Librarianship    Appalachian and Ozark Studies    Publications     Essays and Journalism  

Librarianship

As Appalachian Collection Librarian, I am developing a distinct collection of secondary and primary
materials related to Southern Appalachia and Southwest Virginia at McConnell Library. The Appalachian Collection is currently being developed, and (hopefully) construction should begin on the Appalachian Collection Reading Room in McConnell Library sometime in 2008-09. In addition to developing the Collection, I also provide library instruction and research assistance to students in the Appalachian Studies program at RU.

As Reference/Instruction Librarian, I'm part of McConnell's Reference/Instruction team .
I also serve as library liaison for the Appalachian Studies Program and the Peace Studies Program.

Librarians like to organize (or at least form organizations). Here's a few I belong to:

Association of College & Research Libraries
American Library Association
Virginia Library Association College & Research Libraries Section
Virginia Library Association
Progressive Librarians Guild


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Appalachian and Ozark Studies

Web site Committee Chair, Appalachian Studies Association

Web site Manager, Appalachian Regional Studies Center, Radford University

I'm a member of the Appalachian Studies Association, and received an MA in Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State University. I wrote a thesis on the relationship between Appalachian Studies curricula and Appalachian special collections while completing an MS in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee.

Radford University has an active Appalachian Studies Program and offers an undergraduate minor in Appalachian Studies. The Appalachian Regional Studies Center at RU is also home to a number of other Appalachian-related programs.

I worked with Ozark Studies from 1997 to 2003 at Lyon College, serving as Director of the Regional Studies Center and Curator of the John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection. While at Lyon I developed and implemented preservation and Web site development programs for the Wolf Collection, and published a new University of Arkansas Press edition of John Q. Wolf's Life in the Leatherwoods, co-edited with Brooks Blevins.

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Selected Publications

CD HotList: New Releases for Libraries - Contributing Reviewer

Review of Fools Gold: Why the Internet is no Substitute for a Library,
by Mark Herring. College & Research Libraries, v. 69, no.3, May 2008.

Review of Internet Archive, Internet Reviews. College & Research Libraries News v.69, no.5, May 2008.

Review of Messages, Meaning, and Symbols: The Communication of Information,
by Charles T. Meadows. College & Research Libraries, v. 68, no.2, March 2007.

Review of In the First Person
Internet Reviews. College & Research Libraries News v.68, no.2, February 2007.

Review of Link Analysis: An Information Science Approach,
by Mike Thewall. College & Research Libraries, v. 66, no.6, November 2005.

Review of The National Archives of England, Wales and the United Kingdom
Internet Reviews. College & Research Libraries News v.66, no.46, June 2005.

"Appalachian Studies Bibliographies: A History of Identifying Regional Research and Scholarship"
Stitches: Appalachian Teachers' Network Newsletter, v. 12, no.1, June 2004.

Review of A Survey of Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives and Their Sustainability Concerns,
by Diane M. Zorich. College & Research Libraries, v. 65, no.3, May 2004.

Review of Public History Resource Center Web site. Internet Reviews.
College & Research Libraries News v.65, no.4, April 2004.

Review of Libraries, Museums, and Archives: Legal Issues and Ethical Challenges in the
New Information Era, ed. Tomas A. Lipinksi. College & Research Libraries, v.64, no. 2, March 2003.

Review of Managing Records as Evidence and Information, by Richard J. Cox.
Library Resources & Technical Services, v.46, no.1, January 2003

Review of Virtually Missouri Web site. Internet Reviews.
College & Research Libraries News v.64, no.1, January 2003.

" 'The Southern Highlands as Literary Landscape' :
An Interview with Fred Chappell and Donald Harington"
Southern Quarterly v.40, no.2, Winter 2002

"Independent Media Centers: Cyber-Subversion and the Alternate Press"
First Monday v.7, no.4, April 2002

"The University of Tennessee's Online Information Sciences Program"
Arkansas Libraries v.58, no.2, April 2001.

Life in the Leatherwoods, by John Quincy Wolf, University of Arkansas Press, 2000.
Co-edited by Gene Hyde and Brooks Blevins.

John Quincy Wolf, Jr: Pioneer Ozark Folklorist
Dirty Linen  V.79, December 1998/ January 1999.

"1994 Poetry Slams National Championships,"
North Carolina Literary Review v.2, no.2, 1995

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Selected Essays and Journalism

Bantering Bibliocrat, a photo and essay blog

"A Tale of Long Beach"
West by Northwest  Oct. 27, 2004.

"Intimations: Glimpses of Grandeur"
West by Northwest  Sept. 30, 2003.

Ellington At Newport 1956 (Complete) By Duke Ellington
Ken Burns' Jazz Series on PBS
Reissues by Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn
Good Old Boys and other fare by Randy Newman
The Grateful Dead's Golden Road box set
Fred Marshall, former Arkansas bassist and member of the Vince Guaraldi trio.
The career and Arkansas roots of iconoclastic musician and street personality Moondog.
An assessment of The Clash's career.
The Band surveys rock's influences in an expanded reissue of The Last Waltz.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (Book Review)
Visions of Jazz by Gary Giddins (Book Review)
Invisible Republic by Greil Marcus (Book Review)
For the Time Being by Annie Dillard (Book Review)

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