Volume 80, No. 3 Fall 2017 Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 30

A Quarterly Publication of the ISSN 0194-388X Mississippi Library Association ©2017

Editorial Staff Contents President’s Page...... 31 Editor Tina Harry The State of Movement-Based Programs in Mississippi Public Libraries.32 Catalog & Asst. Automation Librarian The University of Mississippi Noah Lenstra [email protected] A Separate Space...... 39

Matthew Griffis Assistant Editor Tracy Carr Searching for Answers...... 49 Library Services Bureau Director Ashley S. Dees, Jacqueline Reed, Brian Young Mississippi Library Commission [email protected] 2017 Annual Conference...... 53 News Briefs...... 60

Copy Editor People in the News...... 61 Audrey Beach Resource Librarian Book Reviews...... 62 Mississippi Delta Community College Rough South, Rural South: Region and Class in Recent Southern Literature. [email protected] Down in Mississippi. Freshwater Road: A Novel. News Reporter Anne Hudson Confessions on an Undercover Agent: Adventures, Close Calls, and the Toll Arts and Letters Librarian of a Double Life. University of Southern Mississippi [email protected]

Book Review Editor Michele Frasier-Robinson Librarian for Education & Psychology University of Southern Mississippi [email protected]

MLA Reporter Adrienne McPhaul Science, Health, and Nursing Librarian University of Southern Mississippi On the cover: Fiery sunset by Kara Roberts, Starkville Public Library. [email protected] This tree is located on University Drive in Starkville, at the far edge of Oddfellows Cemetery.

Indexer Kristin Rogers Electronic Resources & Discovery Librarian Mississippi Libraries is a quarterly, open access publication of the Mississippi Library The University of Mississippi Association (MLA). The articles, reports, and features herein represent viewpoints of [email protected] their respective authors and are not necessarily the official options of the Association. In order to assure the widest possible audience for the works published in Mississippi Libraries, the work is added, by contractual agreement, to one or more EBSCO Publishing databases. Mississippi Libraries is also indexed in Library Literature and Information Science Abstracts. For more informaton, visit http://misslib.org/publications Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 31

2017 Executive Board President’s Page President Jenniffer Stephenson The Mississippi Library Associa- Director tion is pleased to return to Hatties- Greenwood-Leflore Public Library System burg and the University of Southern

Vice-President Mississippi’s campus as well. This Sarah Mangrum year’s conference theme, Tell Your Access Services Librarian and Story, emphasizes the importance of Assistant Clinical Professor University Libraries (USM) libraries and librarians telling their stories about, not only the services Secretary that their libraries offer, but more im- Jennifer Wann Director portantly, how libraries change lives Bolivar County Library System and make a difference in their com- munities, schools, campuses, and Treasurer Blair Booker other facilities. Advocacy on behalf Assistant Librarian of the libraries has been the focus Holmes Community College of many of our efforts this year. To

Immediate Past President continue along that course, we have Molly McManus invited John Chrastka, Executive Di- that will be available to our attend- Systems Librarian rector of EveryLIbrary, to be our key- Engineer Research & Development ees during the conference. You can Center Library note speaker for our opening general find additional information about the session as well as our closing session. conference in this issue of Mississippi ALA Councilor Mr. Chrastka brings experiences Ellen Ruffin Libraries and on our website. If you Curator, de Grummond Children’s from the viewpoint of a library trust- would like to volunteer to help with Literature Collection ee, supporter, and advocate and will this year’s conference, contact Sarah McCain Library and Archives impart his wisdom to our attendees. Mangrum or check in with the other SELA Councilor Your Vice-President, Sarah Man- volunteers at the registration desk Ashley S. Dees grum, her co-workers at USM, and during the conference. Research & Instruction Librarian, Re- her conference committees have gional Depository Librarian, Liaison to The Conference Site Selection Business & Economics planned a great schedule of programs Committee is still reviewing pro- University of Mississippi Libraries and events. As always, there will be posals and making site visits for our a wide range of programs and events 2018, 2019, and 2020 conferences. Section Chairs that will be of interest to library staff Association of College and Research The MLA Executive Board will meet Libraries (ACRL) Section Chair from public, academic, school, or at the beginning of conference to Mary Beth Applin special libraries. There will also be hear the committee’s recommen- events taking place after hours out- Public Library Section Chair dations and will let MLA members Antoinette Giamalva side of the conference center, such know as soon as a decision has been as “An Evening in the Archives” held made about future conference sites. School Library Section Chair at the McCain Library & Archives at Elizabeth Simmons Sarah Crisler-Ruskey is our MLA USM on Tuesday night and the Pres- Vice President-elect and will be in Special Libraries Section Chair ident’s Reception and Scholarship charge of planning next year’s confer- Sheila Cork Bash at the historic Powell Ogletree ence. If you would like to help with Trustees Section Chair on Wednesday night. Networking next year’s conference, contact her at Rickey Jones with other librarians is an import- [email protected]. ant part of attending conference, For more information, visit: Wishing you a great conference http://misslib.org/Executive-Board and these are just a few examples of experience, the great networking opportunities Jenniffer Stephenson, President Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 32 The State of Movement-Based Programs in Mississippi Public Libraries

Noah Lenstra Assistant Professor Dept. of Library and Information Studies University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Abstract The study addresses the question: What is the current state of move- ment-based programs in Mississippi public libraries? The answer to this question comes from a survey-based study in which 1622 public librarians from the U.S. and Canada described what, if any, movement-based pro- grams they offer. The survey was disseminated online in Spring 2017. Fourteen public librarians in Mis- sissippi completed the survey. Like their colleagues across the conti- nent, public librarians in Mississippi increasingly provide opportunities for individuals of different ages and abilities to be active. Nonetheless, this study also finds that Mississip- pi public libraries lag behind other libraries in the Southeastern region, as well as the nation, in terms of the development of this programming area. More research needs to be done to understand how and why public libraries contribute to foster- ing active lifestyles.

Introduction Among states in the U.S.A., Mis- Figure 1: Map of respondents from the State of Mississippi, and from the surrounding region. sissippi has the highest percentage of adults who are physically inactive the second most obese in the coun- this problem. In Spring 2017, 1622 (Segal, Rayburn and Martin 2016, try. This percentage is up from 23.7 public librarians from the U.S. and p. 14). The state’s adult obesity rate percent in 2000, and from 15.0 Canada completed a survey on is currently 35.6 percent, making it percent in 1990 (ibid.). This paper the movement-based programs in considers how librarians, and pub- their libraries. Among respondents Peer-Reviewed Article. Received: 6/5/2017 lic librarians in particular, address were 14 librarians from the state of Accepted: 8/8/2017 Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 33

Mississippi (Figure 1). Like their society, not restricted to demarcated Timm and Jones 2011; Engeszer et colleagues across the continent, spaces such as gyms and recreation al. 2016; Flaherty and Miller 2016). public librarians in Mississippi in- centers. New institutions are now In St. Louis, Missouri, librarians creasingly provide opportunities called upon to become involved in from Washington University part- for individuals of different ages and physical education. Museums of all nered with the local public library abilities to be active. Nonetheless, types, for instance, participated in system to administer a community the survey also finds that Mississip- Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Muse- needs survey on health information pi public libraries offer less of these ums and Gardens initiative (Obama needs. The survey found that “exer- programs than libraries elsewhere 2011). cise” was the topic the public most in the continent, suggesting that Scholars and policy makers have wanted to see more of at the library more work is needed to expand this also modified conventional ways of (Engeszer et al. 2016, 64). In re- programming area. thinking about physical education. sponse, the partners developed a se- Originally developed by British ries of programs on yoga, beginning Literature review physical education scholar Marga- exercise, and Zumba throughout the The 2014Digital Inclusion Survey ret Whitehead (2010), the concept St. Louis Public Library system. of public libraries – which includ- of “physical literacy” has become A similar action research study ed a series of questions on health a unifying theme in these discus- took place in the rural town of and wellness – found that 7.6% of sions. The Aspen Institute’s Project Farmville, North Carolina, where Mississippi public libraries offered Play defines physical literacy as “the the public library partnered with a some sort of fitness classes (such as ability, confidence, and desire to library and information science pro- Zumba, yoga, or tai chi) between be physically active for life” (n.p.). fessor to develop programs and ser- Fall 2013 and Fall 2014 (Bertot et al. Physical literacy differs from related vices that promote healthy lifestyles 2015a, 134). Nationally, that same concepts, such as health literacy and (Flaherty and Miller 2016). The li- survey found that 22.7% of all pub- health information: brary loaned pedometers to patrons, lic libraries in the U.S. had offered Using the same definition and and the researcher interviewed fitness classes during the preceding verbiage will also help avoid those who participated. Participants year. The presence of fitness class- potential confusion with other reported liking the program, and es in public libraries relates to how terms used in this space, includ- asked for more movement-based communities respond to societal ing … health literacy, which is programming at the library. In re- challenges related to the increasing- unrelated to physical activity and sponse, the library organized a 5K ly sedentary lifestyles of many in the the federal [U.S] government race and one-mile fun walk/run in Western world. Scholars and policy defines as ‘the degree to which Spring 2015, which has since be- makers have developed new frame- individuals have the capacity to come an annual library-sponsored works to nurture “active communi- obtain, process, and understand program. ties” (Centers for Disease Control basic health information and ser- Case studies published in the and Prevention [CDC] 2017) where vices needed to make appropriate professional literature also high- everyone has “physical literacy” health decisions.’ (n.p.) light public librarians developing movement-based programming, (Aspen Institute 2015). The Nation- There is a large and robust liter- including teen fitness classes (Qua- al Physical Activity Plan (2016) rec- ature about how public librarians trella and Blosveren 1994), youth ommends that “communities should support health literacy through the yoga (Durland 2008), adult running develop new, and enhance existing provision of consumer health infor- groups (Richmond 2012), music and … programs that provide and pro- mation (Rubenstein 2016). Less un- movement for early literacy (Prato mote healthy physical activity op- derstood is how public librarians en- 2014), and circulating fitness equip- portunities for diverse users across courage physical literacy and active ment (Weekes and Longair 2016). the lifespan” (n.p.). Policy makers communities. The few studies that This literature shows that move- now see physical education as phys- do exist are case studies of experi- ment-based programming exists ical literacy as diffuse throughout mental programs (e.g. Woodson, Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 34 not only in North America, but librarians not only provide infor- on this project’s website. In total, also in Romania (EIFL 2016), and mation about health and wellness, 1828 individuals started the survey. Namibia (Hamwaalwa et al. 2016). they also actively and directly con- To ensure that a given library only Furthermore, the literature suggests tribute to physical fitness through filled out the survey once, respon- these programs are emerging not programs that create opportunities dents were asked to include their zip only in public libraries, but also in for individuals of different ages and code (U.S.) or postal code (Canada), academic (e.g. Rose, Godfrey, and abilities to be physically active in the which enabled removing redun- Rose 2015) and school (e.g. Barack library. Nonetheless, despite this ev- dant responses. After removing re- 2015) libraries. idence, we know very little about the dundant responses, and those who A major catalyst to the recent ex- current state of this programming. ceased the survey before answering pansion of this type of program in question #3 (Has your library ever public libraries was the 2016 Col- Methods offered any programs or services laborative Summer Reading Pro- that include [movement]?), a sam- Aims and Methods gram (CSRP) theme, which focused ple of 1622 libraries remained. Re- This survey attempted to obtain on sports, exercise, and fitness, in spondents had no obligation to fill information on the state of move- part to connect that year’s summer out the entirety of the survey, so the ment-based programs in public reading to the 2016 Summer Olym- number of libraries that respond- libraries in the United States of pics (Lenstra 2017). In Mississippi, ed to a given question fluctuates. America and in Canada. Since little like in many other states, the State In total, 1415 libraries answered is currently known about the state of Library promoted movement-based all questions asked in the survey. this programming area in libraries, programs as something public li- Partial responses are nonetheless this basic data is needed to under- brarians should do during Sum- retained in this analysis, as these stand this topic. This section first mer 2016 as part of their summer responses enable a richer portrayal discusses how this survey was car- reading programs. In March 2016, of the state of movement-based pro- ried out. Joy Garretson, the Library Devel- gramming in public libraries. opment Director for the Mississippi Data Collection In organizing the survey, the au- Library Commission, gave public Between February 14 and March thor looked to past surveys of pub- librarians ideas for their adult sum- 23, 2017, the “Let’s Move in Li- lic libraries (Bertot et al. 2015), as mer library programs. Among other braries Survey” was disseminated well as to professional discussions ideas, Garretson recommended “a to public librarians in the United of movement-based programs. In local fitness (or Yoga) instructor to States and Canada. Data collection addition, the survey was tested with come in to discuss steps you can was carried out via a questionnaire three public librarians from Illinois, take to be more active. He or she on the internet using Qualtrics. The North Carolina, and New Bruns- can lead a 15-minute exercise class URL to the questionnaire was dis- wick. These librarians helped inform during the presentation” (Garretson seminated through state and pro- the language used in the final sur- 2016, p. 14). She also recommended vincial library electronic mail list, vey. The survey received approval starting “a running group with the and through announcements sent from the Institutional Review Board library 210 staff and invit[ing] pa- out by state and provincial libraries of the University of North Carolina trons to join,” ending “the summer to public libraries in their regions. at Greensboro (IRB # 17-0060). with a 5 k fun run/walk” (p. 16), and A call for participation was sent Data Analysis developing programs to encour- on the Mississippi Library Associa- After the data had been collected, age patrons to “exercise as a family: tion’s electronic mailing list on Feb- they were integrated with the data Make working out together a family ruary 22, and then again on March from the Institute of Museum and ritual” (p. 19). 15, of 2017. In addition, the survey Library Services FY 2014 Public Li- These examples from the research was disseminated through national braries Survey in order to sort the and practitioner literatures demon- electronic mail list used by public respondents into “urban,” “subur- strate that increasingly public librarians (e.g. PUBLIB), as well as ban,” “town,” and “rural” libraries, as Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 35 well as to sort the respondents by re- addresses, such as how to encourage programs in the state of Mississip- gion. This integration proved to be physical activity and wellness. An pi, this section first briefly describes partially problematic, as it required Illinois middle school librarian re- the 14 libraries that completed the using both the “Administrative En- ports that “Each time I do a lesson, survey: tity” and “Outlet” datasets, since I incorporate movement, usually of • Library 1 is located in a city of the survey did not specify wheth- the Brain Gym, Body Talk, Rhyth- 45,000 people. It has offered yoga er it should be filled out by library mic Movement Training, or other and other movement-based pro- systems or by individual branches. programs I am certified in.” This grams for youth. In those cases, the author used the librarian goes on to note that “we • Library 2 is located in a city techniques used by the IMLS, which are expanding our maker space to of 40,000 people. It has offered in turn rely on the methodology include movement such as juggling, music and movement programs used to assign locale codes to pub- hula hooping and project adventure for young children, ages 0-5. lic schools in the National Center team building.” A college library in • Library 3 is located in a suburb for Education Statistics’ Common North Carolina reports having a col- of 50,000 people. It has offered Core of Data (IMLS 2016). Using lection of exercise equipment that it Yoga, Zumba, Dancing, and Gar- this technique, the remaining 161 checks out to students and staff from dening programs, all with adults respondents were categorized as its circulation desk. A state librarian as the primary audience. “urban,” “suburban,” “town,” and plans to develop a gentle movement • Library 4 is located in a suburb of “rural.” program for the lawyers that use the 5,000 people. It has offered Yoga, Although the call for participa- space, who are often stressed out. A Tai Chi, gardening, and a general tion in the survey made clear that university librarian notes that “I like exercise class for adults, as well as the survey was targeted exclusively the idea of libraries getting involved music and movement programs at public libraries, 10 other libraries in promoting movement! Our Uni- for young children, ages 0-5. also completed the survey (2 state versity’s Wellness Committee might libraries, 3 academic libraries, 1 be interested in partnering with • Library 5 is located in a town of community college library, 2 K-12 us!” These findings suggest more 15,000. It has offered an all ages school libraries, and 1 medical li- research is needed to examine not dancing program. brary) – all of whom also reported only the state of movement-based • Library 6 is located in a town of offering movement-based programs programs in public libraries, but 12,000 people. It has offered Yoga, to their communities. For instance, also in academic, school, and in dancing, and gardening programs a community college librarian in other types of libraries. for all ages. North Carolina reported that: • Library 7 is located in a town of I offer a ‘Walkin’ and Talkin Tues- Findings 10,000 people. It has offered Yoga and dancing programs for adults. day’ for faculty and staff to join Description of sample • Library 8 is located in a town of me for a 30 minute walk around Public librarians from 10 of the 9,000 people. It has offered music the campus to discuss what we 52 library systems in the state of and movement programs for are up too and what’s going on Mississippi completed the survey. young children, ages 0-5, as well on campus. In addition, I offer a Librarians from multiple branches as a youth gardening program. Films on Demand workout video within some of these systems re- session every Friday afternoon sponded to the survey, leading to a • Library 9 is located in a town of for anyone faculty, staff, or stu- sample of 14 public libraries in the 7,000 people. It has offered an all dents to join me. state of Mississippi. Based on IMLS ages StoryWalk program. An academic librarian from Al- data, two of these branches are city • Library 10 is located in a town of berta, Canada, noted that “many libraries, two are suburban libraries, 6,000. It has offered Tai Chi and of us [academic librarians] are ad- eight are town libraries, and two are Zumba for adults. dressing some of these same issues” rural libraries. To introduce findings • Library 11 is located in a rural the Let’s Move in Libraries survey on the state of movement-based community of 1,500 people. It has Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 36

