|
Member-at-Large Candidate: Melissa Gold Donnelly
Science Librarian Millersville University She/hers |
 |
Tell us more about yourself and how you became a librarian.
I became a librarian somewhat serendipitously, but not too indirectly. I went straight into a PhD program for forensic anthropology after graduating college. While I enjoyed the subject matter and lab work, I was not sure that, ultimately, becoming a Professor of Anthropology was right for me. I completed my master’s and left the program to explore my options. After trying adjunct teaching at community colleges, test prep tutoring, and reading What Color Is Your Parachute, I realized that my love for working with students one-on-one and my graduate school experience in gathering research were a good match for being an academic librarian. Now I am an Associate Professor (ha!), but I get to avoid the grading part.
How long have you been involved in STS and what attracted you to the section?
I have been informally involved in STS since I was in LIS graduate school (over 13 years ago). I remember going to a midwinter meeting in Denver and sitting in on some STS and Instruction Section meetings. I was then appointed to the Assessment Committee in 2010. After a very short time, STS became my main ALA/ACRL home. I started recognizing members and making connections with colleagues. STS provides me with a huge network of librarians that I can (and do) call on when I need help. While I do not know every member of STS personally, they always seem willing to help a colleague. In addition to the great network of colleagues, STS provides so many great resources that have helped me over the years.
How have you demonstrated a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion?
At my library, I have served as chair of our Teaching & Learning Committee (TLC) for the last two years (and six years total). This committee oversees a myriad of tasks related to all the teaching/learning activities that occur in the library, including instruction, research assistance, and EDI. While the library has always tried to be inclusive, in the past few years we have been much more intentional. TLC has developed professional development activities/resources focused on EDI during library instruction and research assistance. Personally, I have done a lot of reading on EDI and Universal Design for Learning in the last few years as it relates to my professional interests and projects.
Additionally, I co-proposed and received a grant from our President’s Commission on Cultural Diversity and Inclusion to obtain eBooks on gender studies with a focus on black feminism and intersectionality in 2021. This supplemented a growing eBook collection begun with a grant won in 2020 focused on anti-racism. As of the beginning of this year, I serve as the faculty advisor for our university’s student Sexuality and Gender Alliance and am a member of the President’s Commission on Gender & Sexual Diversity. I brought these experiences into my work with STS as a member of the STEMM Librarianship Resources Committee when I published Antiracism Resources for STEM Educators, and I generally try to advocate for including underrepresented voices. I hope to expand this work as Member at Large.
How do you envision STS growing and changing, and what role would you play in that process?
I believe STS’s strength is in its network of people. Even if programming and communication modalities change, I think STS remains strong if we all continue to support each other as colleagues. I appreciate STS leadership’s efforts to consolidate STS’s web presence, provide more equitable online professional development, allow virtual participation in committees, and in creating the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. I would like to contribute to the current STS efforts by supporting members through even more inclusive professional development and networking opportunities in a variety of modalities. I would like to see more recruitment of and possibly pre-library degree support of underrepresented individuals in our field. As member-at-large, I would be happy to play an active role in any of these projects. I excel at teamwork, project management, and seeing tasks completed, so as a member-at-large I am well-suited to make valuable contributions toward STS's growth.
Is there anything else you’d like for STS members to know about you?
I hope to and look forward to furthering my commitment to STS in gratitude for all that the section has given me.
|
Member-at-Large Candidate: Chapel Cowden Health & Science Librarian University of Tennessee at Chattanooga She/hers |
 |
Tell us more about yourself and how you became a librarian.
I have an undergraduate degree in Biological Anthropology with a focus in primate studies that lead me to an early career in zoos, managing docents and teen volunteers. After leaving my first career, I became a librarian by accident when I took a job managing circulation services at my alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I was soon asked to join the Special Collections department, where I worked to pull the department into the digital era. I had been working on a Masters of Education to teach biology, but changed gears and got my MIS, which led to a tenure-track job (I’m now tenured) as the Health & Science Librarian at UTC, a position I’ve held for about 8 years now. In addition to this role I also adjunct for our university’s Honors College where I teach a course entitled Perspectives on Death & Dying. This semester however I’m teaching a new course in the Honors College entitled Minding the Gap: Deconstructing discrimination in the sciences & behavioral sciences.
How long have you been involved in STS and what attracted you to the section?
In grad school I focused on services for science and health science libraries before transitioning into a professional role doing just that sort of work. STS always seemed like a natural place to learn from others who were doing the same kind of work and to find my “people”. I started volunteering on STS committees in 2015 with the Professional Development Committee where I was a member for two years and then Co-chair for two years. I also served on the Hot Topics Committee for two years. I served as Co-chair of the Research Committee during the “Covid years” where we moved our Research Forum and Poster Sessions fully online. I was an inaugural member of STS’s EDI Task Force and then the EDI Implementation Team and am now serving as Chair of the Development Task Force and a member of the Future Modalities Task Force.
How have you demonstrated a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion?
In STS I served as an inaugural member of the STS EDI Task Force and later the EDI Implementation Team where I was proud to provide a framework of actions for the section based on the STS membership’s commitment to this important work. I was also fortunate to serve as Co-chair on the Research Committee during the two transitional Covid years where we worked to put our Research Forum & Poster Sessions online. We surveyed attendees and one of the most common comments we received was how helpful it was to provide a free, online option that opened attendance up to those who are not able to attend for a variety of reasons. I believe that providing these experiences to all of our members is critically important and to that end I am continuing that work on both the Development Task Force & the Future Modalities Task Force. In the former we seek to elevate funding for DEIA-related programming and needs (such as captioning) and in the latter we will look to make the future of STS programming equitable for all.
Outside of my STS activities, a small sample of my commitment to DEIA work includes: I teach a junior level course in our Honors College on discrimination, research, write, and speak about culturally responsive pedagogy, and regularly provide talks on my campus related to conducting anti-racist research.
How do you envision STS growing & changing, and what role would you play in that process?
I feel that STS has a great foundation and a dedicated membership that has really embraced the changes of the last couple of years. We have made some strides in our commitment to DEIA efforts and should continue to push hard to examine our practices and work for increased inclusivity in all areas. Both of the Task Forces I work on are future-facing and I see both of those task forces as providing some much needed structure and clarification for how the section moves forward. We have long needed to transition to a more sustainable model for fundraising and we are more than halfway towards realizing that goal! Though the Future Modalities TF has just begun, the work will help to provide direction on how we can provide inclusive programming for our membership while continuing to support in-person activities as well. As Chair of the Development TF and as a member of the Modalities TF I expect to play an active role in moving our section forward. I understand that the Member at Large role within the Executive Council may be changing and I look forward to being part of that shift if elected.
Is there anything else you’d like for STS members to know about you?
I think it’s always nice to hear about someone’s outside interests too! I love outdoor sports–hiking, trail running, paddleboarding, mountain biking. I also love to garden and am a huge fan of Monty Don and I love all sorts of crafting from embroidery to basket weaving. I squeeze these loves into the tiny space that exists around my two son’s various sporting events. My older son plays lacrosse and swims competitively and my younger son is a year-round soccer player. To teach myself soccer I have become a big Premier League fan (& fan of our local soccer club–Go CFC!) and have finally settled on Tottenham as “my team”.
