People
Appointments & Retirements
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Strnad, Benita
In March Benita Strnad retired as associate professor and education reference librarian at University of Alabama Libraries in Tuscaloosa.
August 28, 2023 -
Stankus, Tony
Tony Stankus, life sciences librarian at University of Arkansas Libraries in Fayetteville, retired in March.
August 28, 2023 -
Smith, MacKenzie
June 30 MacKenzie Smith retired as university librarian and vice provost of digital scholarship at University of California, Davis.
August 28, 2023 -
Shelley, Amelia
Amelia Shelley retired as director of Fort Vancouver (Wash.) Regional Libraries July 31.
August 28, 2023 -
Palguta, Diane
January 30 Diane Palguta retired as information commons associate at Butler University’s Irwin Library in Indianapolis.
August 28, 2023
At ALA
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Stachowiak, Kara
June 5 Kara Stachowiak joined ALA as conference manager.
August 28, 2023 -
Speranza, Sophia
Sophia Speranza joined ALA Editions as publishing associate in May.
August 28, 2023 -
Robbin, Amber
In April Amber Robbin became marketing and membership manager for Core.
August 28, 2023 -
Petrowski, Mary Jane
March 31 Mary Jane Petrowski retired as associate director of ACRL.
August 28, 2023 -
Malenfant, Kara
Kara Malenfant, senior strategist for special initiatives at ACRL, left ALA June 16.
August 28, 2023
Cited
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Massey, Sheri
April 16 Sheri Massey, library media specialist at Cabin John Middle School in Potomac, Maryland, was named School Librarian of the Year by the Maryland Association of School Librarians.
August 28, 2023 -
Hickson, Martha
The New Jersey Library Association named Martha Hickson, librarian at North Hunterdon High School in Clinton Township, its 2023 Librarian of the Year June 1.
August 28, 2023 -
Erickson, Miriam
January 29, 2023 -
Armstrong, Kacie
In August, Ohio Library Council named director of Euclid (Ohio) Public Library, its 2022 Librarian of the Year. Armstrong—who is being recognized for her efforts to curb learning loss during the pandemic, provide more afterschool activities, and recruit minority librarians, among other achievements—is the first Black woman to receive this honor.
November 16, 2022 -
Johnson Quinn, Arianne
Arianne Johnson Quinn, music special collections librarian at Florida State University’s Warren D. Allen Music Library in Tallahassee, received the inaugural Noël Coward Fellowship from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Noël Coward Foundation in February. She will spend the 2022–2023 academic year in New York City with direct access to never-before-seen Coward artifacts for research.
May 12, 2022
Obituaries
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Wand, Pat
Patricia “Pat” A. Wand, 81, longtime ALA and international library leader, died April 28. During her career, Wand held positions at Wittenberg University Library in Springfield, Ohio; College of Staten Island, City University of New York; Columbia University Libraries in New York City; and University of Oregon in Eugene. She also served as university librarian and professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and as dean of library and learning resources and professor at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. She chaired ALA’s Budget Analysis Review Committee and Committee on Legislation and helped to grow ALA’s endowment as an endowment trustee (and later senior endowment trustee). On behalf of ALA and other library associations, she testified three times before the US House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations in support of budgets for the Library of Congress and the Superintendent of Documents. She was also particularly active in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), serving on its board, as chair of its Budget and Finance and International Relations committees, and as ACRL representative on ALA Council. She helped found the ACRL Instruction Section in 1977 and chaired the Anthropology and Sociology Section from 1982 to 1983.
August 28, 2023 -
Thompson, Marilynn
Marilynn “Dale” Thompson, 79, director of Providence (R.I.) Public Library (PPL) for 34 years until her 2014 retirement, died March 25. In 2001, under her leadership, PPL received the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
August 28, 2023 -
Miller, Helen
Helen Miller, 82, who worked for 38 years at the Free Library of Philadelphia until retiring in 2005 as director of public services, died March 2. As the library’s West Philadelphia area administrator, Miller developed significant collections of African American and Southeast Asian materials and oversaw the opening of three new branches in West Philadelphia. As chief of neighborhood libraries, she administered the operations of 48 branches and three regional libraries, and chaired the Preschool Door-to-Learning Task Force that created preschool centers in all branch libraries. When Miller became the library’s director of public service in 1995, she managed an $18 million Model Urban Library Services for Children grant from the William Penn Foundation, which renovated branch libraries.
August 28, 2023 -
Keller, Jenny
Jenny Keller, 42, school librarian at Krieger Schechter Day School in Baltimore, died January 23.
August 28, 2023 -
Haynes, Anne
Anne Haynes, 75, who was a librarian at Indiana University in Bloomington before her retirement, died February 27. She worked as a music librarian, cataloger, and a reference librarian in her 40-year career at the school. She also volunteered as a literacy tutor at Monroe County (Ind.) Public Library.
August 28, 2023
Send notices and photos to Greg Landgraf, glandgraf@ala.org.