offered Tai Chi for adults. Orange Grove Library, b) Yoga at of movement-based programs per • Libraries 12-14 have not offered Pass Christian on Wednesday af- library. The town and rural respon- any movement-based programs. ternoons and Thursday evenings, dents reported on average 1.2 types Library 12 is located in a 12,000 and c) on Monday and Thursday of programs per library. Twenty-one people. Library 13 is located in mornings a group called the Trin- percent of respondents reported a town of 16,000. Library 14 is ity Twirlers does a Mayo Clinic never having movement-based pro- located in a rural community of based exercise program at the grams at their libraries. In all types 2,500 people. library; of programs, except for Tai Chi, Based on the results from the sur- • the Library of Hattiesburg, Petal, Mississippi librarians reported less vey, coupled with a detailed review and Forrest County offers what it movement-based programs than of the websites for all of the respond- calls “storytimercize” during its other public libraries in the south- ing libraries, the author determined Family Storytimes in which chil- eastern U.S. or across the continent. that at least four of the library sys- dren move to songs and music; Among those librarians that tems offer movement-based pro- • and the Sunflower County Li- reported having offered move- grams on a recurring, regular basis. brary System offers Yoga and ment-based programs, 54% said As of Summer 2017, programs of- dance programs on a regular their programs were first offered fered on a recurring basis in the basis. after January 1, 2016; 36% said their State of Mississippi, include: programs were first offered before Trends in programming • the Central Mississippi Region- January 1, 2016; and one librarian The most commonly reported al Library System offers Zumba did not know when programs were types of movement-based programs classes in the summer and in Jan- first offered. These findings togeth- in the 14 Mississippi public libraries uary or February, as well as Story er suggest that Mississippi public that responded to the survey: Yoga Time programs that incorporate librarians have recently started of- (36%), Dancing (29%), Garden- dancing; fering movement-based programs, ing (29%), Tai Chi (21%), move- possibly to coincide with the 2016 • the Dixie Regional Library Sys- ment-based programs offered in the tem offers Tai Chi on Tuesdays summer reading theme. One li- context of early literacy initiatives brarian wrote that “During summer and Thursdays at 1 p.m. at the for very young children, ages 0-5 Calhoun City Public Library; reading programming [we offered] (21%), Zumba (14%), Other (14%), move to learn. This involved exer- • the Harrison County Library and StoryWalks (7%) (Figure 2). On cising the body, then exercising the System offers a) Tai Chi on Thurs- average, the urban and suburban re- brain with reading.” A different li- day and Friday mornings at the spondents reported 3 different types brarian said that they offered Yoga and Zumba programs because of the “Adult Summer Reading Program.” Three libraries report offering movement-based programs primar- ily for youth. Four reported offering programs primarily for adults, and four report offering programs for all ages, with no clear trend towards more programs for youth or adults. All but one of the libraries relied in whole or in part on volunteers to provide their movement-based pro- grams. Three libraries reported that their programs were entirely led by Figure 2. Percentage of MS public libraries that have offered movement-based programs, volunteers, while seven reported in the context of continental and regional trends. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 37 librarians and volunteers co-leading in movement-based programs met offered provided movement-based these programs. Half of the librar- or exceeded their expectations, 87% programs. In general, librarians ies had no requirements for partic- said these programs had brought tend to develop these programs ipation in their programs, but three new users into their libraries, and through collaborations with vol- sometimes required participants 54% said their movement-based unteers or partner institutions. The sign waivers of liability in case of programs had received attention results from this survey show that injury, and two required advanced from local media. when these programs are offered, registration. Nevertheless, Mississippi librar- they tend to attract new users to ians also reported doing minimal public libraries, receive coverage Assessment and impacts assessment of the impacts of this from the local media, and have par- All but one of the Mississippi li- programming. Two libraries re- ticipation levels that meet or exceed brarians that completed the survey ported doing no assessment at all librarians’ expectations. These pro- said that, on average, participation of their movement-based programs. grams positively contribute to pop- in their movement-based programs Nine reported assessing programs ulation health and wellness, as well had met or exceeded their expecta- through head counts of participants. as to community building and out- tions. Furthermore, all but one of Two libraries also surveyed partici- reach. Based on these outcomes, it is the librarians said their programs pants, and one library reported in- unsurprising that all but one of the had brought new users into the li- terviewing participants to assess the responding libraries that has had brary. Seven librarians (64%) also program. Nine libraries said that movement-based programs in the said the media had reported on the based on the feedback heard and past has plans to offer these types of fact that their libraries were offering evidence collected, their programs programs in the future. these programs. Based on these im- had contributed to health and well- Nevertheless, a major chal- pacts, all but one of the 11 Mississip- ness. Seven said the programs had lenge moving forward with move- pi public libraries that have offered contributed to community building. ment-based programming in public movement-based programs in the Five said the programs contributed libraries relates to assessment. As- past report plans to continue offer- to library outreach. Three said their sessment tools like Project Outcome ing these types of programs in the programs had contributed to litera- (Anthony 2016) could be produc- future. One librarian wrote that the cy (all three primarily offered move- tively expanded to include questions turn-out was so high for the library’s ment-based programs for youth). on movement and physical literacy yoga programs that: One library did not know what, if (Aspen Institute, 2015). This assess- Yoga had to move to another lo- any, impacts the programs had. ment work is especially important to cation because the meeting room do since policy makers, and even the was too small for the amount of Discussion library profession itself, struggles to participants …. We were sur- This study adds to the current understand the implications of the prised by the amount of patrons but limited understanding of move- integration of movement into public who came to the dance and yoga ment-based programming in pub- library programs and services. For class. It has been very helpful lic libraries. Past national studies instance, when former First Lady educating the community about have shown that fitness classes are Michelle Obama developed her Let’s other resources at the library be- becoming increasingly common in Move! Initiative (Obama 2011), she sides books. public libraries (Bertot et al. 2015a), focused primarily on museums and In general, then, these programs and that the prevalence of these gardens, and not on public libraries, tend to bring new users into librar- types of classes in Mississippi lags possibly because those libraries that ies, and also tend to receive atten- behind the nation, but no study has had already started providing move- tion in the media. In the full sample analyzed in depth the state of move- ment-based programming were not of public libraries in the U.S. and ment-based programs. This study prepared to make this programming Canada, 81% percent of public li- has shown that, at a minimum, 11 known and visible to policy makers brarians reported that participation public libraries in Mississippi have concerned with physical literacy. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 38

Librarians need to do more to make data, we also need qualitative stud- gram. A presentation by from the Mississippi Library Commission. http://slideplayer.com/ the work they already do to encour- ies that look in depth at the impacts slide/10267185/. age movement visible locally, na- of movement-based programming Hamwaalwa, N., R. M. Teasdale, R. McGuire, and T. Shuumbili. (2016). Promoting innovation in tionally, and internationally. in particular public libraries. This Namibian libraries through leadership training. article provides base-line data on Proceedings of IFLA 2016, http://library.ifla. org/1509/1/189-hamwaalwa-en.pdf. Conclusion this emerging programming area in Institute of Museum and Library Services. (2016). Although the survey’s recruit- order to begin these conversations Data File Documentation. Public Libraries Survey. Fiscal Year 2014. Washington, D.C.: Institute of ment materials specified that all and studies. Museum and Library Services. https://www.imls. public libraries were invited to gov/sites/default/files/fy2014_pls_data_file_docu- References mentation.pdf. complete the survey, a majority of Lenstra, N. (2017). Let’s Move! Fitness programming in public libraries. Public Library Quarterly, 36(3), respondents had experience offer- Anthony, C. (2016). Project Outcome: Looking back, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2017.1316 looking forward. Public Libraries Online, http:// ing movement-based programs in 150. publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/01/project-out- their libraries. The sample is thus come-looking-back-looking-forward/. National Physical Activity Plan. (2016). National Physical Activity Plan. Columbia, SC: National Aspen Institute. Project Play. (2015). Physical Litera- biased towards those libraries al- Physical Activity Plan. http://physicalactivityplan. cy: Physical Literacy in the United States: A Model, org/docs/2016NPAP_Finalforwebsite.pdf. ready invested in movement-based Strategic Plan, and Call to Action. Washington, programs. As such, it is impossi- D.C.: The Aspen Institute. http://plreport.project- Obama, M. (2011). Let’s Move! Museums and Gar- play.us/. dens. Video press release. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=RBRqrDC96Ng. ble to make generalizations about Barack, L. (2015). Y is for Yoga. School Library Jour- how common, in general, move- nal 61(1), 28–30. Prato, S. (2014). Music and movement at the library. Association for Library Service to Children Blog, Bertot, J. C., B. Real, J. Lee, and P. T. Jaeger. (2015a). http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2014/11/music-and- ment-based programming is in 2014 Digital Inclusion Survey: Survey Findings movement-at-the-library/. Mississippi public libraries. A sta- and Results. 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Nonetheless, the large num- University of Maryland, College Park: Infor- ing Student Wellness: De-stressing Initiatives at mation Policy & Access Center (iPAC). http:// Memorial University Libraries.” Partnership: The ber of respondents does suggest that digitalinclusion.umd.edu/sites/default/files/up- Canadian Journal of Library and Information this type of programming is becom- loads/2014DIStateReportFinal_0.pdf. Practice and Research 10(2). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Rubenstein, E. L. (2016). Breaking health barriers: ing more common. Physical Activity: Community Strategies. Atlanta: How can public libraries contribute? Public Despite these limitations, this CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/com- Library Quarterly, 35(4), 331-337. munity-strategies/index.htm. Segal, L. M., J. Rayburn and A. Martin. (2016). The study shows that some public li- Durland, J. (2008). Into the Jungle: Kids Yoga Story State of Obesity: 2016. Princeton, NJ: Robert braries throughout Mississippi are Time. Colorado Libraries 34(3), 6-8. Wood Johnson Foundation. http://stateofobesity. EIFL. 2016. Keeping Fit in Romania: Pietrari Local org/files/stateofobesity2016.pdf. offering a wide variety of move- Public Library Helps the Community Get Back Weekes, L. & and B. Longair. (2016). Physical literacy ment-based programming, and into Shape. http://www.eifl.net/eifl-in-action/cre- in the library—Lethbridge Public Library—Leth- ative-use-ict-innovation-award. bridge, Alberta, Canada. International Informa- many intend to keep providing Engeszer, R. J. et al. (2016). Evolution of an aca- tion and Library Review, 48(2), 152-154. movement-based programming demic–public library partnership. Journal of the Whitehead, M., ed. (2010). Physical Literacy: Through- out the Lifecourse. London: Routledge. in the future. Based on these facts, Medical Library Association: JMLA, 104(1), 62. Flaherty, M. G. & D. Miller. (2016). Rural public Woodson, D. E., D. F. Timm, and D. Jones. (2011). more research is needed to under- libraries as community change agents: Opportu- Teaching Kids about Healthy Lifestyles through stand why this programming exists, nities for health promotion.” Journal of Educa- Stories and Games: Partnering with Public Librar- tion for Library and Information Science, 57(2), ies to Reach Local Children. Journal of Hospital how it works, and what impacts it 143-150. Librarianship 11(1), 59-69. has. In addition to more quantitative Garretson, J. (2016). Adult Summer Library Pro- Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 39 A Separate Space Remembering Meridian’s Segregated Carnegie Library, 1913-74

