NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 21 number 1 - Fall 2000

By Sophia Stone, Personnel Services

The second year of the NCSU Libraries Fellows Program began with the appointment of another outstanding group of new librarians: Anne E. Pemberton, James Jackson Sanborn, and Lisa A. Sheets. The library established the Fellows program in 1999 for highly qualified graduates with master of library/information science degrees. The program identifies talented new graduates and introduces them to career-enhancing opportunities in academic librarianship in a research library with strengths in science, technology, and digital library activities. Fellows are appointed for a two-year term as full members of the library faculty. The flexibility of this program and its focus on career development makes it an exceptional opportunity for new professionals.

Every member of the first group of Fellows has already joined the NCSU Libraries as a permanent employee on the library faculty. The new Fellows will follow the same model as past Fellows for developing career experience: each will work on an innovative project, combined with a half-time appointment in a home department. This year's Fellows bring an impressive and diverse array of credentials to the library, with outstanding leadership, information technology, and project-management skills.

Anne Pemberton's background includes a wide range of work experience in several academic settings and exemplary leadership skills. As a graduate student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Pemberton became the founding president of the student chapter of the Tennessee Library Association, an active member of the board of the Tennessee Library Association, and president and Webmaster of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Graduate Student Association. Her work experience includes an appointment as adjunct reference librarian and a practicum at the Lamar Memorial Library, where she performed reference and research services and developed Web pages for library use.

Pemberton's experience is well suited for a home department assignment in Research and Information Services and a special recruitment project. The project involves the design and implementation of innovative recruiting strategies and new technologies into Web-based recruiting methods. Pemberton holds an M.S.I.S. and a B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Fellow James Jackson Sanborn, an M.L.S. graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, brings strong skills in project management, supervision, and experience working with online funding databases to the program. Upon receiving his B.A. degree in history from Bates College, Sanborn was an operations administrator for Home Counselors, Inc., where he provided operational support to the executive director, served on the management committee, and developed various databases for management of client and financial records. While pursuing his graduate studies, Sanborn held positions in several libraries, including Davis Library and the GrantSource Library at UNC-Chapel Hill. Sanborn has developed his information technology skills in client/server applications and Linux-based network administration.

Sanborn has been assigned to the Special Collections Department. His project assignment will focus on geospatial data archiving, where he will help develop and implement a plan for acquiring and archiving geospatial data resources relating to local government.

Fellow Lisa Sheets brings impressive work experience in digital libraries from the Digital Research Library at the University of Pittsburgh. While in graduate school, she completed an independent study project to learn Perl scripting for specific digital library projects. She also completed work to encode finding aids using SGML for inclusion in the Historic Pittsburgh Project. After receiving an M.S.L.I.S. degree from the University of Pittsburgh, where she specialized in information systems and technology, she continued her education with a Certificate of Advanced Studies. She holds a B.A. in communication/journalism from Shippensburgh University of Pennsylvania.

Sheets's experience with digital libraries will be valuable to her project assignment to further the integration and effectiveness of the Libraries’ electronic resources. She will continue to build on her advanced information technology skills while working closely with staff from the Digital Library Initiatives Department.

The library welcomes these outstanding new professionals to the NCSU Libraries.