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Appointments & Retirements

McCall-Wright, Patti

Patti McCall-Wright became systematic review librarian at University of Florida’s Health Science Center Libraries in Gainesville February 7.

January 8, 2021
Lehner, Leanne

Leanne Schwandt Lehner retired as director of Jefferson (Wis.) Public Library in February.

January 8, 2021
Boisclair, Marissa

Genesee District Library in Flint, Michigan, named Marissa Boisclair children’s librarian in September.

January 8, 2021
Busch, Mariele

Mariele Busch became librarian at North Adams (Mich.) Community Memorial Library in August.

January 8, 2021
Butts, Peter

In August Peter Butts joined Three Rivers (Mich.) Public Library as children’s librarian.

January 8, 2021

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At ALA

Hix, Genevieve

Assistant Director for Major Gifts Genevieve Hix left ALA October 9.

January 8, 2021
Plagman, Emily

Public Library Association Manager of Impact and Advocacy Emily Plagman left ALA October 2.

January 8, 2021
Barac, Ligia

Ligia Barac left ALA’s Finance and Accounting department August 7.

November 4, 2020
Cai, Julie

Julie Cai left ALA Graphics August 7.

November 4, 2020
Figueroa, Miguel

Miguel Figueroa, director of the Center for the Future of Libraries, left ALA September 4 to become president and chief executive officer of Amigos Library Services.

November 4, 2020

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Cited

Gut, Rachel

The Better Business Bureau of Dayton and Miami Valley’s Women in Business Network named Rachel Gut, deputy director of Dayton (Ohio) Metro Library, one of its Top 25 Women of Impact.

January 8, 2021
Tang, Lydia

Lydia Tang, special collections archivist and librarian at Michigan State University in East Lansing, received the Mark A. Greene Emerging Leader Award from the Society of American Archivists.

January 8, 2021
Rhodes, Angela

State University of New York at Morrisville presented Angela Rhodes, associate systems and electronic resources librarian, with its Distinguished Librarian Award in August.

November 4, 2020
Buljung, Brianna

Brianna Buljung, teaching and learning librarian at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, has been awarded a Fulbright US Scholar Grant to lecture at China University of Mining and Technology in Xuzhou in spring 2021.

September 1, 2020
Koscielski, Roberta

Roberta Koscielski, deputy director of Peoria (Ill.) Public Library, was named Librarian of the Year by the Illinois Library Association in July.

September 1, 2020

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Obituaries

Tucker, George

George R. Tucker, 78, trustee of Toledo Lucas County (Ohio) Public Library and most recently board president, died June 12.

January 8, 2021
Goode, Diedre

Diedre Goode, head of children’s services at Great Neck (N.Y.) Library, died in May.

January 8, 2021
Mlawer, Theresa

Theresa Mlawer, 75, president of Lectorum Publications from 1976–2009, died March 21. Lectorum was the largest distributor of Spanish-language books in the US, and she negotiated Spanish-language rights for the works of authors like Dr. Seuss, Marc Brown, and Patricial Polacco. In recognition of her efforts to promote library and information services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking, the Reforma Northeast Chapter recently renamed its lifetime achievement award in her honor.

January 8, 2021
Berry, John

John N. Berry III, 87, editor in chief of Library Journal 1969-2006, died October 10. Berry won the American Library Association’s (ALA) Joseph W. Lippincott Award in 1992 and the Service to the Association for Library and Information Science Education award in 1993.

January 8, 2021
Fischer, Hans

Hans J. Fischer, 87, died August 27. In 1960, he founded the architecture firm that was ultimately known as Fischer-Stein Associates; for 30 years, he led the firm and designed many libraries. After retiring in 1990, he served as a consultant for more than 50 library projects in Kansas.

January 8, 2021

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Send notices and photos to Amy Carlton, acarlton@ala.org.

Latest Library Links

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Register to attend the Presidential Candidates Forum at ALA Midwinter Virtual on January 23 at 1 p.m. Central and engage in real time with ALA’s presidential candidates Stacey Aldrich, Ed Garcia, and Lessa Pelayo-Lozada. Renew your membership by January 31 to ensure that you receive a ballot for the election. The 2021 Virtual Membership Information Session takes place January 23 from 11–12:30 Central. Register to attend. Members are also invited to attend ALA Council sessions beginning January 24. These sessions offer a chance to learn more about the work of ALA’s governing body. For other Governance events, please check out the listings in the program scheduler. You do not need to register for the conference to attend these events.

ALA Governance Office
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After the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020, Fox Sports analyst and former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho felt compelled to do something. By June, Acho decided to channel this discourse into a YouTube series called Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. American Libraries caught up with Acho ahead of his January 24 appearance at the ALA 2021 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits Virtual to discuss his series and book, as well as equity in professional sports and the power of libraries.

American Libraries Trend, Jan. 20
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ALA Treasurer Maggie Farrell writes: “Last year started off as a productive but worrisome one for ALA finances, as evidenced by critical conversations held at the 2020 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Since then, additional circumstances—including the pandemic—have aggravated ALA finances as libraries struggle with their own budget declines. Despite everything, member leaders remain committed to addressing ALA’s ongoing budget concerns and to creating a path toward a healthy financial future.”

American Libraries column, Jan./Feb.
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How many times has ALA held Midwinter Meetings? What year was the ALA Code of Ethics adopted? When are this year’s Youth Media Awards? We’ve got the stats on the history and happenings of ALA’s Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in By the Numbers.

American Libraries Trend, Jan./Feb.
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Sarah Mangiola writes: “On January 20, 2021, Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as president and vice president, respectively, of the United States. It’s a historic moment for the country, as Kamala Harris will be the first female, first Black, and first Indian American vice president. The kids in your life can join in the celebrations with these stories, including books written by Kamala Harris, a new picture book about White House dogs Champ and Major, and more.”

Brightly, Jan. 16
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As shared by the official Twitter account of Ursula K. Le Guin’s estate, the author is getting her own commemorative stamp from the United States Post Office. The stamp, the 33rd in USPS’s Literary Arts series, features a portrait of Le Guin in front of an illustration from a scene in The Left Hand of Darkness, her 1969 novel.

Gizmodo, Jan. 16
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The Food Timeline is an obsessively catalogued, exhaustively comprehensive resource on the history of what humans have been eating from from 17,000 B.C. onward. The site was the life’s work of reference librarian Lynne Olver, and it languished after her death in 2015. A profile in Eater last summer revived interest in the site from archivists, and now the Special Collections and University Archives department at Virginia Tech University has acquired Olver’s 2,300 books (right) and management of the site.

Eater, Jan. 12

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