The American Library Association is pleased to announce that Tashia Munson of Ann Arbor, Michigan has been selected as the first Lois Ann Gregory-Wood (LAGW) Fellow. As the recipient of this fellowship, Munson will be given a stipend of $2,500 to offset the costs of attending ALA 2020 Midwinter and Annual conferences.

 

Munson stated that she “never thought she would be involved in professional activities.” However, when she found herself in an environment with limited professional development opportunities, she quickly learned the value of state and national library associations. As a result, she feels that she has “been nourished professionally.” She hopes that her participation as a LAGW Fellow will increase her understanding of association governance, and in turn allow her to share knowledge with others and help remove barriers to participation so that they too can appreciate the value of library associations like ALA.

 

Currently, Munson works as a reference and outreach librarian at the Washtenaw Community College (Ann Arbor, Michigan) and as an access services and outreach librarian at the University of Michigan. She is active in the Black Caucus of the ALA (BCALA), the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) of ALA, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL, a division of the ALA), in the Michigan Library Association, and the Michigan Academic Library Association.

 

The Lois Ann Gregory-Wood Fellows Program is a mid-career conference scholarship program intended to give ALA members who have been working in libraries or who have been library trustees/friends an understanding of ALA governance and to help them engage in the governance of the Association at any level. The goal of the program is ultimately to provide a larger pool of ALA members who are interested in ALA governance. This program gives a jump start by making possible attendance at major professional governance activities within ALA.

 

The program was named in honor of Lois Ann Gregory-Wood who began working at ALA in 1968 and worked in a variety of ALA units throughout her tenure. The last 27+ years of her time at ALA was spent as the ALA Council Secretariat responsible for operational management of ALA Council. After 50 years of service to ALA, Gregory-Wood retired in 2018.

 

The Lois Ann Gregory-Wood Fellowship is an initiative of Jim Neal, Ann Symons, and Robert Newlen, who conceived and then led the fundraising efforts for the award.

 

For more information on the Lois Ann Gregory-Wood Fellows Program, visit the award page.

 

The Lois Ann Gregory-Wood Fellowship is administered by the ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR).