News

Blair Booker joined Hinds Community College Libraries August 1, 2018 as the Reference Librarian at the McLendon Library on the Raymond Campus. She comes from Holmes Community College where she previously served as Assistant Librarian and Librarian for 10 years. Aside from Holmes, she has previous reference experience working for the Mississippi Library Commission. She received her MLIS from the University of Alabama.

Kimberly Smith joined the Hinds Community College family on August 1, 2018 as a Library Technical Assistant on the Raymond Campus.  She previously served for 13 years as the High School Librarian at Parklane Academy in McComb, MS. She received her MLIS from the University of Southern Mississippi. Her dissertation, A Content Analysis of "Cinderella" Illustrated Storybooks Housed in the De Grummond Collection, was published in SLIS Connecting (http://aquila.usm.edu/slisconnecting/vol1/iss1/8/). 

Donna Bales of Wesson was recently honored as Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Outstanding Staff member of the Year for the Wesson campus. She has been employed at Co-Lin since 2005 and serves as learning resources assistant in the Evelyn Oswalt Library. Bales is a recipient of the Howell Garner High Performance Award and participates in the Blue Cross Blue Shield employee wellness program at Co-Lin. Prior to Co-Lin, she worked as a library assistant at Mamie Martin Elementary School. 

Molly McManus has been named chief of the Information Science and Knowledge Management (ISKM) Branch in the Information Technology Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).

Prior to joining ERDC four years ago, McManus worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Millsaps College as a librarian with a focus on library information systems and technologies. She is a past president of the Mississippi Library Association and is a graduate of the Mississippi Library Leadership Institute. She earned a master's in information science and a bachelor's in political science from the University of Washington.

Lewonda Gipson joined First Regional Library in June as Collection Development Manager. In this capacity, she leads the team responsible for interlibrary loan, cataloging, Books-by-Mail, and many other services for the library system. Lewonda comes to FRL with many years of experience in team management, sales, and employment coordination.

Hanna Lee began her role as First Regional Library’s Youth Services Coordinator in May. She was formerly the Branch Librarian at FRL's Batesville branch and had a busy summer working with FRL branches to coordinate the Summer Reading Program. Hanna brings an exciting vision for serving young people with her to this new role.

Ally Watkins is the new Youth Services Librarian at the Lafayette County & Oxford branch of First Regional Library. In her varied library career, Ally has been an early literacy coordinator, a youth services supervisor, and most recently,  a consultant with the Mississippi Library Commission, helping libraries around the state with youth services.

Emily Burton became the Branch Librarian of First Regional Library's Batesville branch in August. Prior to joining FRL, Emily worked at public libraries in Virginia, Alaska, Colorado, and most recently Hamilton East Public Library in Fishers, IN. She received her MLIS from Wayne University in Detroit.

Christina Torbert, Head of Continuing Resources and Acquisitions and Liaison to the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Mississippi, was elected Treasurer of the American Theological Libraries Association. She started the position in June, and will serve for one year. Christina is in her third year as a member of the Board of Directors for the Association, and has been a member of ATLA since 2000.

Lauren Martiere joined the faculty of Leland Speed Library at Mississippi College on June 1, 2018. She is the Coordinator of Reference Services and is the liaison to the School of Science & Mathematics. Prior to joining Mississippi College, Lauren was the Reference Coordinator at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine - Southern Utah. She obtained her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and her MA in History from Clemson University.

Peter Dean also joined the faculty of Leland Speed Library on June 1, 2018. He is a Reference & Instruction Librarian and serves as the liaison for the departments of English, History and Administration of Justice. Prior to joining Mississippi College, Peter had worked since 2008 as a Research Services Librarian at The University of Southern Mississippi. He earned his MLIS at Simmons College in Boston.

What if everyone in Pass Christian read the same book and then joined together to talk about it?  That is the idea behind One Book, One Pass.  The 2018 selection is The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea by Jack E. Davis. Over the next 6 months, the community is encouraged to read the book and engage in book discussions, panel discussions, documentary screenings and other programs that will culminate in the Author Presentation by Jack E. Davis on Wednesday, October 17^th at 7pm at the Randolph Center in Pass Christian (315 Clark Avenue). 

The Gulf was the winner of the 2017 Kirkus Award for non-fiction.  This book is a sweeping environmental history of the Gulf of Mexico that presents an engaging, truly relevant new study of the Gulf as a powerful agent in the American story, one that has become “lost in the pages of American history.”

Jack E. Davis is also the author of the award-winning An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century. An environmental historian, he is a professor of History and Sustainability Studies at the University of Florida.  Professor Davis grew up on the Gulf coast and now lives in Florida and New Hampshire. 

If you have not already read the book, copies are available for check out at the Pass Christian Library or for purchase at Pass Christian Books.  Please call the library (228-452-4596) or email passchristianlibrary@gmail.com if you have any questions or need further information.

POINT OF CONTACT:  Wendy Allard 228-452-4596;  w.allard@harrison.lib.ms.us 

Submitted by

Wendy Allard

Head Librarian

Pass Christian Public Library

The Singing River Genealogy-Local History Library is now featured as an official partner of the Mississippi Digital Library at the University of Southern Mississippi.

