Researcher Allan Martell eagerness to teach as part of the SLIS offerings through LSU Online.

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Roeschley is the recipient of the University of North Texas IS Academic Excellence PhD Award and is the inaugural winner of the Dewey E. Carroll Graduate Fellowship. Her education includes a BA in English from the University of Texas at Austin and both an MS in Library and Information Science and an MA in History from Simmons College. Roeschley’s work experience includes time at the Downs-Jones Library and Archives at Huston-Tillotson University.

“SLIS is excited to welcome Allan Martell,” said Ed Benoit, SLIS associate director. “His background fits perfectly with the VFP’s goals and directions. We are lucky to add him to the VFP team and SLIS as a whole.”

SLIS is also excited to welcome Ana Roeschley. Dr. Benoit stated, “Roeschley will further strengthen our archival studies program at an exciting time of transition. Her research and professional experience with community archives and social justice issues place her at the vanguard of archival science.”

SLIS also announced promotions for four faculty members. Drs. Edward Benoit, III and Brenton Stewart were promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure. Additionally, Drs. Boryung Ju and Suzanne Stauffer were promoted from Associate Professor to Professor.

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The College Fix National News Site Features Dr. Stauffer’s Research

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r. Suzanne M. Stauffer, Professor in the School of Library and Information Science, has been featured on The College Fix, a higher-education news site produced by college-aged journalists. The article, titled “TRENDING: Libraries, called too white, are being decolonized,” features many scholars and academics who recognize the role librarians play, as quoted by Dr. Stauffer, in assimilating people into “white American middleclass culture.”

Included in the article is a link to the WisconsinMadison bibliography, “Disrupting Whiteness in Libraries and Librarianship,” which offers recourse for race, racism, and white supremacy. Dr. Stauffer’s work is quoted alongside statements from April Hathcock, scholarly communications librarian at New York University,and Nicole Cooke, associate professor at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina.

School Libraries,” offered particular insights into how 20th century school-librarians instructed children, invoked white culture, and celebrated it as the institutional norm.

Dr. Stauffer also gave practical librarianship advice on collection development and the pulling of materials, stating that librarians must “create and maintain a balanced collection of materials that represents as many perspectives as possible, and that reflects the community.” Beyond these improvements, Dr. Stauffer hopes to see an increase in the profession’s employment of diverse voices, especially if it is to serve diverse populations.

SLIS students and alumni were attributed as having introduced Dr. Stauffer to the consequences of bias within library services.

“Their comments in discussion forums and in conversations are powerful,” Dr. Stauffer stated.

The impetus for Dr. Stauffer’s article came from her discovery of a 1940’s library instruction manual.

The manual, reprinted through the 1970’s, framed “‘whiteness’ as the norm and the ideal.” Despite the fact that librarianship has traditionally proclaimed to be unbiased, Dr. Stauffer recognizes we have made progress since the instruction manual’s time. “The challenge today is uncovering implicit, unconscious biases,” Dr. Stauffer stated.

DID YOU KNOW?

The SLIS newsletter dates back to our founding with the earliest known issue on November 13, 1933 at the start of its third year. Here is an except from the 1933 newsletter: “In the group this year there are seventeen full-time students and four partials, of whom nineteen are candidates for graduation in June. These students are from Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia.

Miss Florrinell Francis, who taught Classification and Cataloging at the University of Illinois Library School and has her master’s degree in Library Science from the University of California School of Librarianship is a new instructor on the staff this year, teaching Classification and Cataloging.”

Professor Suzanne Stauffer

Dr. Stauffer’s research article, “Libraries Are the Homes of Books: Whiteness in the Construction of 6

The newsletter includes a listing of all graduates, their current positions, staff changes at the LSU Libraries, and the passing of an instructor, Miss Martha Conner.

Donor Spotlight: Lillian F. Hoover

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t twenty years old, Lillian Fitzgerald Hoover joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 as one of the first women to do so and left Baton Rouge. Stationed in Norman, Oklahoma, Mrs. Hoover oversaw the women’s barracks at the Naval Air Technical Training Center. “We were the first group that opened up the service for women,” she remembered. “I would join again today. It was wonderful, one of the highlights of my life.”

