People in the News

Ann-Christe Galloway

Ed. note: To ensure that your personnel news is considered for publication, write to Ann-Christe Galloway, production editor, C&RL News, at email: agalloway@ala.org.

Appointments

Spencer Bevis has been named project librarian for North Carolina Historic Newspapers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill University Libraries.

Hannah Caproon has joined the Northern Arizona Cline Library as electronic resources librarian.

Chris Holthe is now experiential learning librarian for Cline Library at Northern Arizona University.

Samantha (Sam) Meier has been appointed archivist for discovery in Special Collections and Archives at Northern Arizona University’s Cline Library.

Retirements

Kurt A. T. Bodling has retired from the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, where he has been technical services librarian for just under ten years. Before that he had been rare books librarian at the State Library of Pennsylvania and the director of library services at Concordia College.

Linda Smith Griffin, head of resource description and metadata services, is retiring after 34 years at Louisiana State University (LSU) Libraries. During her time at LSU, Griffin was a significant part of programs and events that celebrate the African American Community across the university, including the Black Faculty and Staff Caucus and the Black Scholars Program, and as a faculty member of the LSU African American Studies program. Additionally, she served on the LSU Admissions, Standards, and Honors (ASH) committee; been a faculty advisor for the MLK Commemorative Committee; and served as president of the Black Faculty and Staff Caucus at LSU.

Linda Smith Griffin

Barbara J. Stites, interim dean of the Wilson G. Bradshaw Library at Florida Gulf Coast University, in Fort Myers, Florida, has retired, concluding a 44-year career in education and libraries. In 1989 she was hired as executive director of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, where she led the implementation of the first access to the internet for Florida’s public libraries. In 1999, she assumed the executive director’s position at the Southwest Florida Library Network and sponsored the area’s inaugural library leadership program, precursor to the Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute, before moving to Florida Gulf Coast University in 2006. She also engaged in many years of service to the profession, including serving as president of both the Florida Library Association and the Special Library Association, Florida and Caribbean Chapter as well as the treasurer of the Florida Association for Media in Education. In recognition of her career accomplishments Stites was named the 2008 recipient of the University of South Florida School of Information Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2015 Alice G. Smith Lecturer, and in 2019 was awarded Florida Library Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. This year she plans to open an executive coaching firm for library leaders who wish to unlock their potential and increase their effectiveness.

Tanner Wray has retired as director of library and information services at Montgomery College.