Matthew Griffis Assistant Professor School of Library and Information Science The University of Southern Mississippi

Abstract This article explores the largely undocumented history of Meridian, Mississippi’s 13th Street library, a segregated branch library construct- ed in 1912-13 with funds from Car- negie’s famous library program. Al- though the library no longer stands, it remains an important connection between libraries in Mississippi and the history of race relations. Using archival sources as well as oral his- Meridian’s segregated Carnegie branch, which opened on March 29th, 1913, on the corner of tory interviews with some of the li- 13th Street and 28th Avenue. Reproduced with permission from the Meridian-Lauderdale brary’s former users, the article con- County Public Library. siders the library’s importance as an early symbol of civic autonomy for Touring it even today reveals much best-known examples of a Carnegie Meridian’s African Americans and about the past: not just about Merid- library building. Less known per- how it became a valued education- ian’s past, but also about the history haps is the story of Meridian’s other al support center and community of race relations in the south. Carnegie library, which was built space. The article closes with a call Meridian, of course, is well asso- on the corner of 13th Street and to preservation, not just of historic ciated with the history of race rela- 28th Avenue in the northwest part library buildings but also of their tions, perhaps most specifically with of town. Known as the “Colored Li- documentary heritage. the freedom and Civil Rights move- brary” when it opened in 1913, this The city of Meridian, home to ments of the 1960s. It also occupies second Carnegie building was the over forty-thousand people, is one an important place in the history of first free public library for African of Mississippi’s most historic. By the libraries and race. When retired steel Americans in Lauderdale County turn of the last century, it was one magnate Andrew Carnegie offered and one of the earliest in the United 3 of the New South’s most industri- Meridian funds for a public library States. But unlike the downtown li- ally prosperous centers—poised, in in 1904, it was Carnegie’s first such brary, the 13th Street branch no lon- some opinions, to become another offer to any town or city in Missis- ger stands. It was closed in 1974 and 2 Atlanta, Nashville, or Charleston.1 sippi. Meridian built this library on razed in 2008. And for much of the the corner of 7th Street and 25th Av- past forty years, information about 1 For information about Meridian and Lauderdale County’s social and economic history, see: June Davis enue and opened it in 1913. Today, it has been scarce. Davidson, Meridian (Charleston, South Carolina: it houses the Meridian Museum of Last year, this author began a Arcadia, 2012); and Richelle Putnam, Lauderdale County, Mississippi: A Brief History (Charleston, Art and remains one of the state’s 3 Several sources claim that Meridian’s 13th Street South Carolina: History Press, 2011). branch was the first public library for African 2 James Bertram to J.C. Fant, letter, 2 December Americans opened in Mississippi, but this is not 1904, Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) accurate. Mound Bayou, an exclusively African Peer-Reviewed Article. Received: 7/5/2017 Records, Butler Rare Book and Manuscript Library, American town in the delta region, opened its Accepted: 8/30/2017 Columbia University. Carnegie library in 1910. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 40

study of the twelve segregated Car- to archival research, the article’s deep south rarely opened more than negie libraries that opened across sources include recent interviews a dozen. For example, between 1904 the South between 1908 and 1924. with some of the library’s former and 1917 Carnegie promised a total Although we know much already users. of fourteen public library grants to about library services in the age of thirteen communities in Mississip- Jim Crow, and much about the polit- Carnegie Libraries and pi. Of these, only ten built libraries: ical origins of Carnegie’s segregated Mississippi Houston, Mound Bayou, Clarksdale, libraries, no work has yet examined Andrew Carnegie’s library pro- Greenwood, Jackson, West Point, each of the twelve libraries’ stories gram of the early twentieth century Okolona, Vicksburg, Gulfport, and 8 in detail and few studies have con- changed the course of public library Meridian. Carnegie also funded li- sidered their roles as community development in most parts of the braries at Millsaps College and the 4 9 spaces. Space and place, as historian country.6 His proposal was simple: University of Mississippi. But since Ira Berlin explains, held profound If local governments agreed to fur- Mississippi was still a predominant- meaning for African Americans in nish a site and maintain their library ly rural state, the Carnegie program’s the Jim Crow south. In the decades through taxation, Carnegie would emphasis on city-based control of following the Civil War, African fund its construction. Because it em- public libraries discouraged interest Americans found a sense of root- phasized free access and local sup- from outside urban centers. Book- edness through the many organiza- port, Carnegie’s program encour- mobiles and county library models, tions, institutions, and community aged local governments to abandon which Carnegie’s original program spaces that formed in black neigh- many older, membership-based did not fund, would later become borhoods. These touchstones of models which had been popular be- the standard in most rural parts of community contributed to a sense fore 1900. And since most smaller the state. Still, Carnegie’s program of shared identity among African towns could seldom afford a pur- introduced some of first modern li- Americans and provided a network pose-built, modern library relying brary facilities in Mississippi, and to of social and educational resources on only municipal funds, it is unsur- some extent broadened acceptance 5 helpful to their survival. prising that, by 1920, Carnegie’s pro- of tax-supported library services 10 This article examines the story of gram was responsible for the con- within the state. the 13th Street branch, paying spe- struction of just under 1,700 public Free library services for Missis- cific attention to the library’s impor- libraries across the country. The sippi’s African Americans, however, tance first as an early symbol of civic program remains the single largest were practically non-existent at the autonomy for Meridian’s African financial stimulus in the history of time. Public education for blacks ex- American community and second American library development.7 isted, and many segregated schools as a place for its members to assem- Carnegie’s program was not as contained small collections of books ble, associate, and learn. In addition far-reaching in the south, however. for their students. However, most 4 For general information about the history of non-school and non-college librar- segregated library services, see: David M. Battles, While states like Indiana and Cali- The History of Public Library Access for African fornia opened well over a hundred ies in the state were still library Americans in the South (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009). For information about Carnegie libraries each, states in the 8 Matthew Griffis, “Searching for Carnegie: A Visit the origins of Carnegie’s segregated libraries, see: to the World’s Oldest Carnegie Library Calls to Mind Cheryl Knott, Not Free, Not for All: Public Libraries 6 For overviews of Carnegie’s library program and a Chapter of Mississippi’s Library History,” Mississippi in the Age of Jim Crow (Amherst, Massachusetts: its impacts on library development, see: George Libraries 78, no. 1 (2015): 4-9. Carnegie also promised University of Massachusetts Press, 2015). For a rare, Bobinski, Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact library grants to Amory, Greenville, and Laurel, in-depth examination of any segregated Carnegie on American Public Library Development (Chicago: but various setbacks prevented these towns from library as a community space, see: Julie Hersberger, American Library Association, 1970); Abigail van constructing their Carnegie libraries. For information Lou Sua, and Adam Murray, “The Fruit and Root of Slyck, Free to All: Carnegie Libraries and American about Amory and Laurel’s cases, see the CCNY the Community: The Greensboro Carnegie Negro Culture, 1890-1920 (Chicago: University of Chicago records, series II.A.a, reels 2 and 16, respectively; for Library, 1904-1964,” in The Library as Place: History, Press, 1995); and Theodore Jones, Carnegie Libraries information about Greenville’s case, see “Greenville Community and Culture, ed. by John E. Buschman Across America: A Public Legacy (New York: John Offered Carnegie Library,” The Delta Democrat-Times and Gloria J. Leckie (Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Wiley, 1997). (Greenville, Mississippi), 3 January 1912. Unlimited, 2007), 79-100. 7 For a complete inventory of Carnegie’s library 9 Anderson, 79. Contrary to some accounts, 5 Ira Berlin, The Making of African America: The philanthropy, see: Florence Anderson, Carnegie Carnegie did not grant library funds to Mississippi Four Great Migrations (New York: Penguin, 2014), Corporation Library Program 1911-1961 (New York: Industrial College in Holly Springs. 25-31. Carnegie Corporation, 1963). 10 Griffis, 7-8. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 41

associations or literary societies. These private, membership-based organizations had for years allowed whites to deny equal library access to African Americans. But after 1900, as tax-supported public li- braries began appearing across the south, white civic leaders grew in- creasingly worried over questions of “equal” library access for both races. Their efforts to prevent blacks from sharing libraries with whites was ongoing. Some opened “colored” reading rooms in the basements of their otherwise whites-only pub- lic libraries. In some cases, African Americans took it upon themselves Meridian’s main Carnegie library, which also opened in 1913, was built on the corner of 7th to open small libraries in the back- Street and 25th Avenue originally for whites only. S.H. Kress & Co. postcard manufactured rooms of black schools or in local ca. 1913. From the author’s personal collection. churches, but many of these lasted ran the gamut from theories of pos- because of lack of qualification and no longer than a few years.11 sible revolt to the belief that African appreciation and the whites because In other cases, local white leaders Americans were incapable of ap- of an unwillingness to associate with opened segregated branch libraries preciating libraries. The latter view the other race.”14 for the African Americans in their was the case in Meridian—at least Although Meridian was only fifty town and agreed to support these in the opinion of the city’s Library years old at the time, libraries were branches with an annual tax appro- Committee chairman, J.C. Fant. “To not new to the city. It had opened a priation. For some whites, this solu- open a library building equally to circulating library as early as 1869, tion probably seemed the most con- whites and blacks would defeat the and in 1884 the local Literary and venient for, while it provided some purpose of the library,” wrote Fant Library Association received its degree of “equal” access between to James Bertram in the summer of charter.15 By 1904, this Library As- races, it also appeared to satisfy de- 12 1909. Bertram was the sole man- sociation had formed a sizable col- mand from blacks for free library ager of Carnegie’s library program, lection of books and occupied the services. Carnegie’s library program which was headquartered in New second floor of the city’s Board of funded the construction of twelve York. Fant, one of Meridian’s most Trade building. But in his earliest of these segregated branches. And prominent civic leaders, was also letters to James Bertram, J.C. Fant from an historical perspective, each Superintendent of Meridian’s Pub- described his beloved city as one library’s story reveals much about 13 lic Schools. The suggestion that rapidly outgrowing its amenities: the state of race relations in that Meridian provide library access to “Although Meridian has grown up town at the turn of the century. both races had been Bertram’s, not since the war and might be styled by Fant’s, and the latter’s response was some as a new town,” he explained, Meridian and Carnegie unequivocal. “Few blacks would pa- “it is a community of churches and Libraries tronize it and no whites at all,” Fant schools and the morals of the people In most southern towns, the mere insisted, “the negroes failing to do so suggestion of equal library access 12 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 9 July 1909, 14 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 9 July 1909, for blacks made white civic leaders CCNY records. CCNY records. 13 John Clayton Fant would later co-author a 15 Jeanne Broach, The Meridian Public Libraries: nervous. Their fears and complaints textbook, A History of Mississippi: A School Reader, An Informal History, 1913-74 (Meridian, Mississippi: which was published in 1920 and used in Mississippi Meridian Public Library, 1974), 3; and the Times- 11 Knott, 49-61. public schools well into the midcentury. Picayune (New Orleans, LA), 2 September 1884. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 42

