Join us in celebrating accomplishments and honors attained by UT Libraries’ staff, faculty, and student assistants.

Kudos to our talented and hardworking students, staff and faculty members!

Maggie Albro (Health and Wellness) co-authored an article in the journal EBLIP (evidence based library and information practice): “Checking Out Our Workspaces: An Analysis of Negative Work Environment and Burnout Utilizing the Negative Acts Questionnaire and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory for Academic Librarians” [EBLIP 19 (3): 2-22]. The article reported on a survey that examined the relationship between bullying and burnout among academic librarians.

Robin Bedenbaugh (University of Tennessee Press), Sarah Johnson (Immersive Spaces and Technologies), and Paris Whalon (Immersive Spaces and Technologies) published “Livestream Your Library: Making Media Literacy Lessons Social” [Marketing Libraries Journal 8 (1): 176-198]. 

Kat Brooks (Assessment Programs and Collection Strategy) and Erin Whitaker (Teaching and Learning Programs) are part of a joint University of Tennessee–University of Kentucky team that has been awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The team will convene a series of forums over two years to create a comprehensive, distributed Central and Southern Appalachian monograph shared print collection.

Olivia Chin (Research Impact and Open Access) published “The Roles of Academic Librarians in Promoting Gold Open Access to Faculty: A Review of the Literature” in Endnotes: The Journal of the New Members Round Table, a publication of the American Library Association [Endnotes 12 (1): 15-24].

Elyssa Gould (Acquisitions and Continuing Resources) received the Heart and Soul Award from the UT Faculty Senate for creating a supportive leadership and mentorship culture and establishing a collaborative practice community for new leaders.

Meredith Hale (Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives) presented “Encoding Edgeworth: TEI Development for Correspondence and Entity Indices” at the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Conference, Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Nathalie Hristov (George F. DeVine Music Library) was elected Chair of Service and Training for the International Association of Music Libraries (IAML) for the 2024 through 2027 academic years. Hristov will lead the IAML’s Service and Training Section in designing workshops, lectures, and other training opportunities for an international network of music librarians.

Steven Milewski (Health and Wellness) received the 2023-2024 Heart of a Social Worker Award from the University of Tennessee College of Social Work. Milewski, who is the subject librarian for social work, was honored for the support he has given to doctoral students.

Promotions/Appointments:

Amy Chew was named Director of a new department, Collection Management and Sharing. In this role, she will oversee user-centered services and daily operations including resource sharing and document delivery; stacks management; shipping and receiving; online and distance education; campus delivery of library materials; binding; and storage. Creation of the new department will help the Libraries prepare for the eventual opening of the Library Storage Annex.

Walt Evans (University of Tennessee Press) was promoted to Sales and Marketing Manager.

Joe Ferguson (Discovery and Technology Solutions) was promoted to Discovery Systems Manager. He will lead the administration, integration, and support of the Libraries’ information management and access and delivery systems.

Stephanie Thompson (University of Tennessee Press) was promoted to Production Manager.

Samantha Ward was named Interim Director of Public Service Operations with specific responsibility for the public service points and operations across Hodges, DeVine, and Pendergrass Libraries.

Greg Womac was named Interim Assistant Dean for Public Service Operations. His portfolio will include overall responsibility for the Commons, Public Services, and the branch libraries.