Service to the Profession: Debbie Currie
Debbie is currently the Collections & Research Librarian for Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the NCSU Libraries. She arrived at NC State in 1997, after leaving her first professional position as the Agriculture Reference Librarian at Louisiana State University. An undergraduate degree in agriculture along with with over ten years of experience as an equine genealogist in the renowned Kentucky Thoroughbred horse industry left her well placed to pursue a career in agricultural librarianship. For the past 25 years, Debbie has dedicated herself to advancing the field of agricultural information through active participation in three key agricultural information organizations: USAIN, the Agriculture Network Information Collaborative (AgNIC), and the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD). She served three terms on the USAIN Executive Council and co-chaired the 2001 USAIN Biennial Conference, was IAALD Officer and Editor for 10 years, and served three terms on the AgNIC Executive Board. She led or contributed to many activities and initiatives associated with one or more of these organizations, including: chairing the 2018 USAIN Conference Contributed Papers & Posters Committee; Project Ceres, a collaboration among USAIN, AgNIC, and the Center for Research Libraries to support the retention and preservation of at risk print historical agricultural serials; and joint USAIN/IAALD conferences in 1997 and 2005.
While many colleagues wrote testimonies of support, a few stand out. Amy Paster stated, “Debbie Currie has been a member of USAIN since 1995 when she was awarded a Conference Scholarship for Members New to USAIN or Agricultural Information. Currently she is an active member of the Preservation and Digital Library Committee... Debbie is also the Chair of the USAIN 2018 Contributed Papers and Posters Committee... Debbie prefers to work behind the scenes and quietly get things done.” Hilary Davis, Head of Collections at NCSU, wrote about the innovative and important work Debbie is doing around citizen science and data management: “These are both significant emerging areas for libraries to engage and make impact in the research community and Debbie has been at the forefront of both.” Kris Alpi, the director of the Veterinary Medicine Library at NCSU says, “Debbie has made tremendous efforts to have libraries seen as a key partner with other science outreach and extension efforts in helping practitioners and the public access current and historical agricultural information.”
Student conference scholarship: Janis Joyce Shearer
Janis is currently enrolled in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota and plans to graduate in Spring 2019. Janis has a Master of Agriculture in Horticulture degree, and has been volunteering at the Andersen Horticultural Library, University of Minnesota. She hopes to apply this horticultural information knowledge, research and interest in social justice to work in an agricultural governmental or academic library setting.
New to the profession conference scholarship: Kendra Spahr
Kendra began her position as an Academic Services Librarian at Kansas State University in 2016, where she currently serves as liaison to the Department of Agricultural Economics in the College of Agriculture. Previously she was the business and economics librarian at the University of Northern Colorado. Though experienced in the area of business librarianship, Kendra is new to both the area of agricultural information and to USAIN. She currently is working on a proposal with her department for a literature review for the Pet Food Sustainability Working Group.
New to the profession conference scholarship: Renae Watson
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Renae began her position as Science Liaison Librarian at Colorado State University in August 2017. She serves as the liaison to the College of Agricultural Sciences’ Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, and Soil and Crop Sciences departments. Her interest in agricultural librarianship was piqued when she worked as a graduate assistant at University of Kentucky’s Agricultural Information Center. Not only did it familiarize her with agricultural resources, she also had the opportunity to engage in train-the-trainer information literacy programs for first-year Biology and Agriculture courses. In addition to her MLIS, Renae holds MAs in English Composition and in Education.
Thank you to the Awards and Honors Committee for their work! (Kristen Mastel, chair; Patricia Hartman, Emily MacKenzie, and Lisa Vallen)