MDL has an extensive digital collection of state and local historic collections which now include the local history collection that is being digitized at the Singing River library, a branch of the Jackson-George Regional Library in Pascagoula, MS.

The SRGLHL has been working on digitizing many collections since 2006. With the help of MDL, the library has several collections available on-line - both on the MDL website and a new Singing River Digital Archive at Singing River. For more information on MDL partners, visit www.msdiglib.org/about/partners/jsg.

SRGLHL branch manager, Amanda Brooks, said, “The Jackson County Historical Society started by digitizing the family history files using a Xerox coping machine. Since then it has been an on and off project until November 2016. Over the past year we have been implementing new technology and procedures to bring this project truly to life. December 7, 2017 was our launch date for the Singing River Digital Archive.”

Over the last few years, various volunteers and groups, the Library system IT staff and interns, have given hundreds of man-hours to get the collections up and online. So far, SRGLHL has four collections that are fully digitized and made available at http://glh.jgrls.org.  

Future plans include creating more digital exhibits to help further engage local communities with a hope of helping teachers with local history resources. 

“We don’t just want to be a repository of information, we want people actually be able to use these materials when they need them, said Ms. Brooks.

To access these materials, there are no log-ins required and patrons do not have to be in the library to access the information. All services are free at home, or on the road.

For more information contact:

Amanda Brooks, archivist and manager 

Singing River Genealogy-Local History Library - 228-769-3078

http://www.jgrls.org/services/genealogy.html

Submitted by

Rex Bridges

PR & Marketing Manager

Jackson-George Regional Library

On April 24, over 50 people attended the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) Science Café held at the Ocean Springs Municipal Library (OSML). This very special Science Café was a partnership between Gunter Library, the research library at GCRL, and OSML. The Friday Fiber Arts class at OSML, led by Maryanne Anthony, a library assistant at Gunter Library, worked for six months to create a series of coral reef seascapes, which are on display at the public library. Gunter Library head Joyce Shaw proposed the idea to Anthony and OSML branch manager Yvonne Parton in October 2017. The fiber artists had complete creative control over the scope of the project. Shaw arranged for Krista Ross, an educator in Mobile, AL who participated in NOAA Down Under Out Yonder (DUOY), a program for K-12 Educators, to present at the April GCRL Science Café.  Ross spoke about her experience diving, learning to identify fish and coral, and exploring the beauty of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). The FGBNMS is one of the few places where deep-water coral live in the Gulf of Mexico.  Prior to the Science Café, the fiber artists were honored and recognized at a reception with food and other refreshments provided by the Friends of the Ocean Springs Library and a local business, Coffee Fusion.  The GCRL Science Café, a program of Gunter Library, is in its 7^th year of providing informal education for the local community. 

Photograph by Joyce Shaw

Submitted by

Joyce Shaw

Head Librarian

Gunter Library, GCRL

Special Collections at Southern Miss hosted an exhibit opening on April 19 from 4-5 in McCain Library room 305 to highlight the exhibits curated by three Southern Miss students. Special Collections leads a program where students curate mini-exhibits featuring materials from the library. Students learn how to select items for display, install the materials, write label and exhibit text, and publicize the exhibit. This year’s exhibits feature the work of an English PhD student, an English undergraduate, and a library science graduate student. 

Land Pirates and Lawlessness in 19th Century Mississippi, curated by English PhD student (and Spring 2018 graduate) Todd Gray, revisits criminal activity in Mississippi from the early 1800s to mid-century. During this period, parts of Mississippi were considered the frontier. The Mississippi River, Natchez Trace, and south Mississippi served as the backdrops for the criminal exploits of such infamous highwaymen as the Harpe brothers, Samuel Mason, John A. Murrell, and James Copeland. The exhibit features novels, illustrations, and historical accounts of this raucous period in Mississippi. 

Putting the “Able” in Disabled: Representation of Disabilities in Children’s Literature, curated by undergraduate English major Sara Ditsworth, explores the depiction of mental and physical disabilities in children’s literature. The exhibit shows the everyday lives of those with disabilities through photographs and books celebrating diversity and inclusivity. 

Elevating the Ignoble: The Southern Cookbook as a Medium for Cultural Expression and Identity, curated by School of Library & Information Science graduate student Rachel McMullen, looks at stereotypes of the American South in relation to culinary traditions. Many of the stereotypes that are directed at the South’s culinary habits have helped lead a concerted effort to recapture Southern identity as it is harshly defined by curious spectators and concoct a new image by serving up seductive, distinctly Southern cuisine. The cookbooks included in this exhibit do just that by both embracing and celebrating the misconceptions that plague the Deep South to redefine its eccentricities as endearing attributes worthy of the highest level of commemoration: a place at the table.

These exhibits will be on display on the third floor of McCain Library & Archives until February 2019. If you have any questions about the program or the exhibits on display, contact Jennifer Brannock at Jennifer.Brannock@usm.edu or 601.266.4347.

Photograph by Jennifer Brannock

Left to right – Rachel McMullen, Todd Gray, Sara Ditsworth

Submitted by Jennifer Brannock

Curator of Rare Books and Mississippiana

Special Collections, University Libraries

The University of Southern Mississippi