Fall 2020 Issue

Top Stories

Read more faculty, alumni and student news:

Faculty Accomplishments, 2019-2020

Dr. Aaron Elkins co-authored an article in a refereed journal and a conference proceeding:

Elkins, A. J. & Hollister, J. (2020). Power up: Games and gaming in ALA-accredited library and information science curricula in the United States. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 61(2), 229-252.
Marino, J., Evans, S., Moore, J., Smith, D., Schultz-Jones, B., & Elkins, A. J. (2019). Preparing library professionals for data literacy leadership: Administrator perspectives. In Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) 2019 Conference: Exploring Learning in a Global Information Context.

Mr. Kerol Harrod was interviewed for a D Magazine story, “In the Time of COVID, What Little Kids Need is Vaudeville” (October 12, 2020).

Dr. Gretchen Hoffman was awarded a "Most Promising New Textbook" award (college-level) from the Textbook and Academic Authors Association for her first textbook publication, Organizing Library Collections: Theory and Practice (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). She served on the panel for a Technical Services SIG program, “Resources for Teaching Technical Services in a Rapidly Changing Global Environment,” at the 2019 Association for Library and Information Science Education conference in Knoxville, TN. Also, Dr. Hoffman received the TWU College of Professional Education (COPE) Outstanding Advising Award for 2019-2020.

Dr. Ling Hwey Jeng gave several presentations during 2019-2020:

Asset-Based Community Development at the United Way of Denton County, Project Blueprint: Nonprofit Leadership Development Program, on October 8, 2019
Diversity at the United Way of Denton County, Project Blueprint: Nonprofit Leadership Development Program on November 12, 2019
"Am I Too [Fill-in-the-Blank] to Be Heard: A Leadership Reflection Exercise" at the 37th Academic Chairpersons Conference, in Savannah, GA, on February 6, 2020
“A Panel Discussion with Leaders in Academic Librarianship,” at the Cross Timbers Library Collaborative on August 7, 2020

Ms. Amy Lanier published an article, “School Libraries Without Walls: Preserving the Library's Sense of Place,” in Texas Library Journal, Summer 2020 issue.

Dr. Hyuk-Jin Lee co-authored a book: Lee. H. J., Joo H. Y., & Lee. S. M. (2019). Encyclopedia of traditional Korean monsters, volume 2.

Dr. Jennifer Moore had several paper presentations. She co-presented 2 papers at the 2019 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Conference in Athens, Greece, in August 2019, “Data Literacy Leadership Preparation for School Librarians” and “Integrating Computational Thinking into Technology Courses for School and Youth Services Librarians.” Dr. Moore’s paper, “Preparing Library Professionals for Data Literacy Leadership: Administrator Perspective,” was presented by her co-authors at the 2019 Association for Library and Information Science Education conference in Knoxville, TN.

Dr. Moore co-presented her refereed paper, “Data Literacy: School Librarians as Data Coaches,” at the 2019 International Association of School Librarianship Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in October 2019. She served as an invited panelist for two sessions, "ALA's Ready to Code (RtC): Roundtable Discussions" and "Practical Strategies for Developing Data Literacy Skills across Content Areas," at the 2019 American Association of School Librarians conference in November 2019 in Louisville, KY.

Dr. Moore was also invited to serve as one of three judges representing the 26th Congressional District of Texas in the 2019 Congressional App Challenge, and she co-hosted a National Forum on integrating computational thinking into LIS youth services courses at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference, on January 24, 2020.

Dr. Carol Perryman gave 3 poster presentations, along with Dr. Ling Hwey Jeng:

“Transforming Libraries into Community Anchors in Rural Texas,” at the 2019 Association for Library and Information Science Education conference in Knoxville, TN
TLCART community engagement at the SENCER 2020 Regional Symposium on Citizen Science, in January 2020
“Integrating Community Engagement in LIS Curriculum,” at the 2020 Association for Library and Information Science Education virtual conference, in October 2020

Dr. Rachel Simons published a refereed journal article: Simons, R. N., Fleischmann, K. R., & Roy, L. (2020). Leveling the playing field in ICT design: Transcending knowledge roles by balancing division and privileging of knowledges. The Information Society, 36(4), 183–198. She had a refereed conference proceeding: Simons, R. N. (2019). Good Systems: Ethical AI for CSCW. ACM Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

Dr. Simons also had a juried conference presentation: Simons, R. N. & Koltai, K. (2020, March). Best practices of collaborative course development: Lessons learned by design. Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) Conference on Undergraduate Informatics Education. Austin, Texas.

Dr. Meti Tmava is the co-author of a new book: Tmava, A. M., Helge, K., & Zerangue, A. (2020). Sustaining and enhancing the scholarly communications department: A comprehensive guide. ABC-CLIO.

Dr. Sylvia Vardell has had multiple items published:

Vardell, S. and Wong, J. 2020. Poetry in the Social Studies: A Teaching Activity About Voting. Middle Level Learning. National Council of Social Studies, 69, 19.
Vardell, S. 2020. Connecting Readers with Books, Authors, and Illustrators: All Virtually. School Library Connection. August/September. 43.
Vardell, S. Ed. (2020). A world full of poems: Inspiring poetry for children. London: DK Books.

