bound together

Students, alumni , whomever! You're welcome to join Dr. Kim Becnel and Dr. Robin Moeller for dinner at the Carolina Ale House, 8695 Concord Mills Blvd., Concord, NC 28027. We will be meeting at 5:15 PM. Please RSVP for yourself and whomever you want to bring, below. We'll send you an email reminder the Monday before NCSLMA. We'd love to see you and catch up! https://forms.gle/WZpNXmc4mgFWdX7W7

Michelle Zeren published her first article with Dr. Alex McAllister building on a topic she first explored in his class. When Dr. McAllister saw the strength of her draft, he encouraged her to develop it for publication. Together, they refined the manuscript, and Michelle’s class project became her first published article.

Michelle remembers initially putting Dr. McAllister’s name first on the manuscript. “I kept putting Dr. McAllister’s name first because I had heard through the graduate student grapevine that professors always take first author,” she recalled. “So I was surprised when he had an intentional conversation with me about being first author. He said, ‘It was your work. You should be first author.’”

Congrats to Michelle and Dr. McAllister!

Amanda Moose, Director of Digital and Media Literacy for Catawba County Schools, demonstrates how to repair a torn page. Amanda presented a book repair workshop Saturday, Sept. 12 at the North County Regional Branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. The workshop was attended by 18 librarians and students from across the state and featured numerous tips on repairing and protecting books. The workshop was sponsored by the App State MLIS program as part of its Pink Noise Speaker Series.

Sometimes the strongest grant applications begin with a very simple story: there is a need, the need is clear, and a librarian sees an opportunity to do something about it.

This last year, Lorie was awarded a $5,000 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant to support the library at Fremont Elementary School. The grant came at a particularly meaningful time for the school and its library.

Fremont Elementary had a unique history. The original school building was constructed in 1924 and had celebrated its 100th anniversary just a couple of years earlier. The historic building was beautiful, but it had significant limitations, particularly when it came to space. The school served approximately 200–300 students, while several nearby schools were experiencing significant overcrowding. To address the growing enrollment in the area, the county constructed a new Fremont Elementary building designed to accommodate approximately 700 students. Lorie was not yet the school librarian when the transition took place. The librarian at the original school had already established the new library and had undertaken the enormous task of moving the existing collection from the historic building to the new one.

When that librarian later decided not to continue working in the library, an opportunity opened for Lorie.There was, however, a significant challenge waiting inside the new 1,000-square-foot library: the collection had not grown along with the student population.

Although the new school could serve hundreds more students, the library did not receive a budget for purchasing new books. More than 100 additional students were now part of the school community, yet the collection remained relatively small and contained many older, outdated materials. The circumstances created exactly the kind of situation a grant can address.

Lorie's experience offers an important reminder about grant writing: a compelling application does not have to begin with an elaborate idea. Sometimes it begins with recognizing and clearly articulating an existing problem. If your library has a need, consider telling that story and submitting your own Laura Bush grant application. Your library may be the next one to receive the resources it needs to make a meaningful difference for its students and community. Congrats on landing this grant, Lorie!

Dr. Kim Becnel and Dr. Robin Moeller worked with three graduate students this summer to host two summer camps for children at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Joanna Bolick and JS Braun helped host the camp for middle school-aged children and Joanna and Michelle Zeren helped host the camp for elementary-aged kids. Both camps were library-themed. All five camp leaders also used this opportunity to conduct research to see if/how the campers' perceptions of libraries and librarians' work changed based on camp activities. They are currently working on analyzing the data they collected and plan to submit their findings for publication.

Drs. Becnel and Moeller will be hosting the middle school-aged camp again in the summer of 2027 and collecting data for a different research project. Any App State MLIS student interested in working with them on this project should contact Dr. Moeller.

We are excited to share the details for next year's REFORMA conference, inspired by Denice Frohman's poem on Accents.

REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, is dedicated to supporting libraries and library professionals in serving Latino communities.

As co-chair of the Conference Program Committee, Dr. Frye is grateful for the opportunity to serve and help shape next year’s conference. She’s looking forward to seeing the ideas and experiences our global library community brings forward. If you have something to share, consider submitting a proposal and plan to attend the conference in Denver.

The App State MLIS listserv is available to anyone interested in learning about regional, national, and international professional development opportunities including webinars, study abroad opportunities, and online speaker series. If you would like to be subscribed to the App State MLIS listserv, please email Dr. Robin Moeller and include "subscribe" in the subject line.

In January 2027, Superintendent "Mo" Green will officially launch the 10 Million Book Challenge.

The goal: 1.5 million North Carolina public school students, from pre-K through grade 12, in all 115 public school districts and all charter, lab, regional and residential schools, read 10 million books together in one year. Not as a test or a mandate. As a joyful, statewide act of reading that connects classrooms to every community of North Carolina and builds habits that make a lifelong difference for every student.

Students log books voluntarily on the Challenge Hub, a public website hosted by NCDPI. Progress is visible at the school, district, region and statewide level. Every page counts. From chapter book to picture book to audiobook, the Challenge encourages readers of all abilities to participate. When we hit one million books, five million books and ten million books, North Carolina celebrates together.

The AppState Library Science program endorses this program and encourages participation. You can sign up to provide support locally or statewide.

Dr. Frye offered a Grants4Grads session for students in the Leadership, Library & Information Science, and Research department. If you missed her presentation on securing funding for your research but would like to learn more, please reach out to Dr. Frye (fryejm1@appstate.edu).