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Appointments & Retirements

Jenkins, Kana
Kana Jenkins joined University of Maryland, College Park, as curator of the Gordon W. Prange Collection and librarian for East Asian Studies September 15.
January 8, 2020
Liu, Yan
Yan “Grace” Liu was named business librarian at West Chester (Pa.) University August 26.
January 8, 2020
McColl, Ron
Ron McColl became special collections librarian at West Chester (Pa.) University August 26.
January 8, 2020
Morian, Juliane
Juliane Morian was named director of Rochester Hills (Mich.) Public Library in December.
January 8, 2020
Norlin, Elaina
November 15 Elaina Norlin joined the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries in Atlanta as program coordinator for professional development.
January 8, 2020

At ALA

Aleck, Nick
Nick Aleck joined the Information Technology department as user experience manager October 28.
January 8, 2020
Baker, Gavin
The Public Policy and Advocacy Office (PPAO) promoted Gavin Baker to deputy director, public policy and government relations, September 13.
January 8, 2020
Booth, Heather
Heather Booth joined Booklist as audio editor October 28.
January 8, 2020
Caldwell-Stone, Deborah
Deborah Caldwell-Stone was promoted to director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom and executive director for the Freedom to Read Foundation October 24.
January 8, 2020
Clifft, Will
Will Clifft, PPAO public policy associate, left ALA September 13.
January 8, 2020

Cited

Chicago Botanical Garden Lenhardt Library
In September, the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library in Glencoe, Illinois, received the American Institute of Conservation’s 2019 Ross Merrill Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections.
January 8, 2020
McLeod, Clara
The Geoscience Information Society recognized Clara McLeod, earth and planetary sciences librarian at Washington University in St. Louis, with its Mary B. Ansari Distinguished Service Award at its annual meeting September 24.
January 8, 2020
CLIR Postdoctoral Fellows
The Council on Library and Information Resources has named its 2019 cohort of postdoctoral fellows: Rebecca Y. Bayeck, focusing on abolition, transatlantic slavery, early black librarianship, and other topics at New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Mary Borgo Ton, developing pedagogy strategies for Archivo Mesoamericano at Indiana University in Bloomington; Andrew Brown, coordinating digital humanities workshops at the University of Toronto’s Jackman Humanities Institute; Maia Call, improving digital management and library science practices at the US Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C.; Guillaume Candela, developing a digital platform for the Indigenous Languages of the Americas collection at Brown University’s John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island; Christian Casey, developing digital technology tools for the New York University Institute for the Study of the Ancient World; Alicia Cowart, creating a research support program for geospatial research at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Faithe Day, conducting data curation projects at the African American Studies and Research Center at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana; Zachary Furste, developing strategies for preserving and curating executable archival materials at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; Amani Morrison, transitioning the Colored Conventions Project at the University of Delaware in Newark to a new digital platform; Aditya Ranganath, expanding New York University’s infrastructure supporting geospatial research; Brian A. Robinson, developing web-based content for training teachers to use the Digital Library on American Slavery at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Azure Stewart, working at the intersection of engineering education, librarianship, and research at New York University Libraries; Sean Tennant, developing workflows for data creation, use, preservation, and retrieval at Union College Library in Schenectady, New York; Kimber Thomas, facilitating preservation and use of the Community-Driven Archives Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Kevin Winstead, implementing new partnerships for gathering documents and organizing research data for the Colored Conventions Project at the University of Delaware in Newark.
January 8, 2020
Holmes, Gerald
Gerald Holmes, associate professor and diversity coordinator at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Greensboro Libraries, received the UNC Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of his contributions to diversity and equity July 10.
November 1, 2019
Scobey, Sarah
The Colorado Association of Libraries named Sarah Scobey, nonprofit resources librarian at Poudre River Public Library District, as 2019 Colorado Librarian of the Year.
November 1, 2019