Mrs. Hoover returned home after the untimely death of her first husband, Erwin Klettke, an ExxonMobil employee. Soon after, she met her future husband, Jimmie Hartman Hoover, who eventually served as director of government documents for LSU Libraries from 1967-1984.

Mrs. Hoover has worked with Trianon/ The ARC Baton Rouge, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, and owned a nursery school. She is still an active member of Louisiana Women Veterans and is one of the oldest living women Lillian F. Hoover with a SLIS student at a College of Human Sciences & Education veterans in the state. According to a Hall of Distinction Ceremony 2019 interview, Mrs. Hoover noted, “It makes me feel proud to be a part of service, and the fact that I feel like I might have accomplished a little something for the freedom of the country.”

Jimmie Hartman Hoover was born in Board Camp, Arkansas in 1930. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arkansas Tech in 1952, and a Master of Science degree in Library Science from LSU in 1958. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1952 to 1957 and was post commander of the LSU chapter of the American Legion from 1974 to 1975.

As described in a 1981 article in the State Times, “Jimmie Hoover is tall, lean, has silver hair and steady eyes. He has a quick and fertile wit and mind. He is likely to solve any documentary puzzle presented to him. And Hoover manages to keep LSU’s government document collection as tidy as he keeps his desk.”

The article continues, “Hoover came to Louisiana from a stint in the Air Force to work on his master’s degree in library Jimmie Hartman Hoover science. ‘I choose Baton Rouge,’ he explains, ‘because I didn’t have an overcoat.’ In 1956, having completed his degree, Hoover accepted a full-time position with the university’s library at LSUNew Orleans. Of the experience, Hoover recalls he seems to ‘have spent four years in dirty clothes’ putting that library together, getting it on its feet.”

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Lillian F. Hoover with a SLIS student at a SLIS Awards Banquet

Mr. Hoover served as an LSU librarian for 25 years and as Government Documents Head Librarian for 15 years. In addition, he taught the graduate course in Government Publications for SLIS from 1974 to 1981. After retiring from LSU in 1984, he served as head of reference at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library from 1984 to 1987, and later as the director of the Centroplex Library. Throughout his professional life, Mr. Hoover authored numerous articles and co-authored the sixth and seventh editions of A Bookman’s Guide to Americana with J. Norman Heard. In 1989, the Louisiana Library Association honored Jimmie with the Lucy B. Foote Award. The award is presented to a librarian who has made longterm contributions to the library profession and to the recipient’s own institution.

Soon after Jimmie’s passing in 2000, Mrs. Hoover created the Jimmie Hartman Hoover Memorial Scholarship is his memory. In 2010, the LSU Foundation honored Mrs. Hoover with a Leave a Legacy Award for her generous support of SLIS. Over the past decades, countless SLIS students benefited from her support and Mrs. Hoover has enjoyed meeting the scholarship recipients for years at annual banquets and keep in touch with them.

Jimmie Hartman Hoover Memorial Scholarship Recipients 2002: April C. Davis

2012: Rachel Gifford

2003: Jan D. Thomas

2013/14: Ashley Barckett

2004: Nicole Morello

2005: Lisa A Lapointe

2015: Stephanie Holloway

2006: Elizabeth West

2016: Samuel Ayers

2007: Laura Balseiro

2017: Michael Perriatt

Mark Baggett

Nicholas Skaggs

Rachel Murdock

2008: Sarah Hebert

2018: Deana Carrillo

Louise Hilton

Marisol Ortiz

2009: Michelle Johnson

2019: Jennifer Razer

2010: Mary K. Jones

2011: Ulonda Slaughter

2020/21: Scott Kleinpeter

Elizabeth Sanders

Trevor Collings

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Brett Williams

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Ishmael Ross Recieves Josephine Forman Scholarship shmael Ross, School of Library and Information Science student, is the 2020 recipient of the Josephine FormanScholarship sponsored by the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church, in cooperation with the Society of American Archivists (SAA).

“We are delighted Ishmael received this award,” says Edward A. Benoit, III, PhD, SLIS associate director and a recipient of LSU’s Advocate for Diversity Award. “His passion for sharing African American culture and making history relevant reflects archivists’ commitment to keeping the public informed and providing context for current events.”

The $10,000 scholarship provides financial support to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival science, encourages students to pursue careers as archivists and promotes the diversification of the American archives profession.

