SUMMER 2021

TRANSFORMING A LIBRARY INTO A COMMUNITY CENTER

3. Including more voices that have typically not been heard. Kendrick pointed to two re- cent Archives’ project: one which collected oral histories of 9/11 memories and another on voices from the LGBTQIA+ community.

4. Inviting people to weigh in on what they like to see in the collections. “I want people to know they can find themselves in our col- lections,” Kendrick said. “If there’s something in this library they don’t see, [the library] is a living organism. Please let us know, and we will do our very best to meet that need.”

While most companies and organizations found themselves scrambling and struggling to adapt with the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries found themselves es- sentially doing what they’ve always done – remaining

community centers and still offering access to mobile technology and information through online databases, books, services, online chat reference service and Wi- Fi (Kendrick pointed out how people across the nation would sit in library parking lots for Wi-Fi access).

“That libraries are not needed is pure fiction,” Kendrick said. “If you think of a library as just a place that holds information stagnant, that would also be a fiction. A library is a dynamic, living organism. There’s an expo- nential amount of information being produced: videos are created and uploaded on YouTube, articles upload- ed, think pieces written, blogs produced – all of that is information that is relevant to someone. Our goal is to gather as much of it as we can so that you have access to it, which we’ve always done, but it’s even more im- portant now in this information economy.”

ABOUT THE DEAN:

The dean of Winthrop University’s Ida Jane Dacus Library & the Louise Pettus Archives & Special Col- lections defines ‘welcome’ as a space where you feel gladly received, and achieving that feeling among pa- trons and staff is her mission.

“I hope this vision will take place not only for people coming into the library and archives from our commu- nity and campus, but for people who work inside it as well,” Kaetrena Davis Kendrick ’95 said. “I believe in the good health and wellbeing of employees, which increases their ability to offer the feeling of welcome in our library and archives spaces.”

Kendrick began her role as library dean in July 2020 with these priorities in mind: To inspire authentic colle- giality and promote wellbeing; to share gifts of creativ- ity; and to cultivate empathetic, engaged leadership in the workplace.

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Accomplishing those involves: a sense of place, a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging and a sense of value. Kendrick and her staff already have begun several tasks to reach those goals, including:

1. Augmenting the library’s offerings in terms of resources, programs, events and more. Kendrick hopes to collaborate with other deans and more people on campus. This past academic year, the library offered Research Explorations, a virtual program in which faculty members and student re- searchers discussed their latest scholarship with the campus community.

2. Offering more services and reimagining some existing ones. For instance, like a newly launched book delivery service for patrons who live within a certain distance of the library.

Selected as the 2019 Asso- ciation of College and Re- search Libraries’ Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year, proud alumnae Ken- drick credits Winthrop for her preparation as a lifelong learner and leader. She said the desire to lead and help others was cultivated as

a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and

through her connections with faculty, such as former Professors Gordon “Nick” Ross and the late Dorothy Perry Thompson.

In addition to a bachelor’s degree in English from Win- throp, she holds a Master of Science degree in library services from Clark Atlanta University. Her research interests include low morale in higher education work- places (including libraries), and she did a study on the experiences of Korean academic librarians working in South Korea.

HOW CAN YOU HELP DACUS LIBRARY & ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS?

Those who are interested in assisting the library can make an online gift or call the Division of University Advancement at 803/323-2275. Funds go toward programming and the purchasing of books, resources and other library materials.

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