News

Beth Anderson, Administrative Assistant at Dixie Regional Library System, begins retirement at the end of June having dedicated 31 years to DRLS. Anderson first served as Pontotoc Branch Manager. During her five years as branch manager, she planned a variety of events from bedtime story times (complete with pajamas and stuffed animals!) to summer reading with tents and (pretend) campfires. Anderson recalls one particularly ambitious summer program where she hand-cranked snow cones for the entire group of summer reading program participants. She says family was integral during her time as branch manager – from her husband (AKA “friend of the librarian”) changing lightbulbs and fixing toilets to her mother portraying Mother Goose and manning the “make your own” sundae bar to her three sons growing up in the library - her days-old youngest child helping welcome Kindergarteners (including her oldest son) to the library during National Library Week. Promoted in 1995, her time as Administrative Assistant for the system has included juggling PERS, insurance, grant reporting, Dixie News newsletter (print & digital), payroll, accounts payable, procurement of summer library supplies for 8 branches as well as many other duties.  Anderson’s creativity, diligence, and care is a great asset, and she will be greatly missed.   

Submitted by: 

Emily Sutherland 
Assistant Director 
Dixie Regional Library System 

Pictured: Anderson (left) and Sissy (Lyons) Bullock with John Grisham at the 1991 MLA Author Awards Dinner (photographer unknown)

DeeDee Baldwin, Assistant Professor and History Research Librarian at Mississippi State University Libraries, has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) History Section’s Genealogy/History Achievement Award, sponsored by ProQuest. Baldwin received the award for her work on Against All Odds: The First Black Legislators in Mississippi in addition to her continued service to the library and archival communities, the American Library Association (ALA), Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), and RUSA’s History Section (HS). The award includes a citation and a monetary award to a librarian, library or publisher, in recognition of professional achievement in historical or genealogical reference, service, or research librarianship. 

Submitted by: 

Stephen Cunetto 
Associate Dean, University Libraries 
Mississippi State University 

Joy DuBose has been selected as the Mississippi State University Libraries' recipient of the MSU Research Awards sponsored by the MSU Office of Research and Economic Development and the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. Joy is an Assistant Professor and Special Collections Cataloger at the MSU Libraries.  

Submitted by: 

Stephen Cunetto 
Associate Dean, University Libraries 
Mississippi State University 

The Board of Trustees of First Regional Library is pleased to announce the hiring of Lori Barnes as the new Director of First Regional Library. Prior to her acceptance of this position, Barnes has served as the Director of the Jackson-George Regional Library in southern Mississippi.  
 
Barnes has served on the Board of the Mississippi Library Association and was appointed by former Governor Phil Bryant to serve on the Board of Commissioners of the Mississippi Library Commission. Her public library interests include youth services and outreach programming. 
 
Employees at First Regional Library are "excited to have Lori lead our team!" Barnes will begin work at First Regional Library on July 1, 2021. 

Submitted by: 

David Brown 
Brand & Marketing Strategist 
First Regional Library 

The University of Southern Mississippi welcomes two new faculty members at Cook Library on the Hattiesburg campus. 

Melissa Brooks joins the University Libraries faculty as an Associate Professor and the Head of Technical Services.  Melissa earned her BS in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and MSLS from the University of Kentucky.  She is currently working on an MBA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Prior to joining the USM Libraries, Melissa was the Metadata/Discovery at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Head of Metadata and Data Services at West Virginia University.   

Melissa is excited about being a new member of the Mississippi Library Association and working with a great group of people.  

Diana Simpson joins the University Libraries faculty at Southern Miss as an Assistant Professor and Catalog Librarian. As a member of the Technical Services department, she is responsible for cataloging monographs and serials in multiple formats, with particular emphasis on special collections materials. Diana has 15 years of librarianship experience at both academic and public libraries in Ohio and Michigan, including serving as the Nonprint and Monograph Cataloger at Ohio University Libraries. She earned her M.L.I.S. at Kent State University.

The University of Southern Mississippi's Gunter Library, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, and School of Ocean Science & Engineering will host this year's SAIL/CYAMUS Joint Annual Conference. The conference will be held virtually on May 19-20, 2021. Registration is $30. For more information about the conference schedule or registration, please visit the conference website at  https://guides.library.stanford.edu/jscac2021/home. For questions regarding the conference, please contact SAIL Conference Planning Committee Chair Joyce Shaw at joyce.shaw@usm.edu.  

SAIL and CYAMUS  are regional groups of the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC), an organization of librarians and information professionals involved in all aspects of aquatic and marine sciences and their allied disciplines. The association provides a forum to exchange and explore ideas and issues of mutual concern. 

As SAIL and CYAMUS collaborate to create a useful, timely, and engaging conference, they mirror the members libraries that collaborate with their constituencies to support scientific communication, scholarly engagement, and mission success. Building the bridges within our communities, connecting people and knowledge, and serving as trusted arbitrators, SAIL and CYAMUS libraries are leaders in partnering and supporting each other and our researchers, faculty, students, administrators, and public. 

Submitted by: 

Joyce Shaw 
Head of Gunter Library, Professor 
University of Southern Mississippi 

The Northeast Regional Library (NERL), headquartered in Corinth, Mississippi was awarded the 2021 Jane Smith Literacy Award by the Mississippi Library Commission and the Mississippi Center for the Book for their Suggested Family Activities (SFA) project. The Jane Smith Literacy Award recognizes innovative and nontraditional literacy programs being used in public libraries across the state of Mississippi. 

Pictured: Director Dee Hare

NERL’s SFA program offers suggestions for a variety of activities from arts and crafts, games, outdoor activities, STEM experiments, community engagement, and cooking, and more. The short activity write-ups are posted three times a week on Northeast Regional’s website, as well as printed out to distribute to patrons without internet access. 

