Tag Archives: Librarian

Chris Cottrill — New NASM Branch Librarian

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The Libraries is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Cottrill as the new branch librarian for the National Air and Space Museum Library (NASM).

Chriscottrill

Chris has been the senior reference librarian at the National Museum of American History Library since 2000 and has been acting branch librarian there since Lu Rossignol left at the end of last year.

Chris has his BA and MLS from the University of Maryland. His BA was in military history which will serve him well in his new role at NASM, because of the role the military played in the development of aviation and air transportation.  In his MLS work, Chris concentrated on archives and records management and his first position was as a library technician at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Congratulations Chris!

—Bill Baxter

 

The Libraries Welcomes Intern Betsy Hagerty

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The Libraries is pleased to host Margaret "Betsy" Hagerty in an internship that will extend from January through the summer. Betsy will assist on a variety of staff projects, from helping Metadata Librarian Doug Dunlop research a book proposal to archiving files in the Director's Office. She will also have rotations with Cataloging, Special Collections and Preservation.

SIL Intern Betsy Hagerty

Betsy comes to the Libraries with a brand new undergraduate degree in English and History from the University of Georgia (UGA). While attending UGA, she worked in the Special Collections department of the libraries there.  She intends to pursue an MLS this fall, although she remains open-minded about her specialization there. Like any good librarian-in-training, Betsy enjoys reading in her spare time, as well writing and enjoying whatever Netflix has to offer.

Please join us in welcoming Betsy!

—Erin Clements Rushing

Good Luck, Amy!

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A very special Libraries staffer, Amy Levin, retired in September. Amy had been with the Smithsonian Libraries since 1975.

Amy earned her B.S. in natural sciences (biology and chemistry) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and her M.L.S. from the University of Pittsburgh. She also received a certificate in medical librarianship from the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. Before coming to the Libraries, Amy was a Geology & Geophysics Librarian at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and worked as a reference librarian in the U.S. Geological Survey Library.

One of Amy’s many gifts was her ability to adapt and help out wherever needed in the Libraries. Amy initially worked in the National Museum of Natural History Library, which also held the Museum Studies & Reference Library collections at that time (called Central Reference & Loan, or CRLS). When the Libraries decided to split the collections in 1984, Amy stayed with CRLS, eventually transferring to the National Air & Space Museum Library for the remainder of the 1980s. She ultimately came back to CRLS, and then served as head librarian of the newly-formed MRSL for several years.

Amy has several interesting stories about her times with the Libraries. When the Museum Reference Center moved to the Museum of Natural History, an anole lizard crawled out of a moving box shipped from New Orleans. The animal was taken to the Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington, Va. for the remainder of its life. Also, Amy slightly escaped injury when the ceiling in the National Air & Space Library fell on her desk (some contractors were working above!) Other career highlights include corresponding with the foreign embassies in DC, a visit to the National Museum of Natural History of Kenya (Nairobi), and a tour of the National and University Library of Iceland.

Amy will stay busy in her retirement through working on the executive board of the Arlington County Civic Federation, reading books that she’s been putting off for years, organizing her house, and of course, volunteering at the Libraries! She will also have more time to spend with her daughter Rena, a Fulbright Scholar working in Oslo, Norway, and her son Joe, who teaches English at Nanjing University in China.

—Liz O'Brien

Special Collections-Preservation Intern Carrie A. Gross

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Carrie1 The Special Collections-Preservation paid internship program for the summer of 2010 has selected Carrie A. Gross of Riva, Maryland.

Carrie, presently enrolled as a MLIS student at Catholic University is expecting to graduate in December of 2010. Her long-standing interest in literature and books, as demonstrated by her undergraduate studies at the College of William and Mary, has lead to her goal of rare book and manuscript librarianship. Carrie2

Carrie has pursued both work and educational opportunities that support her desire for a rare books career. Most recent is her participation in various projects with the Maryland State Archives, including practical work in their conservation lab.

The opportunity to work with the Dibner Library's collection of manuscripts and rare books is what drew Carrie to apply for the internship. Her duties so far have included unboxing and organizing Dibner transfer materials from other Libraries collections. Included are 19th century scientific journals that, once sorted, will be shelved with the existing journal collections. Carrie also spends one day a week in the Book Conservation Lab where she is creating book and manuscript supports for exhibitions, and various types of enclosures for the wide range of materials within Libraries collections.

While Carrie wishes to pursue a career in rare books and preservation, she is an advocate for access through digitization. She states, "I believe in the importance to have information and content available to researchers through digitization. In turn, this protects the bibliographic integrity of the physical object as it's handled less frequently."

In addition to her internship at the Libraries, Carrie works as an amateur costume designer with Spirited Productions in Annapolis. She is engaged to be married in May 2011. Her fiancé, Alex, is working toward an academic career in the Humanities.

—Vanessa Haight-Smith