Obituaries

Kuhlmeier, Sylvia
Sylvia Darlene Kuhlmeier, 60, died June 28. She worked as a librarian at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, and as library director at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, and Missouri State University in West Plains.
January 8, 2020
Lukenbill, Willis
Willis Bernard “Bill” Lukenbill, 80, professor emeritus at University of Texas (UT) at Austin School of Information, died August 29. He taught library and information science at University of Maryland, College Park, 1972-1975 before joining UT in 1976; he retired in 2010. Lukenbill wrote eight books and more than 40 professional articles, and he presented his research at many international conferences. After retirement, he volunteered as an archivist at Metropolitan Community Church in Austin.
January 8, 2020
Mosley, Rose
Rose E. Mosley, 80, a member of the Maywood (Ill.) Public Library Board for 36 years, died September 10. Mosley was a member of the Illinois Library Trustee Forum starting in 1990 and held at various times the offices of secretary, vice president, and president. The Illinois Library Association awarded her its Outstanding Trustee Award and Citation in 1998. Mosley was a longtime ALA member and was one of the advocates for the merger of the Association for Library Trustees and Advocates with Friends of Libraries USA. In 2009, she became the 2009–2010 president of the merged organization, now known as United for Libraries.
January 8, 2020
Ptacek, Bill
Bill Ptacek, 69, Calgary (Alberta) Public Library CEO since 2014, died October 15. During his tenure, the library built 12 early learning centers across the city and opened two new locations and a new Central Library. Calgary named him as its 2018 Citizen of the Year, and the Urban Libraries Council awarded him the 2019 Executive Board Award. Prior to joining Calgary Public Library, Ptacek was director of King County (Wash.) Library System.
January 8, 2020
Clay, Amos
Amos G. “Randy” Clay, 64, longtime board member at Toledo Lucas County (Ohio) Public Library, died September 26. Clay helped to coordinate fundraisers for the Library Legacy Foundation before joining the library board and served on the Ohio Library Council board from 2002–2005.
January 8, 2020

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

Latest Library Links

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Visiting the library remains the most common cultural activity Americans engage in, by far. The average of 10.5 trips to the library that US adults report taking in 2019 exceeds their participation in eight other common leisure activities. Americans attend live music or theatrical events and visit national or historic parks roughly 4 times a year on average and visit museums and gambling casinos 2.5 times annually. Trips to amusement or theme parks (1.5) and zoos (0.9) are the least common activities on this list. Women report visiting the library nearly twice as frequently as men, and adults aged 18–29 visit the library much more than all older age groups.
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The Cleveland Public Library and the union representing library workers said January 23 they reached a tentative deal to resolve their simmering labor dispute, avoiding a potential strike that would have shut down some library branches and services. About 400 librarians, library assistants, clerks, maintenance workers, and custodians have been without a contract since December 2019. Contract talks between the library system and the union, the Service Employees International Union District 1199, have been ongoing since September, but broke down around the new year. Workers will vote on the contract on January 29.
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TechCrunch, Jan. 23
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ACRLog, Oct. 27, 2019
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ACRL has announced the recipients of its 2020 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award: Nevada State College Marydean Martin Library in Henderson, Nevada; Santa Rosa (Calif.) Junior College Libraries; and University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, Maryland. Sponsored by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO, the award recognizes the staff of a college, community college, and university library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution. Each library will receive $3,000 and a plaque, to be presented at an award ceremony held on each recipient’s campus.
ACRL, Jan. 23
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Kelly Jensen writes: “It’s been making the rounds in every single library publication and social media outlet: Reese Witherspoon is looking for a librarian-in-residence and as long as you’ve worked in a library, that could be you. Sounds great, right? How fun to work with Reese and her team at Hello Sunshine to talk about and promote books and stories by and about women. You just need to submit a 90-second video. To say it’s surprising how quickly this story spread without any critical examination is an understatement. This is a contest—not any sort of job, internship, or position. The winner will receive nothing financial in exchange.”
Book Riot, Jan. 23
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Michael Crider writes: “There’s a lot to be excited about if you’re looking for something new in the world of smartphones. And if you happen to be in the market for a new phone this year, you’re probably wondering what’s on the horizon. Likely features include folding phones, sorta-folding phones, crazy camera arrays, high refresh rate displays, facial recognition, and 5G expansion.”
Review Geek, Jan. 22

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