are of a high order.”16 A new public Interestingly, Carnegie’s library teachers from the Haven Institute, a library, Fant insisted, would “prove program neither condoned nor ac- black college located on 13th Street a most potent factor in the intellec- tively contradicted the south’s segre- between 27th and 28th avenues, tual and moral advancement of the gation laws. It simply left local gov- inquired at some point during the community.”17 ernments to determine their own city’s correspondence with Bertram But when Carnegie offered Me- access policies. But if a city based about a Carnegie grant for the col- ridian $15,000 in late 1904, the city its application for a library grant on lege’s library. It is unclear, however, did not readily accept the offer.18 in both white and black population fig- precisely when this group made its fact, Fant ceased his correspondence ures, it was obligated, in Carnegie’s inquiry.27 with Bertram and Meridian’s appli- opinion, to open its library to both Though still unsatisfied with Me- cation sat for nearly four years. The groups. But while some southern ridian’s calculations, Bertram reluc- city renewed its interest, however, in communities responded by sim- tantly offered the city $25,000 that the fall of 1908 when the secretary ply abandoning their applications, December.28 But the city council, of the Library Association asked for others used combined population which wasted no time commission- $20,000.19 Fant followed with a letter figures to secure larger building ing plans for the new building, re- of his own, requesting an even high- grants—only to ban blacks from mained unsatisfied. J.C. Fant spent er sum—this time $40,000, which he their completed libraries.23 Bertram another year pressing Bertram for based on an estimated population of was therefore wise to confront the more funds for a whites-only library, 30,000.20 Bertram once again shook issue.24 In his response, Fant claimed at one point asking for as much as his head: Fant offered no credible that Meridian’s whites outnumbered $50,000.29 He also enlisted the help basis for his calculations, nor did he blacks by almost two to one. He also of Isaac Marks, one of the city’s account for how his projected pop- dismissed the suggestion of equal most prominent businessman and a ulation accounted for both races.21 access between races. There was, he member of the Library Association, In fact, he made no mention at all insisted, “absolutely … no call for who took up the cause on the city’s of library services for Meridian’s Af- such a thing and not likely to be for behalf. Even the library’s architect, 25 rican Americans—something that some time to come.” 27 Broach, 6. Although her work focuses little on caught Bertram’s eye.22 But whether Fant knew it or not, the segregated branch, Broach explains how “a group of Negroes … approached the city fathers about 16 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 16 March 1904, both his claims were unfounded. such a library for their Methodist-supported Haven CCNY records. Meridian’s population had been Institute.” But their request was rejected, per Broach’s 17 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 25 February account, “since school libraries were not in the 1904, CCNY records. 14,050 at last census, 5,800 of which Carnegie [library] program.” Broach, however, does 18 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 12 December were African Americans.26 More- not indicate precisely when or to whom the Institute 1904, CCNY records. In this letter, Fant expresses made its request, or at least when the city became appreciation for Carnegie’s offer and explains to over, at least some of Meridian’s Af- aware of it. The issue is an important one since it Bertram that further agreement will be required from rican Americans were indeed inter- sheds further light on the city’s relationship with the city’s Board of Trade, the Library Association, and Meridian’s African American community at the time. the Mayor, among others. But Fant would not write ested in obtaining a library. Several Contrary to Broach’s claim, Carnegie did offer library Bertram again until 7 June 1909. His explanation for [blacks] to use the Library Building equally with grants to colleges and, after 1906, even increased the five-year silence: “I wish to say that in our opinion whites,” Bertram asked, “or are they to have a Library his focus on small black colleges specifically. Had no opportune time has presented itself to bring the Building erected for them?” the Haven Institute made its request directly to Carnegie, their application would likely have been matter officially before the City Government until 23 Jones, 32-36, 93. The specific case Jones examines n ow.” approved. However, the CCNY records contain no is the Carnegie library of Clarksdale, Mississippi, record of such an application, and Bertram saved all 19 Mrs. Collins to Andrew Carnegie, letter, 14 which included a “colored” reading room in its applications regardless of outcome. Therefore, if the October 1908, CCNY records. Bertram responded basement but closed it soon after the library opened, Haven Institute did show interest in a college library by asking why Meridian had not accepted the offer because its users “overwhelmed the two white grant, it likely brought its request directly to the city. from 1904. librarians”. Clarksdale eventually opened a segregated But nowhere in the entirety of its correspondence 20 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 7 June 1909, branch in 1930. For the correspondence between with Carnegie’s offices does the city mention interest CCNY records. Clarksdale and the Carnegie program, see the CCNY from the black community in obtaining any library records, series II.A.a., reel 6. 21 See: James Bertram to J.C. Fant, letters, 22 June of their own, let alone a college library. The omission 1909 and 2 December 1909, CCNY records. In 24 James Bertram to J.C. Fant, 22 June 1909, CCNY would strongly suggest that Meridian’s civic leaders the latter, Bertram wrote: “You said in your letter records. deliberately avoided bringing the issue to Bertram’s … that you did not know definitely [the black and 25 Fant to Bertram, 9 July 1909. Fant based his ratio attention. white populations of Meridian]. If you don’t know on enrollment of the two races in the city’s public 28 James Bertram to J.C. Fant, letter, 24 December definitely, it ought not to be a very great work to find schools. 1909. out .” 26 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 15 December 29 J.C. Fant to James Bertram, letter, 8 January 1910, 22 Bertram to Fant, 22 June 1909. “[A]re they 1909, CCNY records. CCNY records. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 43

Edward Tilton, insisted that more December of 1912 when the Meridi- was therefore badly needed, and not money was necessary to complete an Dispatch praised the newly com- just for young people. the building.30 pleted main library as “one of the But when the segregated branch To settle the matter, in the fall handsomest” library buildings in opened in March of 1913, it may have of 1910 Bertram requested current the south, it commented little about seemed underwhelming in some population figures directly from the the branch building in progress. ways. A one-story, red-brick rectan- Bureau of the Census in Washing- It did proclaim, as if to Meridian’s gle, the building was unremarkable ton. Although the Bureau would not credit, that “the colored population in its appearance. While Edward send its report until the following of Meridian was not overlooked” in Tilton had given the two-story, June, Bertram’s initiative seemed to the city’s campaign for a Carnegie downtown library an elaborate, Ital- change something in Meridian.31 In grant.36 ianate style with arched windows, January of 1911, after telling Marks the branch’s only nod to architec- about the Bureau’s forthcoming re- The Segregated Branch, tural sophistication was a stepped port, Bertram once more pressed 1913-74 front entrance with a pair of win- 38 Meridian to clarify its intentions for Meridian’s “colored” neighbor- dows on either side. The other dif- 32 equal access. Marks, who surely hoods were located principally in ference was its size. Although the realized that the city had already ap- the city’s northwest. And just as 13th Street building was designed proved a $30,000 library with only black Atlanta had Auburn Ave- as a branch, its users accounted for $25,000 to spend, acquiesced. He nue and New Orleans had Dryades nearly two-fifths of Meridian’s 1910 asked for a small raise to cover the Street, Meridian’s northwest part of population. While the main library balance due on the building, whose town had its “negro main streets,” housed a cavernous reading room construction was soon to begin— which contained many black-oper- on its first level, and a large audito- and “the intention,” Marks finally ated businesses, churches, and com- rium plus several program rooms added, “is to make provisions for a munity organizations. Private black on its upper level, the branch’s only 33 colored library.” schools like St. Joseph’s existed, yet operable floor was divided between Satisfied, Bertram raised Carne- segregated public schools taught adult and children’s sections with a gie’s final offer to $38,000, $8,000 of most of Meridian’s African-Amer- desk in the middle. Its raised base- which was intended for a “colored” ican youth. But while segregated ment may have offered additional branch.34 Mayor J.W. Parker, who schools often contained libraries, space for storage and perhaps even a 39 personally wrote Bertram to thank these were quite small and their col- meeting room, but this is unclear. Carnegie for the grant, described lections inadequate by public library libraries could potentially take up the slack. This may how all municipal boards and standards.37 The 13th Street library help to explain African Americans’ interest in free public libraries and the collections that could be used community groups had enthusias- CCNY records. Parker then asked for $35,000 for the to supplement school libraries or to serve in their tically and “unanimously accept- main library and $10,000 for the segregated branch. place where school libraries did not exist” (52). ed” the two-library plan.35 Still, in Bertram’s response (if he responded at all) does not 38 As he explains to James Bertram in his letter of survive in the CCNY records. June 1910, Tilton modeled Meridian’s main library 30 Edward Tilton to James Bertram, letter, 27 June 36 “Mrs. J.S. Hamm is Librarian,” Meridian Dispatch after Hornell, New York’s Carnegie library, which 1910, CCNY records. Tilton claimed that to finish the (Meridian, Mississippi), 13 December 1912. Even in Tilton had designed in 1908. Edward Lippincott library as designed would cost $29,900. his letter to Bertram the following June, in which he Tilton, who is also remembered for the Ellis Island 31 When the Bureau’s report finally arrived in June praises the success of the main library, Isaac Marks buildings of 1900-01, was one of the most prolific and of 1911, it supported what Bertram had suspected all does not mention the 13th Street library. His only influential library architects of the period. In his early along. While Meridian had indeed grown since 1900, subsequent reference to the branch occurs in a letter years, he apprenticed with McKim, Mead, and White, per 1910 figures it contained only 23,285 people, from late 1912, in which he refers to the branch the architects of the Boston Public Library of 1894. 9,321 of which were African American. See: Bureau simply as “Library #2.” Tilton’s libraries often mimicked the Boston library’s of the Census (Washington, DC) to James Bertram, 37 See: Lana Lumumba and Ann Branton, shape and style, the best example being the Carpenter letter, 15 June 1911, CCNY records. “Historical Survey of Library Services for Blacks Memorial Library in New Hampshire, which opened 32 James Bertram to Isaac Marks, letter, 12 January in Mississippi: 1866 to 1954,” Mississippi Libraries, in 1914. Tilton also designed Vicksburg, Mississippi’s 1911, CCNY records. 66, no. 2 (2002): 37-38. The earliest school libraries Carnegie library of 1916. Interestingly, though it for blacks in Mississippi date to the late nineteenth appears Tilton was the only architect Meridian hired 33 Isaac Marks to James Bertram, letter, 18 January to design its libraries, nothing in the CCNY records 1911, CCNY records. century. However, since they were established primarily to supplement classroom learning, they directly links the 13th Street branch’s design to him. 34 James Bertram to J.W. Parker, letter, 18 March were often small and poorly maintained. As Cheryl 39 The model building plans that Bertram regularly 1911, CCNY records. Knott remarks in Not Free, Not for All: “As schools sent architects show that raised basements were 35 J.W. Parker to James Bertram, 15 March 1911, failed to serve the needs of African Americans, public mandatory in nearly all Carnegie libraries of Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 44

Either way, these differences were the colored race.”42 These were: Dr. the Masonic Temple, were also obvious for decades afterward. Even J. Beverly Shaw and Dr. Triplett, nearby. Even the 13th Street li- in 1958, when a teenager named both college professors; physician brary’s first librarian, Mary Rayford Jerome Wilson sneaked into the Dr. E.E. Howard; Jeff Wilson; John Collins, lived across the street at the whites-only library one summer af- Harris; and Frank Berry and Henry Haven Institute. Collins, whom the ternoon, the differences were clear Strayhorn, co-owners of the local Colored Library Board selected as to him: “It was much larger than our black funeral home.43 The board’s its first librarian in 1913, remained library,” Wilson remembers. “It had nucleus had actually formed two at the branch until 1916, when the the usual stacks, but it was twice, years earlier, in 1911, when the city board replaced her with Helen maybe even three times as large.”40 made Shaw, Howard, and Strayhorn Strayhorn.47 Although Collins’s ten- Just as striking was the branch’s the library’s Cooperation Commit- ure was brief, it was the beginning conspicuous lack of a sign. While tee to serve as liaisons between the of what appears to have been a long the main library’s builders had en- city and the black community.44 career in education. Decades later, graved “PUBLIC LIBRARY” in When the branch was completed in Atlanta University would open the marble overtop the building’s front 1913, the other leaders joined, and Mary Rayford Collins Library and entrance, no such sign identified newly formed board chose Dr. Shaw in 1983 establish a scholarship in the segregated branch as a public or as its chairman. Shaw, a graduate her name.48 cultural building of any kind. For of Rust College in Holly Springs, all appearances, the branch could had moved to Meridian in 1906 to The 13th Street Library have housed the neighborhood serve as President of the Haven In- Remembered 41 45 waterworks. stitute. Shaw’s wife, Lizzie, was the Archival traces of the 13th Street The 13th Street library’s users Institute’s librarian. Haven Institute library’s operations are scarce. It were nevertheless grateful for their was affiliated with one of Meridi- remained a segregated branch gov- new branch. Its plainness made it an’s oldest black churches, St. Paul’s erned by a separate board until July a kind of blank canvas, ready for Methodist, which stood on the cor- of 1964, when Meridian integrated transformation into a community ner of 13th Street and 26th Avenue. its public libraries just a month after institution. In some ways, the pros- Both institutions operated through the Freedom Summer murders in pect of a segregated library made the African Methodist Episcopal nearby Neshoba County.49 But even the building valuable even before Churches; and the Haven Institute, after its desegregation (which was its construction. While the condi- whose campus occupied land on peaceful, according to at least one tions of the Carnegie grant guar- 13th Street between 27th and 28th librarian’s account), the 13th Street anteed the branch annual support avenues, had donated the site for the branch continued to serve Merid- 46 from the city, its governance was branch. ian’s northwest community.50 Me- left almost entirely to the newly Indeed, the branch’s location ridian no longer referred to it as formed Colored Library Adviso- was one of its assets. Several black “the colored library” but simply as ry Board, which consisted of some churches were within walking dis- “the branch.” The city nevertheless of Meridian’s “leading members of tance, as were many black schools. closed it in September 1974, claim- The offices of several community ing that changes in building code organizations and groups, including this period. These basements usually contained storage rooms and at least one lecture room. (For 47 City directories show that the Collinses (Mary 42 “Mrs. J.S. Hamm is Librarian,” Meridian Dispatch and her husband Malachi) departed Meridian by reproductions of these model plans, see the Bobinski, (Meridian, Mississippi), 13 December 1912. van Slyck, or Jones books listed in note number 4.) 1917. Some sources (see next note) also indicate that However, since no original building plans for the 13th 43 Ibid. they moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Mary’s Street library could be located, it is unclear whether 44 Broach, “Advisory Board” (appendix). husband managed a funeral home. the 13th Street branch’s basement included these 45 “Central Alabama Institute, Birmingham, 48 The finding aids for the Collins Family Papers spaces. Former library users interviewed for this Alabama. President J.B.F. Shaw, PhD,” The Christian (1889-1988), created by the Amistad Research project could not recall visiting the basement. Educator 27, no. 3 (1916): 6. Also see Meridian’s city Center in New Orleans, contain much biographical 40 Interview with Jerome Wilson, November 2016. directories for this period. information about Mary Augusta Rayford Collins, Malachi C. Collins, and Emma Claire Collins Harvey. 41 Other cities, among them Louisville, Kentucky 46 Broach, 6. See also: Beth L. Savage, African and Houston, Texas, opened segregated Carnegie American Historic Places: National Register of Historic 49 Broach, 45. branches in noticeably elegant buildings. Places (New York: Preservation Press), 308. 50 Ibid, 44. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 45