Ross is a graduate student at Louisiana State University (LSU) pursuing a dual degree that combines an archival studies certificate with a Master of Library& Information Science (MLIS) degree.

His decision to pursue a post-graduate degree came from the realization about the lack of diversity among archivists in the Crescent City. In New Orleans, even though the Black community represents amajority of the population, the majority of archivists are white women and men.

Ross recognizes the importance of diversity in thisfield, as well as the value of his perspective as an African American male in the profession.

As a full-time employee of the New Orleans Public Library’s Central City branch, Ross assisted in mounting an exhibit from the Amistad Research Center that focuses on Black feminists in New Orleans. Ross’ internship at the Amistad Research Center focuses on African-American and Civil Rights-related manuscripts and materials.

Ross is specifically interested in the intersection of criminal law and preserving and amplifying the history of African Americans.

The Josephine Forman Scholarship was established in 2010 and is named for Josephine Forman, who served as archivist for 18 years at the Southwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Diversity Advisory Council

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n the fall of 2020, several SLIS alumni reach out to Drs. Barry & Benoit to discuss the future of students of color in Library & Information Science, diversity within the SLIS curriculum, and SLIS’ support of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students. Following an intial meeting, SLIS decided to formally create a Diversity Advisory Counil as a volunteer body responsible for providing leadership, guidance, and feedback to the LSU SLIS program on diversity and inclusion initatives for its alumni and students. SLIS invited the forming council members to the first Virtual Coffeehour of the spring semester to discuss student concerns. The event provided thoughful discussion and helped identify ongoing student needs. A subsequent survey of the student body further provided necessary direction for the Council and identified tweleve individuals interested in joining the body.

Starting in August 2021, the Council will focus its efforts on several areas including, but not limited to, recruitment of faculty, staff and students, student mentoring, diversity within the curriculum, and other issues raised by the working groups of the Council. If you would like to volunteer to be part of the Council, please contact Dr. Carol Barry at carolbarry@lsu.edu for further information.

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Finally, SLIS adopted the following Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement: The School of Library & Information Science is committed to developing and nurturing an educational and professional environment that is welcoming to and inclusive of diverse, under-represented, oppressed, and vulnerable populations. This commitment extends throughout all aspects of SLIS, including recruitment and retention of students, administration, teaching, research, and faculty service. To further this vision, we are committed to creating a culture of transparency, trust, and mutual support among the SLIS administration, faculty, staff, students, and stakeholders.

Faculty News

PUBLICATIONS Chung, H., Nandhakumar, S., & Yang, S. (accepted) GridSet: Visualizing Individual Elements and Attributes for Analysis of Set-Typed Data. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG).

Holden, J. & Roeschley, A. (2020). Privacy and Access in the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Records. The American Archivist, 83(1), 77-90.

Roeschley, A., Kim, J., & Zavalina, O. L. (2020). An exploration of contributor-created description field in participatory archives. In International Conference on Information (pp. 638-648). Springer, Cham.

Roeschley, A., & Khader, M. (2020). Defining data ethics in library and information science. iConference 2020 Proceedings.

Singh, D., Shams, S., J., Park, S.-J., & Yang, S. (2020). Fighting for Information Credibility: An End-to-End Framework to Identify FakeNews during Natural Disasters. (pp. 90-99). ISCRAM. http://idl.iscram.org/files/ dipaksingh/2020/2210_DipakSingh_etal2020.pdf Stauffer, S. M. (2021). “An Emergency Job Well Done”: Friends of Freedom Libraries and the Mississippi Freedom Libraries”. Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, 5(1), 102-128.

Stauffer, S. M. (2020). Educating for Whiteness: Applying Critical Race Theory’s Revisionist History In Library & Information Science Research. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 61(4), 452-462. https://utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/jelis.61.4.2019-0042 Stewart, B., & Ju, B. (2020). On Black Wikipedians: Motivation behind contentcontributions. Information Processing and Management, 57(3), 102134.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2019.102134 Wu, Yejun (2020). Modeling entity and event relations in scientific documents for supporting knowledge discovery and organization, Library and Information Science Research e-Journal (LIBRES), 29(2):77-99. https:// www.libres-ejournal.info/3041/ Wu, Yejun (2020). Developing a taxonomic framework of security methods for security management and information resource management. Journal of Strategic Security, 13(2): 64-77. https://scholarcommons.usf. edu/jss/vol13/iss2/4/ Yang, S., & Ju, B. (2021). Library support for emergency management during the time of natural disasters: Through the lens of public library Twitter data. Library and Information Science Research, 43(1). https://doi. org/10.1016/j.lisr.2021.101072 10

PRESENTATIONS Benoit, III, E. & Brownlee, G. (2020). Foiled again: Adapting focus groups thwarted by coronavirus. Presented at the Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, Virtual.

