I am ACRL Member of the Week

Educator, problem solver, collaborator.

I am reading The House of Unexpected Sisters, the latest in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series by Alexander McCall Smith. These books were a favorite of my mom when she was alive and I would buy her each one as it came out. I have continued that tradition for myself, in her honor, and it’s a joy to think how books can keep us connected. I also just finished Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson as background for my new role in museum education as docent at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Collegial, educational, forward-leading.

What I value about ACRL is that it connects us to a community of global librarians who inspire and inform our work, it provides professional development opportunities to transform our thinking and practice, and it leads the way in advocating for the value of libraries and our role as active partners in advancing student learning.

I retired two years ago as dean of the library, and now I continue to use my knowledge and commitment by serving as President of the Friends of the Library, taking on a renewed position of advocacy for support of the Library with faculty, students, university administration, alumni, and the broader community. I am also active as a Board member of the University Founders Club, whose mission is to “strengthen and support the University, its academic enterprise, and its position in the greater New Orleans community…”, and I use this role to highlight the value of the library for the university and the community.

In my career of over forty years at seven different institutions, I have always found joy, inspiration, and satisfaction in working in a profession whose mission is to promote student learning and information literacy, insure free access to information for all, protect intellectual freedom, facilitate scholarly communication, support academic integrity, value quality service, and offer continual learning every day, standing shoulder to shoulder with like-minded colleagues.