Between my job as the Fed Docs and Microforms manager and as President of the Staff Assembly for Joyner Library, I get to interact with a lot of people in a lot of departments.  I've gotten to know a lot of them and just really enjoy the people I see on a daily basis.  We have a strong community in the building that has helped us come together on some volunteering projects (sadly, all are on hold due to COVID-19 but we are hopeful to start them up again soon)!  When you work with people on projects and are constantly collaborating, it is easy to feel inspired and tap into their passion for work.  

I heard ALA President Wanda Brown speak at the NCLA Conference last fall, and that was fantastic. Her push to promote the value of libraries through social justice and inclusion is so important to libraries and the communities they serve. And, not to sound like a suck up, my boss David Hisle and my former supervisor Katy Webb. They have been great sounding boards and gave me a lot of flexibility and freedom to run with ideas. It has resulted in a lot of fun presentations that I've been able to give, like why microforms are so great or about sex scandals involving politicians.

The organizational meeting of the NCLA Roundtable on the Status of Women in Librarianship occurred on March 20, 1981, at Meredith College in Raleigh, but groundwork for the event began much earlier. Two of the women most instrumental to the group's founding, Judith Sutton of Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg Library (PLCMC), and Patsy Hansel, then of Onslow County Public Library, "decided it was time to try to do something about the blatant discrimination we so frequently saw" in hiring of library directors. According to Patsy, "we had ideas of helping boards of trustees learn how not to discriminate when they were hiring directors." Sutton and Hansel met with Patrice Ebert and Nancy Massey, both then with the Hyconeechee Regional Library System, and Mary Hopper, also with PLCMC, to discuss organizing a group that would provide training and support from other women, as well as a forum for discussion.

 

After agreeing to form a roundtable within NCLA, they circulated petitions throughout the state, easily acquiring the necessary two hundred signatures. Funding for the organizational meeting in Raleigh arrived part from the Public Library Section of NCLA, but not without flack. One male librarian at the time complained about the lack of such a group for men. Louise Boone, then director of the Albemarle Regional Library, quipped that he could start one himself; "then, we can have a dance." Over one hundred people attended the Meredith College meeting in 1981 which featured a welcome by NCLA president, William O'Shea and a keynote address by library trustee, Alice Ihrig. A brief business session established a steering committee to guide the new roundtable until the NCLA Fall conference. This committee consisted of Patrice Ebert, Judith Sutton, Nancy Massey, Patsy Hansel, Lynne Henderson (Meredith College Library), and Valerie Lovett (Wake County Library). Since the group was established, the name has evolved into Women in Libraries Roundtable.

 

Since 2003 Women in Libraries Roundtable has recognized professional librarians in North Carolina who have provided outstanding support of women colleagues in the workplace by presenting the Marilyn L. Miller Award for Professional Commitment. This award was named after Marilyn L. Miller because of her exceptional leadership and numerous contributions to the library profession. This award is presented at the North Carolina Library Association Biennial conference and a call for nominations occurs the summer prior to each upcoming conference.