Benoit, III, E. & Brownlee, G. (2020). Virtual Footlocker Project in the time of COVID-19. Presented at the Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, Virtual.

Stauffer, S. M. (2020).Friends of freedom libraries. Presented at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque, NM. Roeschley, A. (2020). Take the trouble to compile a whole new world: The role of event-based participatory projects in institutional archives. Presented at ALISE, Virtual.

Roeschley, A. (2020). Considering individual and community contexts within information pedagogy. Presented at the Association for Information Science & Technology Annual Meeting, Virtual.

Roeschley, A., Kim, J., & Zavalina, O. (2020). An exploration of contributor-created description field in participatory archives. Presented at the iConference. Boras, Sweden.

Roeschley, A., & Khader, M. (2020). Defining data ethics in library and information science. Presented at the iConference. Boras, Sweden

Dr. Margie Thomas

Former SLIS faculty member, Dr. Margie Thomas passed away on April 25, 2020 at her home in Tallahasse, FL. Dr.

Thomas earned her B.A. from Florida State, her MLS from Columbia and her PhD from Florida State. After graduation from Columbia in 1966, she moved to Fairbanks, Alaska where she remained for 25 years. In 1991 she returned to Florida to work for Newsbank and to study at Florida State. Dr. Thomas was a member of the SLIS faculty from 2001 through 2009. She contributed greatly to the program with her expertise in school librarianship, her commitment to her students, and her lively sense of humor.

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SLIS Introduces Virtual Coffee Hour Sessions

any SLISters of the past remember the social gatherings of students and faculty fondly as times to develop future professional networks, get to know the faculty and staff outside of the classroom, and generally unwind from the rigors of graduate studies. While the switch to a fully online program resulted in a larger student body with more geographic diversity, it eliminated many of these social gatherings we came to enjoy over the years. In the past few years, SLIS attempted different approaches including live streamed guest speakers, live virtual orientations, and hosting a holiday open house both in person and online. While we will keep offering these types of events, we are excited about a new social offering started this past year--Virtual Coffee Hours.

Offered monthly, the Virtual Coffee Hours provide an informal opportunity for students to meet each other, engage in career-related discussions, and other social events. Topics over the past year included a session on stress management, finding internships during a pandemic, meet and greet sessions with alumni working in different LIS fields, how to approach readings in graduate school, and a very engaging discussion with the SLIS Diversity Advisory Council. Finally, SLIS revived the annual faculty versus student trivia competition and the students prevailed in a closely fought battle of the brains.

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Class Notes 1970s

Philip H. Kitchens (MLIS, 1976) established the Philip H. Kitchens Endowment for the LSU Libraries to acquire science and technology resources in perpetuity.

1990s

Miriam D. Childs (MLIS, 1993) is a regular contributor to the “Reference Desk” column in the AALL Spectrum journal, is the including chair of the AALL Government Law Libraries Special Interest Section, and will present, “Legal Deserts in America: What is Meaningful Access to Justice,” at the upcoming virtual American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Meeting and Conference in July 2021.

Lois Kuyper-Rushing (MLIS, 1993) published a new book, A Thematic Index of Works by Eugene Bozza.

2000s

Kristin Whitehair (MLIS, 2004) is currently the director of library services for Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City. She recently received a Health Science Library Network of Kansas City award entitled “Return on Investment – Performance Measurement” for her work implementing service level metrics to measure library performance.

Jennifer Creevy (MLIS, 2000), Assistant Professor at University of Holy Cross, received the DISCON Endowed Professorship and was appointed Secretary for theLouisiana Library Association’s Government Documents Round Table (GODORT).