a young girl. “I would go to the li- High School.58 Leontyne Price and brary and spend a few hours there, a Philippa Schulyer also performed few days a week,” she recalls. The li- in Meridian: events that “would be brary was a popular spot for Merid- rather unheard of in a number of ian’s black youth: “Everybody knew other smaller places in Mississip- it was there,” Turner says.53 pi,” says Wilson. “If I look at the For Wilson and Turner, memories state of Mississippi and my growing of Meridian during that period are up,” he adds, “Meridian was rather vivid. “It was staunch segregation,” progressive with respect to how the Wilson recalls. “There were signs black community dealt with segre- with ‘colored’ and ‘white’ and, of gation.”59 Turner agrees: “I feel very course, you had to ride in the back of fortunate to have been raised in Me- the bus.”54 Segregation was taken for ridian,” she says. “We were exposed granted and often unquestioned, at to a great deal as black children that least by many of Meridian’s young- others were not in other cities in er blacks: “It was automatic,” Turner Mississippi.”60 Mary Rayford Collins, the 13th Street li- 55 brary’s first librarian. Collins Family papers, says. “For the most part, the black The 13th Street library occupied 1889-1988, Amistad Research Center, New community lived separately,” adds a special place within this social and Orleans, LA. Reproduced with permission. Wilson. “We had all the things con- informational landscape. In some tained in the black community that ways, many of its users remem- requirements made it unsuitable for we needed.”56 ber the library as no different than public use. All the branch library’s Both Wilson and Turner recall any “real” (white) public library: collections, as well as its last librari- the African American community’s “I remember when we went to the an, Gradie Clayton, were transferred central business district, concentrat- library, we had to be really quiet, to the Meridian-Lauderdale Public ed along the southwest part of 5th like you do in all libraries,” recalls Library building, which had opened Street. Black-owned businesses in- Rellie Mae Williams, who visited downtown in 1967.51 cluded E.F. Young’s Hotel, the Star the branch as a child.61 But while The 13th Street branch survives Theatre, a shoe and a watch repair, the branch was much smaller than in the memories of several of its and at least two florists. There were the white library downtown, it was former users, however. Their rec- also black-operated barbershops, nevertheless always “full of books, ollections show that by the 1950s pharmacies, restaurants like Bill’s from top to bottom” says Turner, and 60s the library had grown into Café, and funeral homes. But while who also remembers the librarian’s a valued and well-used community social injustice surrounded them many displays and reading centers. institution. “My parents couldn’t af- -“You weren’t respected, really, as a “There were books on tables, where ford encyclopedias or lots of books,” full human being,” reflects Wilson57 Mrs. Mathis had displays set up. says Jerome Wilson, recalling the - neither Wilson nor Turner re- She always had different little sec- role the branch played in his early members Meridian as an entirely tions for special things, holidays or life. Many of the branch’s users had “bad” place for black children in lat- events.”62 The branch was open six no comparable access to collections ter days of Jim Crow. “It was a seg- days a week, late on weeknights. like the branch’s. “So, I spent a lot regated city, but we were exposed “It closed at 8pm,” Wilson recalls, of time reading. And often, I stayed to quite a bit of culture,” explains “and I was there when Mrs. Mathis there until the library closed.”52 Turner, who attended music recit- Maxine Turner, who also grew up in als at the nearby Wechsler Junior 58 Turner interview. 59 Wilson interview. Meridian, began using the branch as 53 Interview with Maxine Turner, January 2017. 60 Turner interview. 54 Wilson interview. 51 “Meridian Public Library’s Two Major Facilities 61 Cheryl Owens, “Study stirs memories of to Merge October 1,” The Meridian Star (Meridian, 55 Turner interview. segregated library in Meridian,” The Meridian Star Mississippi), 25 August 1974. 56 Wilson interview. (Meridian, Mississippi), 4 March 2017. 52 Wilson interview. 57 Ibid. 62 Turner interview. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 46

locked up.”63 always made everything interest- one afternoon in 1955, not long after Most of the branch’s younger i n g .” 68 When the branch began chil- the murder of Emmett Till, walking users visited for school-related re- dren’s story hours in the mid-1950s, through a white neighborhood on search or to explore their personal the new program attracted many his way home. Stopping at the curb, interests. “I read at that library for young attendees.69 “[Mrs. Mathis] Wilson noticed “there were Nation- many summers,” recalls Cassandra would read stories to us and then al Geographic and Life magazines Lewis Sloan, who, with her broth- ask us questions about it, and how on the trash, and I stopped to pick er, regularly walked the full eight we could relate to it,” Turner re- some of them up.” But when a white blocks to the library and back. “We members. “She had a very special woman emerged from the house, came from a family that required us talent at drawing you in. You were Wilson promptly dropped them.74 to read, so we utilized the library just fascinated with her reading a Another time, when the teenaged c ard .” 64 The branch’s collections and story to you.”70 Sometimes Mathis’s Wilson needed a book available programs were designed primari- assistant, Ruby Yarbrough, would only at the main library, he boldly ly for children and teenagers, not conduct the story hour. But this did slipped into the building through a just to supplement school curricu- not make it any less memorable for side door. He was spotted, of course, la but also to offer resources those the young Cassandra Lewis Sloan: and promptly reported to the librar- schools’ libraries did not: “The pub- “Story time at the library was one of ian on duty. “She grabbed me by the lic library had more,” claims Turn- my favorite things,” she says.71 arm and took me into her office,” he er—whose mother, a local English The branch’s collections were remembers. “She admonished me teacher, supplied her daughter with clearly an important part of its al- that I was not to come back, and that summer reading lists.65 The branch lure. Maxine Turner, who as a girl if I needed anything I was supposed maintained strong ties with local studied dance, recalls pursuing to go to Katherine. And of course, black schools as well as vacation some of her early interests at the li- she addressed Ms. Mathis as ‘Kath- bible schools run by neighborhood brary. “I knew it was a place where I erine,’ not as ‘Ms. Mathis.’”75 churches. Even the youngest visitors could go and read about travel and More than an educational sup- learned how to navigate the library explore music books,” she says.72 port center, the 13th Street branch independently, since its librarian at Jerome Wilson recalls pursuing his was also a meeting place for its users. the time, Mrs. Katherine Mathis, early interests in mathematics and Meridian’s black youth had many regularly taught the Dewey Decimal history: “I was curious about the places to go for fun: churches often System to users. “At first, I didn’t slaves and how that all came about,” organized special programming; know how to use a catalog,” recalls he says. “And of course, at 9 years- some of the neighborhood’s housing Rellie Mae Williams, “but soon I old, I didn’t fully understand. It was projects had recreational centers; learned how to use the library for Ms. Mathis who helped expand and and St. Paul’s church, which by the research and enjoyment.”66 give me a better understanding. In 1950s had relocated to the Haven Many younger members of Me- fact, I learned more about African Institute’s former site on 13th Street, ridian’s African American commu- American history in that library.”73 maintained a well-used basketball nity remember Katherine Mathis, The last years of Jim Crow were court. But even when it seemed the the branch’s librarian in the 1950s among the era’s most dangerous, branch’s users were doing noth- and 60s. “She was very giving of her and the social tensions that floated ing more than reading, they were time,” says Jerome Wilson.67 “Mrs. through Meridian often reminded still among their peers, and often Mathis always had something inter- Wilson of the place the 13th Street 74 As Wilson explained in his interview, this woman was not angry and encouraged him to take the esting for us to read, or something branch occupied in his life. He recalls magazines. In fact, she also offered him a job doing for us to do,” Turner adds. “She yardwork. But Wilson’s mother, concerned with 68 Turner interview. growing racial tensions from the Emmett Till case of 63 Wilson interview. 69 Broach, 42. 1955, advised against it. 64 Owens, “Study stirs”. 70 Turner interview. 75 Wilson interview. Wilson claims his motivations 65 Turner interview. 71 Owens, “Study stirs”. were practical, not political: “I didn’t go in with any real sense that ‘I’m going to integrate the library’…. 66 Owens, “Study stirs”. 72 Turner interview. I figured that library contained what I needed, so I 67 Wilson interview. 73 Wilson interview. went there and got it.” Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 47 visited the library with friends or with siblings. “It was a well-used li- brary,” Maxine Turner remembers.76 Wilson agrees: “There were young people, my age and younger,” he recalls, adding that older teenagers and adults were also among the li- brary’s clientele. Both Wilson and Turner were involved with youth organizations, including the Boy and Girl Scouts of America (which, under Jim Crow laws, were also seg- regated). “You recognized people from different communities,” says Wilson, who recalls bumping into some acquaintances from his Boy Scout troop and others from church, school, and playing basketball.77

Children arrive for the 13th Street library’s first story hour, February 1956. Reproduced with Conclusion permission from the Meridian-Lauderdale County Public Library. Although available information about the 13th Street library is scarce, valuable community space at a time diasporic valuations of literacy, the what does survive suggests that the when few other such places would library, the habits of public reading branch, while a last-minute addition have existed for Meridian’s African as a certain path—in the designation to Meridian’s Carnegie grant, was an Americans. Recalling his childhood of the great black orator and writer important place nevertheless for the visits to Louisville, Kentucky’s seg- Frederick Douglass—from slavery to city’s African Americans. For while regated Carnegie library, the West- freedom.” 78 Baker, now a professor the surviving correspondence be- ern Colored Branch, Houston A. at Vanderbilt, is a decorated writer tween the city and Carnegie’s offices Baker suggests that reading at the and one of the country’s preemi- suggests that Meridian’s civic lead- library as a public act helped nur- nent scholars of African American ers accepted Bertram’s two-library ture a broader sense of community studies. proposal simply to obtain a larger and shared identity among its users. Meridian’s 13th Street library grant for the white library, the 13th “Since I was in public, the seeming- undoubtedly had similar effects on Street branch, though smaller, was ly infinite variety of my reading was some of its users. At least for Max- left to the supervision of a separate, complemented by an endless vari- ine Turner and Jerome Wilson, “colored” board, something which ety of library occupants, who were both of whom would leave Merid- helped make the branch an early young and old, able-bodied and ian for college, the branch provid- symbol of civic autonomy for Me- physically challenged,” he reflects. ed them with early opportunities ridian’s African Americans. “Naturally, all of the library’s patrons to explore interests that later blos- Moreover, while it appears the were black, or, as we then called our- somed into successful careers away 13th Street library’s collections and selves: colored.” This made a differ- from home. Turner, whose primary programs were intended primari- ence in his life, and not just when he interests as a child were music and ly for educational support, the li- was young: “What was so clearly in- dance, later attended Tougaloo Col- brary’s existence as a place for quiet ferable at [the library] were not only lege and Jackson State University, reading and reflection made it a general, democratic vistas of Amer- 78 Houston A. Baker, I Don’t Hate the South: ican reading,” Baker continues, “but Reflections on Faulkner, Family, and the South (New 76 Turner interview. also specifically African American York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 25-6. Italics in 77 Wilson interview. original. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 48

eventually earning her master’s in music education.79 Jerome Wilson would earn a PhD in the sciences and, more recently, become a pub- lished historian.80 After leaving for college, Wilson would occasional- ly visit Meridian during the sum- mers. He remembers returning to the 13th Street library at least once, not to borrow books but instead to see Mrs. Mathis and, as he puts it, “express to her the values that she helped me develop at the library.”81 Although the former 13th Street branch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, it was razed in 2008. Only a piece of its front walkway remains. Two years earlier, the Lauderdale Coun- ty Human Relations Commission The 13th Street library’s former site. Photograph by author. had announced a plan to convert the empty building into a center Acknowledgements the Meridian Star; Karen Rowell 82 for arts education. The project This project was made possible of the School of Library and Infor- ended, however, when the former in part by the Institute of Museum mation Science at Southern Miss; branch, which had not been used and Library Services, grant #RE- Dr. Wayne Wiegand, for introduc- as a public building since 1974, was 31-16-0044-16. The views, findings, ing the author to Ira Berlin’s work determined structurally unfit for conclusions or recommendations on the history of African Amer- preservation. Its demolition was expressed in this article do not icans and place; and the article’s a disappointment to many hope- necessarily represent those of the two anonymous reviewers, both of ful civic officials and to the locals Institute of Museum and Library whom made invaluable suggestions who remember using it as a library. Services. The author also gratefully for revisions and improvements. Though not all historic libraries can acknowledges the Carnegie Corpo- be saved, it is nevertheless crucial ration of New York for permission Bibliography that researchers, archivists, and li- Anderson, Florence. Carnegie Corporation Library to quote from the unpublished cor- Program 1911-1961. New York: Carnegie Corpo- brarians preserve the documentary respondence in its archives, which ration, 1963. heritage these libraries have left, and Baker, Houston A. I Don’t Hate the South: Reflections are held at Columbia University’s on Faulkner, Family, and the South. New York: if possible record the recollections Butler Library. Oxford University Press, 2007. of their former users. Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access The author would also like to for African Americans in the South. Lanham, thank: Dr. Jerome Wilson and Max- Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009. Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America: The Four ine Turner; the Lauderdale County Great Migrations. New York: Penguin, 2014. 79 Turner interview. Department of Archives and Histo- Bobinski, George. Carnegie Libraries: Their History 80 Wilson interview. See also: Ethel E. Young and Impact on American Public Library Develop- and Jerome Wilson, African American Children ry; the Meridian-Lauderdale Public ment. Chicago: American Library Association, and Missionary Nuns and Priests in Mississippi: Library; Jennifer S. Comins of Co- 1970. Achievement Against Jim Crow Odds (Bloomington, Broach, Jeanne. The Meridian Public Libraries: An Indiana: Author House, 2010). lumbia University’s Rare Book and Informal History, 1913-74. Meridian, Mississippi: 81 Wilson interview. Manuscript Library; Chianta Dors- Meridian Public Library, 1974. Carnegie Corporation of New York Records, 1872- 82 Owens, “Study stirs”. See also: “Architectural ey of the Amistad Research Center 2000. Butler Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Design Competition,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, in New Orleans; Cheryl Owens of Columbia University, New York. Mississippi), 7 December 2005. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 49

Davidson, June Davis. Meridian. Charleston, South Unlimited, 2007 Press, 2011. Carolina: Arcadia, 2012. Jones, Theodore. Carnegie Libraries Across America: A Savage, Beth L. African American Historic Places: Griffis, Matthew R. “Searching for Carnegie: A Visit Public Legacy. New York: John Wiley, 1997. National Register of Historic Places. New York: to the World’s Oldest Carnegie Library Calls to Knott, Cheryl. Not Free, Not for All: Public Libraries Preservation Press. Mind a Chapter of Mississippi’s Library History.” in the Age of Jim Crow. Amherst, Massachusetts: van Slyck, Abigail A. Free to All: Carnegie Libraries Mississippi Libraries 78, no. 1 (Spring 2015): 4-9. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. and American Culture, 1890-1920. Chicago: Hersberger, Julie, Lou Sua, and Adam Murray. Lumumba, Lana and Ann Branton. “Historical Survey University of Chicago Press, 1995. “The Fruit and Root of the Community: The of Library Services for Blacks in Mississippi: 1866 Young, Ethel E. and Jerome Wilson. African Greensboro Carnegie Negro Library, 1904-1964.” to 1954.” Mississippi Libraries 66, no. 2 (Summer American Children and Missionary Nuns and In The Library as Place: History, Community and 2002): 37-38. Priests in Mississippi: Achievement Against Jim Culture, edited by John E. Buschman and Gloria J. Putnam, Richelle. Lauderdale County, Mississippi: A Crow Odds. Bloomington, Indiana: Author Leckie, 79-100. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Brief History. Charleston, South Carolina: History House, 2010.

