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Appointments & Retirements

Bleisch, Elaine

Elaine Bleisch joined Lied Scottsbluff (Nebr.) Public Library as teen librarian and children’s assistant in November.

March 1, 2021
Cain, Jonathan

In January Jonathan O. Cain became associate university librarian for research and learning at Columbia University Libraries in New York City.

March 1, 2021
DeCicco-Carey, Kyle

Kyle DeCicco-Carey joined Millicent Library in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, as director October 19.

March 1, 2021
Dorr, Jessica

Jessica Dorr became director of Boise (Idaho) Public Library November 30.

March 1, 2021
Ensley, Eric

J. Eric Ensley was appointed curator of rare books and maps at University of Iowa Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives in December.

March 1, 2021

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At ALA

Jarnagin, Briana

Briana Jarnagin left the Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services November 6.

March 1, 2021
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
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

Cepeda, Luisa

Luisa del Carmen Carolina Vigo Cepeda, past director and professor at Escuela Graduada de Ciencias y Tecnologias de la Información, the University of Puerto Rico’s library school, died November 26. She cofounded the Association of University, Research, and Institutional Libraries of the Caribbean and served at various points as its president and its executive secretary. She also served as president of the Sociedad de Bibliotecarios de Puerto Rico.

March 1, 2021
Cornish, Alan

Alan Cornish, 59, director of library technology services at University of Oregon in Eugene since 2018, died November 5. Prior to joining University of Oregon, he served as automation librarian at Texas A&M University Libraries in College Station; systems librarian at National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland; head of library systems at Washington State University Libraries in Pullman; and program manager for the Orbis Cascade Alliance consortium in Eugene.

March 1, 2021
Grimm, Ben

Ben Emmett Grimm, 96, director of Jersey City (N.J.) Free Public Library until his 1985 retirement, died November 9. He served as 1968-1969 president of the New Jersey Library Association, and after retirement worked as a library consultant.

March 1, 2021
Grisham, Frank

Frank P. Grisham, 92, died October 9. He served as director of Vanderbilt (Tenn.) University Library from 1968 until 1982, then as executive director of the Southeastern Library Network in Atlanta until his retirement in 1994. Grisham, who established the Vanderbilt Television News Archive in 1968, received many library awards, including the American Library Association’s (ALA) Melvil Dewey Medal and the Southeastern Library Association’s Rothrock Award.

March 1, 2021
Hauser, Janet

Janet M. Hauser, 85, who retired from Glencoe (Ill.) Public Library as children’s librarian in 2010, died December 7.

March 1, 2021

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

Latest Library Links

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Amy Carlton writes: “In the closing session of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2021 Virtual Conference on April 16, data journalist Mona Chalabi explained how she uses complex and sometimes flawed data—including the dry statistics buried in the appendix of a PDF or a government website—to visually express stories that focus on the humanity behind the numbers.”

AL: The Scoop, Apr. 19
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Over the years, Roberta Saltzman accumulated 700 Jewish cookbooks, with a particular focus on community cookbooks from small-town America. Despite being chief assistant librarian at New York Public Library’s Dorot Jewish Division, Saltzman used her own money to build her collection, which she donated to her workplace before her death. Now, at more than 2,500 books, the collection is likely the largest in existence, drawing researchers from around the world.

Gastro Obscura, March 24
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M. E. Hilliard writes: “Many a mystery novel featuring an amateur sleuth places a librarian in that role. With good reason—outside of law enforcement, no profession lends itself to the role of detective more readily. Librarianship requires a combination of temperament and education that produces a professional with a powerful curiosity and the skill set to satisfy it, no matter how obscure the fact we seek. Though often written off as unassuming, cardigan-wearing bookworms, our jobs require traits more often associated with our hard-boiled colleagues in the investigation business.”

Crime Reads, Apr. 15
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Amy Carlton writes: “At the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2021 Virtual Conference on April 15, the creators of We Here, an online community for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in LIS professions and educational programs, explored the ways in which academic libraries stifle their BIPOC workers through pay and opportunity gaps, enable toxic work environments, and prevent systemic change.”

AL: The Scoop, Apr. 16
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A protest of the East Bonner County (Idaho) Library District’s mask requirement remained unfruitful, as of the latest board meeting April 12. A few dozen protesters began gathering around 4 p.m. at the Sandpoint branch, including library board candidates Kathy Rose and Jalon Peters. Protesters had hoped that following a change.org petition that garnered 365 signatures over roughly five days, board trustees would rescind the library’s mask requirement.

Bonner County (Idaho) Daily Bee, Apr. 13
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Reuters will begin charging for access to its website as it tries to capture a slice of the digital subscription business. The company, one of the largest news organizations in the world, announced the new paywall on April 15, as well as a redesigned website aimed at a “professional” audience wanting business, financial, and general news. After registration and a free preview period, a subscription to Reuters.com will cost $34.99 a month, the same as Bloomberg’s digital subscription. The Wall Street Journal’s digital subscription costs $38.99 a month, while The New York Times costs $18.42 monthly.

New York Times, Apr. 15
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Cape Town, South Africa, ordered precautionary evacuations of communities living along the edges of city landmark Table Mountain on April 19 as firefighters struggled to contain a fire that gutted historical landmarks, including the oldest working windmill in South Africa and a library housing African antiquities at the University of Cape Town. ALA’s Disaster Relief Fund is supporting the recovery and reestablishment of the library.

Washington Post, Apr. 19

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