The focus of the program is to offer ways for families to build early literacy skills in young children and support positive family relationships. Care is taken to ensure that activities do not need special supplies or equipment beyond common materials found in the home. NERL began the SFA program as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such the suggested activities are social-distance friendly. 

Additionally, the Northeast Regional Library (NERL) was also awarded a Library of Congress State Literacy Award for the SFA project.  

Submitted by: 

Dee Hare 
Director 
Northeast Regional Library 

Waynesboro-Wayne County Library was the recent recipient of two national American Library Association (ALA) grants, and the only library in the state of Mississippi to receive either of these two highly competitive grants this year.  

Out of 170 applicants, Waynesboro-Wayne County Library was one of only twenty selected recipients to be awarded ALA’s Community Connect: Digital Access at Home grant.

Community Connect: Digital Access at Home is a collaborative initiative between the American Library Association (ALA) and Capital One Bank and offers resources to help support digital access and financial capability in rural communities nationwide. Community Connect seeks to expand the service capacity of rural libraries by offering hotspot lending policies and financial capability seminars; improve the digital access of rural library patrons via hotspots and enhance opportunities for social mobility by pursuing remote education, economic inclusion, financial management, and health; and demonstrate the efficacy of the pilot program and use results to build consensus on how to address sustainable digital inclusion for rural communities. The grant provides rural, public libraries with five Wi-Fi hotspots (including with two-year service contracts) for lending to patrons; a $2,000 stipend to support implementing financial capability programs; a curated book list of financial literacy titles featured in ALA’s Financial Literacy LibGuide; a copy of ALA Editions’ “Rainy Day Ready: Financial Literacy Programs and Tools”; and professional development and support. For more information on grant eligibility and how to apply, visit their website at http://www.ala.org/tools/programming/communityconnect. 

The Waynesboro-Wayne County Library was also selected as one of 200 libraries to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Focus on Small and Rural Libraries. LTC is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) that seeks to provide community engagement resources and opportunities specific to the needs of library workers serving small and rural communities. This nationally competitive award consists of $3,000 grant funds to help address issues of concern in local communities. The Waynesboro-Wayne County Library will be purchasing Wi-Fi hotspots to check out to the residents of Wayne County and focus on bridging the digital divide. For more information on grant eligibility and how to apply, visit their website at http://www.ala.org/tools/librariestransform/libraries-transforming-communities/focusgrants/guidelines. 

Submitted by: 

Patsy C. Brewer 
Director 
Waynesboro-Wayne County Library 

With the retirement of several long-time employees, Dixie Regional Library System has welcomed several new faces as well as some familiar faces in new roles. Two branch managers, one cataloguer, and four library assistants have joined the DRLS team in the past six months.

Teri Hamilton was hired in August 2020 as Branch Manager of Houlka Public Library. As a dedicated library patron with roots in Houlka, she has stepped into her role smoothly. Her first display featuring a Mississippi author even caught the social media attention of the author – Carolyn Haines – and created further networking opportunities for Hamilton. Hamilton has ‘hit the ground running’ and has several projects underway.

Marie “Minnie” Bounds began as Branch Manager at the J. S. Edmondson Memorial Library in October 2020. Bounds worked in the library a few years back through a NCBA employment program. Bounds says she has “worked over 45 years in several different job’s positions. I have experienced working retail, clerical, administration, and medical. Every opportunity I have undergone I realized they all were dealing with people public relations. So, my goal in life is “not to be judgmental for we don’t know the road that others have traveled.” 

Pam Morton was hired in October 2020 as Cataloger for DRLS’ eight branches having previously served as a library assistant at Pontotoc County Library. Morton’s attention to detail has lent itself well to her new position and she says “There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy working in the library!  I love my coworkers and my job." 

A familiar face at Pontotoc County Library’s front desk, Pam Metcalfe welcomed the opportunity to take on more hours. Her commitment to providing the very best service to patrons is an asset to the community. 

Cassie Swords is a familiar face in a new role at DRLS. Having worked as library clerk for several years, Swords was excited at the opportunity to increase her role and responsibilities as a library assistant at Pontotoc County Library. She says, “I have always been involved at my local library and firmly believe the library is a gateway to success.”  

At Jesse Yancy Memorial Library in Bruce, two long-time patrons have landed their “dream jobs”. Shea Smith Hubbard, new library assistant, says, “Before I was hired at JYML, I was a loyal patron, coming in to work on my resume and to search online for a job. It was a wonderful coincidence that I found my dream job right here. It is a perfect fit for me.” Brandy Kellum, part-time library assistant and substitute, states “Because of my love of reading, I had always dreamed of working in a library surrounded by books. I love it!” 

Submitted by: 

Emily Sutherland 
Assistant Director 
Dixie Regional Library System 

Jamie Stanfield, Science, Nursing, & Health Librarian and Assistant Professor at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Library and Joyce M. Shaw, Head of Gunter Library and Professor at Southern Miss Gulf Coast Research Laboratory co-presented at the 24th annual Atmospheric Science Librarians International Conference on January 14, held in conjunction with the annual American Meteorological Society Conference. Their presentation “Strengthening Engagement with Graphic Novels: Climate Change, Clean Energy, and the World” included an annotated bibliography of graphic publications about ocean pollution, climate change, and energy which is available upon request at guntergcrl@usm.edu.   

Justin Easterday, Education and Human Sciences Librarian and Assistant Professor at Southern Miss Gulf Coast Library also presented “Creating Accessible Library Instruction for Today’s Virtual Learners” at the 2021 ASLI Conference.  

Submitted by: 

Joyce Shaw 
Head of Gunter Library, Professor 
University of Southern Mississippi