Searching for Answers Using Student Searches to Determine Engagement

Ashley S. Dees Introduction Pierce (2014) stress that making stu- Research & Instruction Librarian For a number of years, librarians dents familiar with library resourc- Assistant Professor have used one-shot library instruc- es in narrow time frames of 50-75 Jacqueline Reed minute one-shot sessions is not Library Specialist tion sessions to assist in student ideal. One solution to the one-shot Brian Young learning. Library instruction can Research & Instruction Librarian be challenging due to timing, sub- problem is embedded librarianship; Assistant Professor ject matter, and the need to assess however it has not yet become the The University of Mississippi Libraries each session, even more so when norm in most academic institutions, first-year students are the intended thus librarians must teach students Abstract audience. One-shot library instruc- in a limited time frame. (Walker & Over the past several years, li- tion for first-year students requires Pierce). brary instructors at a large research preparation, attention to detail, and In 2005, library instructors at university have built a comprehen- time management like any other the University of Mississippi began sive first year instruction initiative. session; however, the added chal- building a comprehensive first-year The initiative provides instruction lenge with freshman instruction is instruction initiative. The first-year to ten different first year courses that students are unfamiliar with initiative has grown to provide in- which include hundreds of library academic libraries. According to struction to ten different first-year sessions and thousands of students. Dennis and Dees (2015) navigating courses which include hundreds of With such a large number of stu- the physical space of the library, fac- library sessions and thousands of dents involved, library instructors ulty involvement, and student moti- students. With such a large num- have assessed the courses in multi- vation to engage in library research ber of students involved, library ple ways. For this paper, instructors all contribute to the difficulties of instructors have worked to assess focused on student engagement first-year one-shot instruction. Al- these courses in multiple ways. Li- during guided library sessions and though students are used to finding brary sessions for the First-year Ex- factors that affected engagement information online, the academic perience (EDHE 105) courses are such as search phrase, day of ses- research process is unfamiliar and designed to introduce first-year stu- sion, and time of session. requires additional skills, including dents to both the library’s physical critical thinking. Online informa- and virtual space. The learning out- tion is infinite and it is often hard for comes for these sessions are finding students to determine the difference an article, using the library’s discov- ery service, and locating a book on Peer-Reviewed Article. Received: 6/30/2017 between reliable information and Accepted: 8/30/2017 unreliable information. Walker and the library shelf using the library’s Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 50 catalog. Locating a book on the cannot occur, or that it cannot pro- analysis is the ability to study stu- shelf, in particular, is typically seen duce a lasting effect, over such a dent behavior unobtrusively while as a daunting task to many first-year short span of time” (p. 287). Klip- gathering useful data (Covey, 2002). students as most have never visited fel (2014) suggests that increasing This was important for the current an academic library and are unfa- student engagement with assigned study as librarians were able to an- miliar with the Library of Congress coursework during the library in- alyze data from 147 classes without Classification system. This paper fo- struction session can have a positive any impediment to the students or cuses on how the authors analyzed impact on how much students learn instructors. student search behavior from the during the session. Researchers commonly use trans- EDHE 105 courses to measure first- Recognizing the potential limita- action log analysis to examine the year student engagement during tion surrounding student engage- frequency of searches, use of in- guided library instruction sessions. ment with library instruction, it may terface features, such as facets, and Engagement for this study is defined be just as important to understand the quality of user searches (Lown, as students following along with the the impact of more fundamental fac- Sierra, and Boyer (2012). Dempsey library instructor and performing tors such as the number of students and Valenti (2016) reviewed trans- the search as it was defined on their or time and day of instruction. By action logs in order to evaluate session handout. and large, library researchers have student’s use of filters and effective not investigated the impact of time keywords. Avery and Tracy’s study Literature Review of day/or time on student participa- (2014) is unique in that it used tion; Avery and Tracy (2012) noted transaction logs to evaluate student Student Engagement in this gap in their study on the topic. engagement in library instruction Library Instruction They also speculated that the gap in similarly to this study. In addition Many librarians question the ef- the literature in library and educa- to other findings, Avery and Tracy ficacy of one-shot library instruc- tion scholarship may be due to the found that engagement was lower tion sessions, particularly those not fact that teachers are often unable to in post-morning classes and slightly associated with a specific student control the day and time of instruc- lower in Tuesday/Thursday class- research need. The question of how tion. Despite that, they maintain it is es which are longer than Monday/ engaged can students actually be in important to build broader under- Wednesday/Friday classes. a single 60- or 75-minute one-shot is standing of what variables affect stu- of importance due to the high num- dent engagement in order to devel- Methodology ber of one-shot sessions. This ques- op methods for limiting their effect. tion has led librarians to research A team of ten library instruc- different factors or teaching meth- Transaction Log Analysis tors comprised of librarians, library ods that can impact student partic- Transaction log analysis, the staff, and a library graduate assis- ipation, including the incorporation “study of electronically recorded tant taught 147 first-year experience of problem-based learning (Ken- interactions between online infor- library instruction classes during ney, 2008), flipping the classroom mation retrieval systems and the the 2016-2017 fall semester. Three (Rodriguez, 2016), and the use of persons who search for the infor- unique search phrases were used clickers (Walker and Pearce, 2014). mation found in those systems” is in conjunction with three different Walker and Pearce used a learn- not a new concept (Peters, Kurth, time slots: college intramural sports er-centered approach for library Flaherty, Sandore, & Kaske, 1993). for 8am-10am, college tailgating for instruction which did not result in Within the last few years, librari- 11am-1pm, and college textbook a statistically significant difference ans have begun using this method cost for 2pm-6pm. As part of each compared to a traditional approach. of analysis to specifically study user session, students were provided a However, they did raise an inter- search behavior with discovery ser- worksheet to complete. The work- esting concern related to student vices in the context of information sheets were color-coded based on engagement in one-shots “It seems literacy classroom sessions. One the time slots so that instructors reasonable that either engagement advantage of using transaction log would know which sheet should Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 51 be distributed throughout the day. Summon, the discovery service used by the University of Mississip- pi Libraries, provided search logs through an administrative interface. The logs were downloaded into an Excel workbook and analyzed to de- termine if factors such as time, day of the week, or search phrase influ- enced student engagement. Frequent misspellings presented an issue when analyzing the data. Table 1. Number of students by day and time Initially, all searches were counted, however, this resulted in some days of the week and times equaling over 100%. For the final data analysis the authors calculated student engage- ment by comparing the student en- rollment of each section to the num- Table 2. Student engagement by class start time ber of correct searches.

Findings The 8am-10am search phrase, col- lege intramural sports, had the high- est student engagement, that is, it had the highest average percentage at 74.3% and median percentage at 78.49% of students actively search- ing the search phrase. Although the 11am-1pm time period had the larg- est number of overall students (see Table 3. Student engagement by day Table 1), students in these sections had the second highest engagement Discussion direct comparison. with an average of 69.86% and of Few studies in library literature In their study, Avery and Tracy median 77.94%. The 2pm-6pm time have included time and day as vari- combined all data for Monday, slot had the lowest percent of stu- ables when studying student en- Wednesday, and Friday classes. dent engagement with an average of gagement. A higher rate of student Likewise, they combined the data 55.34% participation and a median engagement during the morning for Tuesday and Thursday classes. of 63.74% as seen in Table 2. sessions supports Avery and Tracy’s After combining the present study’s Sessions on Tuesdays resulted in (2014) findings. The earliest time data in a similar manner by weight- the highest average, 73.66%, while slots had higher engagement in both ing the averages based on number of sessions on Wednesdays resulted this study and Avery and Tracy’s student participants, the two studies in the highest median, 77.24%. All study. This study divided class time did not align as to student engage- other days had lower percentages of slots into three periods, whereas ment by day of the week. Avery and engagement (see Table 3), with Fri- Avery and Tracy divided their time Tracy found that 50-minute Mon- days having the lowest engagement. slots into two, making the findings day/Wednesday/Friday classes had from the two studies unsuitable for higher student engagement (defined Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 52 in their study as nonparticipation that could have influenced student studying the impact of changes rate), whereas this study found that engagement more than the day in library instruction delivery, re- Tuesday/Thursday classes had high- or time of the instruction session. searchers may want to limit mitigat- er engagement. Not enough data While each instructor taught from ing factors by controlling for those exists to properly draw a conclu- the same script, it is expected that variables by including only classes sion. One possible explanation for their respective personalities would taught on the same day, at the same the two studies not conforming are affect how often they conducted time, and by same librarian. the low rates of student engagement demonstration searches. found in this study on Mondays and References Avery, S. & Tracy, D.G. (2014). Using transaction log Fridays relative to other days of the Conclusion analysis to assess student search behavior in the week. A second possible explana- The authors agree with library instruction classroom. Reference Services Review, 42(2), 320-335. tion is that Avery and Tracy includ- Avery and Tracy (2014) that if fac- Covey, D. T. (2002). Usage and usability assessment: ed 170-minute evening classes along tors such as time and/or day of the Library practices and concerns. Council on Library and Information Resources. with traditional 75- to 80-minute week impact student engagement, li- Dempsey, M. & Valenti, A. (2016). Student use of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. brarians should be cognizant of how keywords and limiters in web-scale discovery searching. The Journal of Academic Librarianship An influencing factor could also they approach instruction during 42(3), 200-206. have been that students often mis- times of decreased attention. More Dennis, M., & Dees, A. S. (2015). It’s so boring: Im- proving library orientation sessions for first-year spelled search phrases even though research is needed to understand students. The Southeastern Librarian, 63(2), 2. the phrases were on their worksheet. just how much those two variables Holman, L. (2011). Millennial students’ mental mod- Other researchers have noted that els of search: Implications for academic librarians impact student participation. Based and database developers. The Journal of Academic first-year students frequently mis- on this study’s findings, the authors Librarianship, 37(1). 19-27. spell search terms when conducting recommend that future researchers Kenney, B. F. (2008). Revitalizing the one-shot instruction session using problem-based learning. non-guided searches (e.g., Holman, include three time slots when study- Reference & User Services Quarterly, 47(4), 386- 2011). The 8am-10am phrase, col- ing time as a factor instead of lim- 391. Klipfel, K.M. (2014). Authentic engagement: lege intramural sports, had the high- iting the evaluation to a morning/ Assessing the effects of authenticity on student est number of misspelled searches. post-morning dichotomy. engagement and information literacy in academic library instruction. Reference Services Review, Students also commonly mistyped Future research should also in- 42(2), 229-245. the 2pm-6pm phrase, college text- clude librarians as a variable to bet- Lown, C., Sierra, T., & Boyer, J. (2012). How users search the library from a single search box. Col- book cost, as college text book cost. ter understand if day and/or time lege & Research Libraries, 74(3), 227-241. In the future, library instructors are the actual factors influencing Peters, T. A., Kurth, M., Flaherty, P., Sandore, B., & will attempt to choose more easily Kaske, N. (1993). Transaction log analysis. Library student engagement. If factors such Hi Tech, 11(2), 37. spelled phrases. as day, time, and librarian do indeed Rodriguez, J. E. (2016). A massively flipped class: De- A limitation of this study was signing and implementing active learning infor- influence student engagement, then mation literacy instruction for a large enrollment that the study did not record which future research needs to account course. Reference Services Review, 44(1), 4-20. member of the library instruction for those variables when collecting Walker, K. W., & Pearce, M. (2014). Student engage- ment in one-shot library instruction. The Journal team taught each session. The in- data associated with instruction and of Academic Librarianship, 40(3), 281-290. structor was an uncaptured variable engagement. For example, when Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 53

2017 Annual Conference

Keynote Speaker John Chrastka

John Chrastka is executive director of EveryLibrary, the first nationwide political action committee for li- braries. Since 2013, EveryLibrary has helped 62 library communities with ballot measures for funding, opera- tions, and buildings, winning 46 and securing over $220 million in funding on Election Days. A long-time library trustee, supporter and advocate, Mr. Chrastka is a former president of the Board of Trustees for the Berwyn (IL) Public Library (2006 –2015) and is a former president of the Reaching Across Illinois Libraries System (RAILS), a multi-type library system. Prior to his work on EveryLi- brary, he was a partner in AssociaDirect, a Chicago-based consultancy focused on supporting associations in mem- bership recruitment, conference, and governance activi- ties, and was Director for Membership Development at the American Library Association (ALA). He is a cur- rent member of ALA,the Illinois Library Association (ILA), and the American Political Sciences Association (APSA). He was named a 2014 Mover & Shaker by Li- brary Journal for his work with EveryLibrary. He tweets at @mrchrastka. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 54

2017 SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017 1 - 4 p.m. Early Registration - Entrance, Lake Terrace Convention Center 1:30 - 4 p.m. Featured Speaker: Dr. Becky Smith - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Community Education Project Garden- Room 4 - 5 p.m. MLA Executive Board Meeting - Executive Conference Room 6 - 8:30 p.m. An Evening in the Archives - McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017