Dr. Vardell served on the 2020 ALSC Children’s Literature Legacy Award committee, which announced the award recipient at the 2020 ALA Midwinter Meeting. Also, she was a keynote speaker (along with Janet Wong of Pomelo Books) at the “Write to Learn” conference, in Osage Beach, MO, on February 28, 2020. Her topic was pursuing equity through poetry.

Dr. Slava Zavalin had a conference presentation accepted but could not attend the conference in Wuhan, China: Zavalin, V. & Miksa, S. (2020, August). Collecting and evaluating large volumes of bibliographic metadata aggregated in the WorldCat database: Challenges and possible solutions. Presentation at ACM IEEE JCDL 2020 workshop 4 "Organizing Big Data, Information and Knowledge."

Alumni and Student News, 2019-2020

Alumni News

Amy Bearce (MLS 2014) published a new book in 2020, Paris On Repeat, and she has another book coming out in February 2021, Rome Reframe.

Rose Brock (MLS 2003, PhD 2013) was one of the featured speakers at TWU’s 5th annual Jamison Lecture on March 5, 2020. As the editor of Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration, Rose was invited to speak along with Angie Thomas, bestselling author of The Hate U Give, in a lecture titled “The Power of Books: Inspiring Hope and Fighting for Social Justice.”

Amy Dennis (MLS Spring 2020) was interviewed for two ALA articles in spring 2020 on how libraries and librarians are helping their communities, regarding the response of the Tom Green County Library System in San Angelo, Texas, where Amy is the Community Relations Coordinator and Community Spaces Manager: “Staying Open during COVID-19” in American Libraries Magazine (March 23, 2020), and “From Crafts to Masks: Empty Makerspace Makes Protective Gear” on the Programming Librarian website (April 7, 2020).

Amy was also interviewed for a local news story, as featured in a TLA Weekly News Brief (October 7, 2020): “San Angelo ISD teams up with Tom Green County Library System to modernize reading and literacy through Ebooks and E-audiobooks.”

Lisa Gherman (MLS Spring 2020) was selected as a recipient of the TWU Outstanding Practicum Student – School Librarian, during her final semester as a SLIS student.

Mona Kerby (MLS 1980, PhD 1984) was the recipient of the 2020 American Association of School Librarians’ Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to school librarianship and school library development.

Clara Latham (PhD 2005) was featured in a story, “MSU Texas Moffett Library open during finals week,” in the Wichita Falls Times Record News (May 9, 2020) about her retirement as University Librarian, after more than 30 years of service at Midwestern State University.

Kayleigh Matheson (MLS Spring 2020) was selected for the American Library Association Student-to-Staff program, during her final semester as a SLIS student in Spring 2020, at the ALA 2020 Annual Conference, June 24-26, 2020, which was moved to a virtual conference.

Emily O’Brien (MLS Spring 2020) was selected as a Diversity Scholar in the Association of Research Library’s 2019-2021 Kaleidoscope Program. According to the ARL website, “The goal of the ARL Kaleidoscope Program is to attract master of library and information science (MLIS) students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to careers in research libraries and archives.” Students who are selected for the Kaleidoscope Program receive a $10,000 scholarship stipend, conference travel support to the ARL Annual Leadership Symposium, travel support for a research library visit, a mentorship, paid membership of a major professional association, and support to attend a training and skills development opportunity.

Peace Ossom-Williamson (MLS/MS Dual Degree 2013) was elected to the Texas Library Association (TLA) Executive Board as Representative-at-Large (Special) in March 2020. Peace received the Ida and George Eliot Prize from the Medical Library Association for her article, co-authored with Christian Minter, “Exploring PubMed as a Reliable Resource for Scholarly Communications Services,” published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association (2019 Jan, vol. 107, no. 1).

Peace was also recognized by TWU with a 2020 Hallmark Alumni Award for her positive professional impact, and she was recently featured on the Medical Library Association’s “I Am MLA” blog (October 8, 2020).

Allison Renner (MLS 2016) had a book published by Rowman & Littlefield in May 2019: Library Volunteers: A Practical Guide for Librarians.

Maureen Turner Carey (MLS Spring 2020) wrote an op-ed piece for the Austin American-Statesman (April 20, 2020) about how the Westbank Community Libraries are supporting their community. Maureen is a public service and PR librarian at the Westbank Community Library District.

Student News

Elizabeth Dianne Connery, a member of the TLCART grant cohort, is the Director of the Pottsboro, TX, Public Library. In addition to being featured on the SLIS website for her community health initiatives, she was one of the speakers in the TLA Talks webinar: Small Community Libraries COVID19 Response, and she was interviewed in a Library Journal article, “Libraries Connect Their Communities with WiFi, Even from Closed Branches” (April 1, 2020).

Rebekka Girard received a Presentation Grant award from the TWU Center for Student Research. The award will support her presentation at the 2020 ASIS&T annual meeting in October 2020, being held virtually this year.

Carol Mussoter was certified with the Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) by the Medical Library Association. She was motivated to do so while taking LS 5483 Patient and Consumer Health Information and completed the 12 continuing education units required. Carol is a military veteran and former nurse, involved with patient education.

Faith Patane and Krystal Smith each won an ALSC scholarship to attend the 2020 virtual symposium of the Association for Library Service to Children.

Rachel Reed was interviewed for a story by a Houston television station in April 2020 about Harris County Public Library System employees using 3D printers to make personal protective equipment (PPE) for first responders.

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