Alma Dawson

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Alma Dawson
Dr. Alma Dawson.jpg
Nationality American
Occupation(s)Librarian, Scholar, Library Science educator

Alma Dawson is an American scholar of librarianship. She retired as Russell B. Long Professor at the School of Library & Information Science, Louisiana State University in 2014 and was awarded Emeritus status in 2015. In 2019 Dr. Dawson was honored with the Essae Martha Culver Distinguished Service Award from the Louisiana Library Association which honors a librarian whose professional service and achievements, whose leadership in Louisiana association work, and whose lifetime accomplishments in a field of librarianship within the state merit recognition of particular value to Louisiana librarianship.

Contents

Education and career

Dawson earned the B.S. degree from Grambling State University in secondary education and taught in the Natchitoches Parish School System. She earned the master's degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She then worked as head Serials Librarian in the W. R. Banks Library at Prairie View A&M University. [1] She was selected for the Mellon-ACRL Internship Project in 1978 and assigned to the University of Wisconsin Library, in Milwaukee, January–June 1978. [2]

In 1982 she joined the Louisiana State University Libraries faculty as the library and information science librarian. She served as editor of the "Professional Sources" column for the Reference and User Services Association journal, RQ and as a reviewer during the 1980s. [3]

She earned the PhD in Library Science and Higher Education from the Texas Woman's University in 1996 and joined the faculty of the School of Library and Information Science at Louisiana State University where she was promoted through the academic ranks to the named professorship: Russell B. Long Professor.

The history of the Louisiana Library Association under Jim Crow was documented by Dawson in "The Participation of African Americans in the Louisiana Library Association." [4]

Project Recovery

Dawson was awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2009 titled “Project Recovery." Students recruited under this initiative received IMLS-funded scholarships to earn master's degrees in librarianship. As part of their education and early-career development, the students participated in projects identified by partner libraries affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. [5] Suzanne M. Stauffer collaborated on public library recruitment.

Publications

Awards

Dr. Alma Dawson Honored with the Essae Martha Culver Award, Louisiana Library Association Alma-Culver Award.jpg
Dr. Alma Dawson Honored with the Essae Martha Culver Award, Louisiana Library Association

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References

  1. Alma Dawson Papers. Prairie View A&M Special Collections and Archives.
  2. Mellon - ACRL Internship Project Files, 1973-1978. American Library Association Archives.
  3. .Dawson, Alma. RQ 26, no. 2 (1986): 260–61.
  4. Dawson, Alma. (2003). "The Participation of African Americans in the Louisiana Library Association. A History of the Louisiana Library Association. Edited by Alma Dawson and Florence Jumonville. Baton Rouge: The Louisiana Library Association, 2003
  5. "Educating the Next Generation of Librarians for South Louisiana Libraries: Project Recovery Scholars Tell Their Stories." Louisiana Libraries 75 (Fall 2012).
  6. "Alma Dawson receives 2005 Equality Award". American Library Association. 3 March 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  7. "Alma Dawson, professor at Louisiana State University's School of Library and Information Science in Baton Rouge, received the Louisiana Library Association's Meritorious Service Award". American Libraries. June 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  8. Louisiana Library Association. Essae M. Culver Distinguished Service Award. Archived 2019-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Jumonville, Florence M. (2019) Essae M. Culver and the Genesis of Louisiana Parish Libraries. Louisiana State University Press.