7:30 - 9 a.m. Morning Coffee Call! - Central Pre-function Area 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. Southern Miss SLIS Alumni Breakfast - Garden Room Good Morning, How Are You? - Forrest I The Power of Story - Forrest II Sharing Faculty Collaboration Success Stories - Lamar I Tabletop Gaming: Building and Sharing Stories with the Popular Trend - Lamar II

9:30 - 10:30 a.m. 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Free Online Tools to Make Telling Your Story Easy and Effective - Forrest II Featured Speaker: The Cooks, the Recipes, the Librarian and the Historian: Preserving Local History Lauren Coats - The Through Cookbooks - Lamar II Digital Turn in/and the Library - Hattiesburg Talking Book Services for Kids and Young Adults - Lamar I Hall C New Members Round Table - Forrest I MCJCLDD Group Meeting - Executive 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Conference Room Featured Speakers: Technical Services Round Table - Tell Your Community’s Story Through Your Collection - Lamar I Poster Session Lightning Round I - Forrest II Accentuate the Positive: A Method for Valuing Library Marketing Efforts - Forrest I Registration Beehive Resource Sharing Update - Lamar II Finding Your Story to Write Your Story: Amateur Genealogy Research and Collection Access Through Digitization - Garden Room

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Networking Lunch: Enjoy lunch on your own, or pick up pre-ordered boxed lunches in the Exhibit Hall.Hattiesburg - Hall A

8 a.m. - 4 p.m. — 12:30 - 2 p.m. Keynote Speaker: John Chrastka - MLA Business Meeting and Opening General Session - Hattiesburg Hall C

2 - 4 p.m. 2 - 3 p.m. Featured Outreach Matters! Connecting the Library with Students and Faculty Through Fun Speakers: Special Activities - Lamar II Libraries Section A New Kind of Academic Freedom - Forrest I Retirement: Your Librarianship 101 Reunion: Advocate! - Garden Room Story Continues… 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Hattiesburg Using a Consultant to Bid Out E-Rate Services: One Year Later - Lamar I Afternoon Snack Break Exhibit Hall Grand Opening Exhibit Hall Grand Hall C Long-Range Planning Committee Meeting - Executive Conference Room - Hattiesburg Hall A 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. A Hall on Display - Hattiesburg Posters

3 - 4 p.m. 3 - 5 p.m. Featured Speaker: Shelby Parsons - Stories from Behind Bars and How Friends Can Librarian as Candidate/ Help! - Lamar I Library as Cause Friends of Library Book Sales: Ideas You Can Use - Forrest I Garden Room Mississippi SirsiDynix User Group Meeting - Forrest II Hattiesburg Hall A Hall - Hattiesburg Exhibits and Silent Auction 4 - 5 p.m. Southern Miss School of Library and Information Science Focus Group - Forrest I 11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Librarians Matter! - Forrest II UNDISCLOSED: Secrets of a Sommelier - Red Lion Inn and Suites Poem Your Story - Lamar II

6 - 9 p.m. President’s Reception and Scholarship Bash - Ogletree Alumni House, The University of Southern Mississippi Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 55

2017 SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017

7:30 - 9 a.m. 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Morning Coffee Call! Rise and Shine Yoga with Southern Miss SLIS - Terrace Central Pre-function Area 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. Aquila Rising: Stories of Impact from an Institutional Repository - Forrest II Friends of the Festival Forum - Lamar II Same Story, Different Format: Programming for Children with Autism Spectrum - Lamar I Enhancing and Promoting the Love of Reading in School - Forrest I

9:30 - 10:30 a.m. Past Presidents Brunch - Black Sheep’s Cafe MAGNOLIA Steering Committee Meeting - Executive Conference Room K-6 Library Skills - Forrest II Reading for Pleasure in the School Setting - Lamar I Remembering and Writing in Black and White - Lamar II Storytelling Panel - Garden Room

10:30 a.m. - Noon 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Featured Speaker: Julie Poster Session Lightning Round II - Forrest II Stivers - Promoting University Directors Council Meeting - Executive Conference Room School Libraries in Best Practices for Using Government Information in ALL Libraries - Lamar II the Community Using Stories and Statistics to Advocate for Support - Lamar I

Registration Hattiesburg Hall C Allen Eugene Cox and the Citizen’s Council: A Collection in Defiance - Forrest I

11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Networking Lunch: Enjoy lunch on your own, or pick up pre-ordered boxed lunches in the

Exhibit Hall. - Hattiesburg Hall A A Hall - Hattiesburg Exhibits and Silent Auction

Noon - 2 p.m. 1 - 2 p.m. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. — Featured Speaker: Corabel Everything You Need to Know About Being a School Librarian Shofner - Young People’s Services (But Were Afraid to Ask) - Forrest I Round Table Luncheon - Lakeview Bringing It All Together: Using Technology to Engage Your User Featured Speakers: Black Community - Lamar II

Caucus Round Table - Lunch Everyone Loves Free Stuff! Open Educational Resources for 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. with Retirees: The Value of K-12 - Lamar I Libraries and Librarians Useful and Usable: Usability Testing for Library Website Hattiesburg Hall B Redesign - Forrest II

2 - 3 p.m. 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Keynote Speaker: John Chrastka – Closing General Session - Hattiesburg Hall C 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. A Hall on Display - Hattiesburg Posters Afternoon Snack Break Hattiesburg Hall A 3 - 4 p.m. Mother Goose Theater - Forrest I Academic Writing Groups: Can Peer Pressure Help You Tell Your Story? - Forrest II Mining Your Memories to Retell the Stories They Told - Lamar I MAGNOLIA Information Session - Lamar II

4 - 5 p.m. Digital Bookplates: Old Technology and New Applications - Forrest I Why Digital Preservation Matters? Digital Preservation Readiness: Access and Sustainability -Forrest II Mississippi Children's Choice Award: The Magnolia Award - Lamar I Virtual Librarianship: Engaging Your User Community with Creative Technology - Lamar II

5 - 6 p.m. Pre-Dinner Reception - Central Prefunction Area and Terrace

6 - 8 p.m. Mississippi Authors’ Awards Dinner - Lakeview

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2017 9 - 11 a.m. MLA Awards Breakfast - Lakeview AA/EOE/ADAI UC 77470.5053 10.17 Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 56 Mississippi Authors Awards

Greg Iles: Winner for Fiction – Natchez Burning Greg Iles was born in Germany in 1960, where his father ran the US Embassy Medical Clinic during the height of the Cold War. Iles spent his youth in Natchez, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Missis- sippi in 1983. While attending Ole Miss, Greg lived in the cabin where William Faulkner and his brothers listened to countless stories told by Mammy Callie, their beloved nanny, who had been born a slave. Iles wrote his first novel in 1993, a thriller about Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess, Spandau Phoenix, which became the first of thirteen New York Times bestsellers. Iles's novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published in more than thirty-five countries world- wide. His new epic trilogy continues the story of Penn Cage, protagonist of The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and New York Times #1 bestseller,The Devil’s Punchbowl. Iles is a member of the legendary lit-rock group The Rock Bottom Remainders. Like bandmate Stephen King, Greg returned to the musical stage after recovering from his injuries, and joined the band for their final two shows in Los Angeles in 2012. A nonfiction memoir by the band, titled Hard Listening, will be published this summer. Iles lives in Natchez, Mississippi. He has two children, at least one of whom aspires to both literary and film endeavors. Richard Grant: Winner for Non-Fiction - Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta Richard Grant is an author, journalist and television host. He grew up in London, England, and now lives in Jackson, Mississippi. He writes for Smithsonian Maga- zine, New York Times, Garden and Gun, and many other publications. His last book, Dispatches From Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta was a New York Times bestseller, and a number one bestseller in Mississippi. Matthew Clark Smith: Winner for Juvenile - Small Wonders: Jean Henri Fabre and his World of Insects Matthew Clark Smith grew up in Jackson, Mississip- pi and received an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He is the author of two childrens biographies, Small Wonders: Jean-Henri Fabre and His World of Insects and Lighter than Air: Sophie Blanchard, the First Woman Pilot, and lives in Jackson with his family. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 57 Featured Speakers Pre-Conference Speaker: Dr. Becky Smith The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) wants to help make libraries the go-to source for unbiased financial education and resources in every community. This pre-conference session will demonstrate CFPB’s easy-to-understand, behaviorally informed financial education resources available to libraries; provide program ideas, resources, and tools, and help libraries connect with local partners. Dr. Becky Smith is an Assistant Extension Professor in the department of Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University and the director of the MSU Extension Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy. Becky is an economist who works in the area of helping individuals, fam- ilies, firms, and communities to build assets through economic education and financial coaching.

Friends of Mississippi Libraries, Inc.: Shelby Parsons The Friends of Mississippi Libraries Inc. will be joined by Big House books to discuss their mission of getting books into the hands of incarcer- ated Mississippians. Big House Books is a non-profit organization based in Jackson, MS. Attendees will learn how their local Friends of the Library group can support incarcerated Mississippians and ways to support Big House Books. This program is also hosting a book drive of new/gently used paperback books for Big House Books. These books will be sent to Missis- sippi prisoners. Shelby Parsons is a volunteer and founding board member of Big House Books, a nonprofit organization that sends books to prisoners in Missis- sippi correctional facilities in order to promote literacy and be a vehicle of change for prison reform. Big House Books doesn’t judge a book by its cover. We believe in literacy for all –even for those in our correctional facil- ities. That’s why we’ve set out to provide books to Mississippians in prisons and juvenile detention centers. Every person has the right to educate them- selves, and it’s our goal to make that a reality. For more information about Big House Books, visit us on Facebook or at https://bighousebooksms.org.

Black Caucus Roundtable: Panel Discussion The MLA-Black Caucus Roundtable session will consist of a luncheon panel discussion entitled: Lunch with retirees: the value of libraries and librarians. Each panelist will have 15 minutes to speak and question and answer will be afterwards. Panelists: Ms. Mary Harris, former Reference Librarian Alcorn State University, 30+ Years Mrs. Eva L. Smith, former Catalog Librarian Alcorn State University, 30+ Years Mrs. Jessie B. Arnold, former Dean of Libraries Alcorn State University, 40+ Years Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 58

School Library Section: Julie Stivers Julie Stivers, an award-winning school librarian from Raleigh, NC, will present on promoting school libraries within the school community. A brief School Library Section meeting will be held after Mrs. Stivers' presentation. Julie Stivers is the librarian at Mount Vernon Middle School, an alter- native public school in Raleigh, North Carolina and recipient of AASL's 2017 Frances Henne Award. She has presented on diverse youth literature at YALSA's Young Adult Services Symposium and the National Confer- ence of African American Libraries and Librarianship. Her work has been published in journals such as School Libraries Worldwide, Knowledge Quest, and YALS, and she is currently serving as the Taskforce Chair for the YALSA Presidential Theme: Youth Activism through Community En- gagement. She believes in culturally relevant librarianship and pedagogy, inclusive library spaces, and finding creative ways to dismantle the tradi- tional literary canon.

Young People’s Services Roundtable (YPSRT): Corabel Shofner Join the Young People's Services Round Table for a luncheon with South- ern author Corabel Shofner. Shofner is the author of the debut middle grade novel Almost Paradise, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan. Corabel Shofner is a wife, mother, attorney, and author. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with a degree in English literature, and was on Law Review at Vanderbilt Univer- sity School of Law. Her first novel Almost Paradise was published last July by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and her shorter works have appeared or are forthcoming in Willow Review, Word Riot, Habersham Review, Hawaii Re- view, Souwester, South Carolina Review, South Dakota Review, and Xavier Review.

Association of College and Research Libraries Section: Lauren Coats When asked if they have ever been to their institution’s library, some col- lege students will say no, having never checked out a book from the stacks or even entered the building often at the heart of campus. Yet push further and you’ll find they have checked out ebooks, downloaded a journal article in a database, or looked at old yearbooks online. That is, they have been to the library, one that exists in bytes and computer screens rather than bricks and mortar. The digital turn is evident in the library--whether in physical spaces or resources or professional positions: computer labs, data services, institutional repositories, digital scholarship centers, web librarians. What are some of the possibilities, and limitations, that this digital turn opens for academic libraries? Coats will discuss the library as an engine for research and teaching in the digital age. Lauren Coats is Director of the Digital Scholarship Lab (DSL) and As- sociate Professor of English at Louisiana State University. As director of the DSL, established by and housed in the LSU Libraries, she collaborates with staff, faculty, and students at LSU and beyond to support and develop Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 59 digital scholarship and pedagogy. Lauren founded and edits Archive Journal, an interdisciplinary, cross-profession- al journal on the theory and use of archives and special collections. A former Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Postdoctoral Fellow, she continues to work with the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program as its Associate Dean. At the heart of these various positions is the library: her interest in the structure of and access to information has developed through her work in and for libraries. This interest animates her research and teach- ing in early American literature. Lauren is completing a book manuscript, Archives of Discovery: Mapping North America 1728-1900, about the creation, publication, and dissemination of discovery and exploration narratives in early America. She directs a collaborative digital humanities project on nineteenth-century newspapers, and has published work in J19, PMLA, CLIR reports, Lehigh University Press Digital Scholarly Editions, and more.