After having to postpone earlier plans to get married last September, Amy Lynn Jones (MLIS,2013) and Matthew John Simon (BA,2004) were married at the Simon Family Camp in Belle River, Louisiana on March 13, 2021. It was a small ceremony on the river that included a Nail Gaiman reading, a beer toast with a Belgin Tripel the couple made called“I Love My Baby Worts and All,” and banjos. Family, friends, their dog “Sugar Magnolia,”and great weather made for an amazing and magical day!

Amy Lynn Jones & Matthew John Simon

Kara Davis Youngblood (MLIS, 2006), Recently accepted a new position as the Regional Manager of the Edmondson Pike Branch of the Nashville Public Library System. She will continue to manage the Bordeaux branch ofthe Nashville Public Library until a replacement is hired.

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2010s

Pine Wood Elementary named Jill Simon (MLIS, 2014), School Library Media Specialist, as its Elementary Teacher of the Year.

Booklist interviewed Alicia Schwarzenbach (MLIS, 2017), librarian and instructor at Delgado Community College, regarding the use of graphic novels in the curriculum.

2020s Alex Babineaux (MLIS & CARST) and Amanda Kowalski (MLIS & CARST) were each awarded a David B. Gracy II Scholarship by the Society of Southwest Archivists.

Darcée Olson (MLIS) was named as a visiting program officer in The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Advocacy & Public Policy program from April 2021-2022.

Booklist interviewed Soline Homes (MLIS, 2020), librarian at the Academy of the Sacred Heart Lower School, regarding the use of graphic novels in the curriculum.

Jessica Manafi (MLIS & CARST, 2021) welcomed a new child, Sebastian, into the world just before midterms on February 19, 2021.

Madeleine Wieand (MLIS, 2021) accepted a new position at Tulane’s Howard Tilton Memorial Library as Digital Production Coordinator in the Digital Scholarshipand Initiatives Department. She will start in late May 2021.

Jessica & Sebastian Manafi

Kaci Wilson (MLIS, 2021) and Amanda Hawk will present, “Creating Meaningful Hybrid and Virtual Internship Opportunities for Students,”at the 2021 Society of Southwest Archivists Annual Meeting. The presentation will include librarians and students from three other universities

In Memoriam

Beverly Baker Aldridge (MLS, 1978), passed away on December 11, 2020 at age 89. She served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Judge George Armstrong Library for 20 years and retired from the Natchez-Adams Public Schools as a librarian/media specialist after 16 years. She also taught library science classes at the University of Southern Mississippi, Natchez campus.

Laura Mayeux (MLIS, 2017) passed away on April 18, 2021. She was a proud retired educator from East Baton Rouge Parish.

Margaret Shaffer (MS, 1965) passed away in February 2021. She served as the director of the Terrebonne Parish Libraries from 1973 to 1995 and was recognized as the Woman of the Year for Homa in 1981.

We want to hear from you!

Send us any news you would like to share with fellow SLISters, such as weddings, births, promotions, new jobs, awards, publications, awards, presentations, and so on. E-mail your news to carolbarry@lsu.edu

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Spring 2021 SLIS Scholarships Biggs Graduate Student Award Brittany Broz Anna C. Burns LIS Fellowship Farren Benvenuti Ollie H. Burns Scholarship Evelyn Davis Helen M. Yerger Dew Scholarship Christopher Blexrud Donald D. Foos Scholarship Matthew Estill Jimmie Hartman Hoover Memorial Scholarship Scott Kleinpeter Mary Hutcheson Memorial Scholarship Courtney Bodin

Dorothy Beckemeyer Skau Scholarship Theresa Corbin John and Hester Slocum Fellowsip Ishmael Ross Sidone Lawrence Walker Scholarship Chaylee Arellano H.W. Wilson Scholarship Amy Martin-Klump & Addie Troxclair Nettie P. Wilson Scholarship Charity Ringel SLIS also awarded the following scholarships, however the awardees requested their names be withheld from publications: Beta Zeta Scholarship

Lewis Mack Fellowship Tiffany Rockwell

Mary M. Hanchey Memorial Fellowship

Florrinell F. Morton Scholarship Ada Wolin

Suzanne Hughes-Francis Scholarship

Richard W. Peck Scholarship Leah Champagne Agnes Corkern Sayers Endowed Fellowship Michelle Ricketts

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Friends of the Lafayette Parish Public Library Fellowship LLA Trustees Section Fellowship

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