Classes taught: Grant writing, Adult Services, Rural Library Management

Lecturer: K.C. Williams

Location: Lives in Knoxville, works in Maryville, Tennessee as director of the Blount County Public Library.

Academic/Work Background: I didn’t know I’d be a public librarian, it looked like the hardest type of librarian job.

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is pleased to announce a $30,000 gift from the John C. Winslow Fellowship Fund to establish the John C. Winslow Memorial Scholarship. Current and prospective students who are already working in public libraries and who are graduates of the University of Tennessee and/or Vanderbilt University will be given special consideration.

Featured student: Nick Floyd

Location: Nashville

Education: Bachelor’s of music from Belmont University, Nashville

Current job: I work with a music company called Naxos, we deal with every aspect of the music industry, largely classical. I specifically work in licensing and library services. We have a subscription service that public libraries, universities and performing arts organizations subscribe to. It’s an educational, electronic resource. We basically have a music software that has educational resources as well as streaming music.

Why SIS?

When Ari Baker (’15) first got the career assessment results back that said they’d be an ideal librarian, they were skeptical. After all, they’d spent some time volunteering to shelve books at the Blount County Public Library, and it hadn’t been all that exciting.

Lecturer: Ashley Maynor (’13)

Location: New York City, NY

Academic Background: I was a college scholar, which is part of the “design your own major” program for undergraduates at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I mostly focused on French literature and cultural studies but took courses across many curricula—from anthropology to cinema studies to international relations! I also have an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and an MSIS from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Featured student: Joshua Borycz

Location: Knoxville, TN

Education: Bachelor of science in chemistry and mathematics from Hope College in Holland, Mich.; master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Minnesota; and PhD in chemistry from the University of Minnesota.

Current job: I work at Oak Ridge National Lab for the Office of Research Excellence. I visualize data using Python, answer research questions, and work at the reference desk. I’m also doing research with DataONE. Professor Suzie Allard and Professor Carol Tenopir are my academic advisors.

Why SIS?

SIS Alum John Wilkin (’86) was recently honored with the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award for his outstanding accomplishments as an academic librarian. He is the Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

This article was written by Joseph Winberry and Hannah Brandon, two MSIS students who orchestrated the SIS & CCI Townhall event.

Virtual reality, 3D-printing, models of brains and bones – these are just a few of the things that Dorothy Ogdon (’07) is dealing with on a regular basis. And she’s a librarian.

Of course, she’s not your typical librarian. Currently she is the emerging technologies librarian at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. It’s a new position at the library wherein Ogdon creates and oversees innovative programs and resources.

Ogdon said the inception of her technology ventures at the library started when a student asked if the library had a skeleton to borrow in order to study it.