Technical Services Roundtable: Panel Discussion Libraries are expanding their collections to more than just books. This panel discussion will tell you what and how libraries across the state are cataloging, from cake pans to iPads to tools! Come find out how you can tell the story of your community through your catalog! The program will be followed by a Technical Services Roundtable business meeting. Panelists: Jim Thompson is an academic librarian for the Goodman campus of Holmes Community College. He teaches technology outreach classes to the community through CTE and is Vice President of the Holmes County Cham- ber of Commerce. He is currently writing a book about career exploration with shadowing opportunities in early academic careers. Terry Lajaunie began his career at The University of Southern Mississippi in the Acquisitions unit of the Uni- versity Libraries. He completed his MLIS in December 2001 and went to work as Technical Services Librarian for the Lamar County Library System. Today, he is Head of Technical Services for LCLS overseeing acquisitions, cataloging, inter-library loan and systems administration. Judy Hilkert is the Technical Services Coordinator and Acquisition Librarian at Hinds Community College in Raymond. She received a BA in Anthropology from Mississippi State University in 1995, and a Masters in Library and Information Science in 2003 from the University of Southern Mississippi. Judy also teaches math at HCC as an adjunct instructor. Nicole Minor is a 2016 graduate of the Master of Library and Information Science program from the University of Southern Mississippi. She had the privilege to be published in USMs scholarly digital repository, Aquila, titled Assessing the High School Graphic Novel Collections in Northeast Mississippi High Schools: A Collection Anal- ysis. You may visit her ePortfolio at http://nmino0.wixsite.com/eportfolio to read more about it. Currently, she is the Acquisitions & Cataloging Coordinator for the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 60

Special Libraries Section: Panel Discussion Our panel discussion is entitled: Retirement: Your Story Continues… Panelists: Becky Cade, Immediate Past President - Mississippi Retired Public Employees' Association Wynona Winfield, District Director - Mississippi Retired Public Employees' Association Shannon Dyse, State Director - Mississippi Deferred Compensation Plan Black Caucus Roundtable

News Briefs

Anne Hudson Librarians Southeast will be held Arts and Letters Librarian in beautiful Ocean Springs, Missis- University of Southern Mississippi sippi at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. The registration fee ROTARY DISTRICT 6840 AND will include meals and housing on- ROTARY CLUB OF OCEAN site. A conference rate has been se- SPRINGS HELP LIBRARY cured on rooms at the nearby Gulf WORKERS WITH FLOOD Hills Hotel for those who prefer to RECOVERY Photograph by Jennifer Seneca On June 23, Rotary District 6840 stay off campus. For more informa- Assistant Governor and Head of the tion follow https://www.facebook. involving the Livingston Parish Li- com/2018BootcampSoutheast/ Gunter Library at the Gulf Coast Re- brary led by Shaw and the Rotary. search Laboratory, Joyce M. Shaw, In April, the library was presented presented $400 Home Depot gift Submitted by with a check for $2,000 to assist with Joyce M. Shaw cards to ten employees of the Liv- flood recovery needs. Head Librarian & Professor ingston Parish Libraries who were Gunter Library, Gulf Coast Research Labo- affected by the August 2016 flooding Submitted by ratory, University of Southern Mississippi in the Baton Rouge area. The work- Joyce M. Shaw —◆— ers are in the process of repairing Head Librarian & Professor FIRST OPEN EDUCATIONAL their flood impacted homes. This Gunter Library, Gulf Coast Research Labo- ratory, University of Southern Mississippi RESOURCE TEXTBOOK recovery project directly helps 21 DEPOSITED INTO AQUILA people. The August flooding in and —◆— The University of Southern Mis- around Baton Rouge is considered SAVE THE DATES OF AUGUST sissippi Libraries are excited to the worst natural disaster to impact 1ST THROUGH 3RD FOR THE share the first Open Educational the United States in 2016. This is 2018 SCIENCE BOOT CAMP! Resource textbook deposited into the second disaster recovery effort The 2018 Science Boot Camp for Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 61

our Institutional Repository, Aquila. draft a new text- Anne will represent the pair at the “An Introduction to Police Opera- book for use in upcoming Mississippi Library As- tions and Methods: The Connection his classes. Dr. sociation conference in Hattiesburg to Law and History”, is the result of Thompson meton October 18th where she will dis- Dr. R. Alan Thompson’s success- and correspond- cuss their successful faculty-librari- ful application to participate in the ed frequently an collaboration. University of Southern Mississip- with his co-au- pi’s Open Textbook Initiative, sup- thor, Anne Hudson, librarian for the Submitted by ported by the Office of the Provost College of Arts and Letters in order Anne Hudson and the University Libraries. Dr. to incorporate USM library and Assistant Professor, and Librarian for the College of Arts and Letters Thompson, an Associate Professor other authoritative resources into University of Southern Mississippi, Hatties- for the School of Criminal Justice, his text related to the complex and burg Campus worked extensively this summer to evolving role of law enforcement.

People in the News

Anne Hudson Science. Dr. Ray earned a Master’s in July as a library specialist with re- Arts and Letters Librarian Degree, MA in Library Science from sponsibility for supervising JD Wil- University of Southern Mississippi Rutgers University. Later at the same liams Library during evening hours. university, she received her Doctor- Originally from Yazoo City, MS, It is with great al degree of Philosophy in Com- Ernest received his BBA from Mis- sadness that we munication, Information and Uni- sissippi College and has extensive inform you of versity Librarians. Dr. Ray’s chosen experience performing research of the death of Dr. career was as a librarian and English legal and medical publications. Bernice Ray, a instructor. For many years she was —◆— lifetime member employed by several universities of MLA. Dr. Ray on the East Coast, before returning Zack Robinson is the new Pro- was born April to her home state of Mississippi in gram Coordinator at the University 22, 1946, in Acton 1999. She became a librarian in the of Mississippi Libraries. Original- TN, and died June 6, 2017 at Sanc- Bolivar County School District until ly from Asheville, North Carolina, tuary Hospice in Tupelo, MS. She she retired in 2015. Zack is a 2017 graduate of East Car- attended Jackson State University in olina University, where he majored Jackson, MS and in 1968 she gradu- —◆— in Interpersonal and Organizational ated Cum Laude with B. A. Degree, Ernest Lowery started at the Communications. majoring in English and Library University of Mississippi Libraries

To join MLA, or to renew your membership: http://misslib.org/membership 2017 MLA Executive Board Minutes: http://misslib.org/Meeting-Minutes-2017 Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 62 Book Reviews

Michele Frasier-Robinson a concentration on the lower class. duck children, and a humorously Librarian for The view is often either from a char- ugly mother catfish. The artist’s use Education & Psychology acter’s first-person perspective or of negative space in several of the University of Southern Mississippi seen from a middle or upper class spreads is a subtle visual treat for lens. readers. Cash, Jean W., and Keith Perry, Citations provided at the end of Downing places the aforemen- eds. each essay serve as a launch to fur- tioned creatures (as well as dol- Rough South, Rural South: Re- ther reading about the authors stud- phins, white-tailed deer, black bass, gion and Class in Recent Southern ied. A thorough index is included. red foxes, and honeybees) in the Literature. Brief contributor biographies are “Over in the Meadow” traditional Jackson, MS: University Press of included in the “Notes on Contrib- song structure. Along the way, the Mississippi, 2016. 250 pp. $65.00 utors” section. This book is highly settings reflect Mississippi’s rich and (hardcover) recommended for academic librar- varied landscape, including “the surf ies. It is also recommended for any and the sun,” “the Delta blue,” mag- Rough South, Rural South: Region library with a contemporary south- nolia trees, the lakeshore, and pine and Class in Recent Southern Liter- ern literature collection, as it would forests. The “fast facts” section at the ature delves into class, poverty, and serve as a useful companion to the end of the book provides basic in- stereotypes in southern literature. collection. formation about Mississippi’s plants Twenty-two essays provide glimps- and animals, citing the state insect, es into the lives of these southern Jamie Bounds Wilson the state flower, the state bird, the authors and the often-complicat- College Librarian state water mammal, and the state ed context of their work. The es- Millsaps College land mammals. Downing also in- says serve as a useful introduction —◆— cludes musical notation for help to each of these selected twentieth with the melody. Downing, Johnette (adapted from and twenty-first century writers. One strong feature of the text is traditional song); illustrations by The volume presents an analysis of Downing’s strategic use of creative Katherine Zecca. southern writers connected through vocabulary. Her creatures splash, the “Rough South” from the 1980s Down in Mississippi. prance, flutter, snap, thrive, and through the present day. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publish- leap, in habitats such as wetlands, The influence of southern liter- ing Company, 2016. 24 pp. $16.99 glens, and a “swampland haven.” ary giants on these writers is felt (Hardcover) Chorus-like lines repeat the verbs throughout the essays, but their own in ways that help young listeners Good picture books featuring experiences shaped this new south- remember what may be new vo- the state of Mississippi are hard to ern literature. Writers discussed in cabulary: “‘Prance,’ said the mother. find, so this creation by profession- this volume had varied backgrounds ‘We prance,’ said the two, and they al singer and songwriter, Johnette with some from a rural and lower pranced all day in the Delta blue.” Downing, is a welcome addition class upbringing, and a few were Reading this rhyming text aloud to our elementary school libraries. the first generation to attend col- may present some difficulties, at Katharine Zecca’s gentle watercolor lege in their families. Others came least the first time. Perhaps because depictions of well-known Missis- from middle-class backgrounds. it is an adaptation, the scansion is sippi flora and fauna are accurately The themes of violence, alcoholism, unfamiliar, and the book’s typog- executed but also reflect the whim- religion, sex, class, race, poverty, raphy--the words as prose in para- sy of open-mouthed baby mock- and manual labor weave through graph form rather than indented ingbirds, non-conformist wood their works. In particular, there is in verse form--contributes to this Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 63

difficulty. For example, “Down in Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner Anne Hudson Mississippi in the coreopsis lived a disappear, Celeste continues to pro- Assistant Professor and Librarian for the mother swallowtail and her swal- vide voter registration invitations College of Arts and Letters University of Southern Mississippi lowtails six” would have tripped off in Jackson. The book details the ha- the tongue better as: rassment of her and her colleagues —◆— Down in Mississippi in the by local police officers: Celeste is Spillers, Charlie. co-re-op-SIS detained for littering while a male Confessions on an Undercover Agent: Lived a mother swallowtail and friend is assaulted for participating Adventures, Close Calls, and the Toll her swallowtails six. in Freedom Summer activities. of a Double Life. While in Mississippi, Celeste re- As a read-aloud, the text requires Jackson, MS: University Press of sides in Pineyville at the home of some rehearsing. However, that re- Mississippi, 2016. 244 pp. $35.00 Mrs. Owens, who has no running hearsing will be worth the effort. (Hardcover) water and an outhouse for a bath- Down in Mississippi has everything room. Celeste begins working with a an elementary school librarian Well-written and fast-paced, the local pastor to encourage attendance would want: the state’s natural his- story opens with an especially in- at voter registration classes. In addi- tory, counting practice, a sing-able tense prologue detailing a danger- tion, she encourages the children to text, a sprightly vocabulary, and ous “buy-and-arrest” with a very attend the freedom school. This re- thoughtful illustrations. The au- twitchy, drug-addled drug dealer sults in a violent retaliation from the thor’s website includes a book ac- that puts the author’s life in dan- local Ku Klux Klan. tivity packet with matching games, ger. Why would anyone want to be a verb tense quiz, and animal math Celeste takes several local Afri- an undercover agent? After read- taken from the book’s text. can-Americans to the clerk’s office to ing Spillers’ excellent account, one register to vote but they are removed can only conclude that individuals Debbie Allen at gun point. Despite being arrested, drawn to a career as an undercover Librarian assaulted, and witnessing the burn- agent are of a different breed than Sudduth Elementary School ing of their beloved church, they the rest of us: risk-takers who have, —◆— are determined to register. They are as Spillers admits, “an attraction to eventually allowed to take the test excitement and danger.” Nicholas, Denise. to register and some of them pass. Spillers opines that his early life Freshwater Road: A Novel. Celeste’s supporters throw a party helped prepare him for his future Evanston, ILL: Agate Publishing, to celebrate the registrations and to profession. While frequent moves 2016. 333 pp. $15 (Paperback) say goodbye to her as the summer forced him to develop coping skills is ending. Celeste is tempted to stay to combat being “the new student, The focus of this novel is Free- in Mississippi, but Mrs. Owens con- the outsider, the stranger” in each dom Summer in Mississippi. The vinces her that her father needs her new school, the Marine Corps and heroine, Celeste, is a college student and that the town needs to stand on a tour in Vietnam instilled self-dis- at the University of Michigan who its own, so Celeste returns home to cipline, self-confidence, leader- decides to spend the summer help- be reunited with her father. ship skills, and dedication to one’s ing to register African-Americans to I enjoyed this book. It seems his- mission. Following a year at the vote in Mississippi. She is greeted at torically accurate but at the same telephone company, the lure of ex- the Mississippi train station by her time is told as a story that develops citement led to law enforcement, first “Whites Only” signs. Another easily. My only concern in recom- working for the Baton Rouge Police major character is Celeste’s father, mending it to libraries other than Department where his undercover Shuck, who runs a bar in Detroit, academic libraries, is that some of life began and later at the Mississip- and we follow his sorrow and frus- the language and situations in the pi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN). tration during Celeste’s trip. book may be offensive to certain As the title promises, Spillers Even after civil rights workers, readers. “confesses” his – and some of his Mississippi Libraries Vol. 80 No. 3 • Fall 2017 Page 64 fellow agents’ – adventures and close calls while working undercover. He details the difficulties of maintain- ing a credible cover, including work- ing as a cab driver in Gulfport, while hanging out with violent, often para- noid criminals and the resulting bad situations he often found himself in. In addition to working solo, he tells of the pizza parlor that MBN agents ran as a front for sting operations. He also talks candidly about the toll of working undercover on him and his family, from the long hours, the stress associated with danger, and bringing his work home (talking to criminals on his home phone), to putting his family at risk, hiding his true profession from neighbors and friends, and having to be careful that he was not being “tailed” when driving home. Spillers tells his exciting story with style, grace, wit, introspection, and compassion. While the book details the often ruthless criminals and the crimes that Spillers en- countered, he neither panders to his readers, nor glamorizes the criminal life. The author generously includes photos from his undercover years and sting operations. The book will appeal to a wide audience, especial- ly those who like true crime stories, and is appropriate for both mature young adults and adults. Confessions of an Undercover Agent is recom- mended for all public libraries.

Tamara D. Blackwell Reference Services Librarian Bolivar County Library System