Brannock, Lawrence Earn Honors at Mississippi Library Association Conference

Jennifer Brannock, curator of rare books and Mississippiana in Special Collections of University Libraries at The University of Southern Mississippi, and Nicole Lawrence, Mississippi Digital Library Coordinator in University Libraries, were both honored at the Mississippi Library Association Conference Oct. 14-17 in Vicksburg.

Brannock was presented the Public Relations Award for Best Coordinated Effort of Several Libraries to Publicize Library Services around a Single Theme or Event at the Mississippi Library Association Conference.

Brannock and Jessica Herr of the Hattiesburg Public Library were recognized with the award for publicizing “Happenings in Hattiesburg Libraries,” a series of events publicizing collections/services in Special Collections and at the public library. The project was part of Mississippi Library Leadership Institute programming of which Jessica and I participated.

In 2013, Brannock and Herr participated in the Mississippi Library Leadership Institute, a leadership growth program sponsored by the Mississippi Library Commission.  As part of this program, participants applied for a grant to fund a project that responded to needs in their libraries.  Brannock and Herr created a partnership between The Library of Hattiesburg, Petal, and Forrest County and Special Collections Southern Miss. 

“Libraries are encouraged to collaborate, but many groups find that limits on time and funding makes the projects difficult to create,” Brannock said. “Southern Miss Special Collections and the Library of Hattiesburg, Petal, and Forrest County are located in the same area, but rarely have the opportunity to come together for events. With this project, we proposed to create a program offering events to the Hattiesburg community which highlight our collections and services.”

One of the components of the collaborative project was to host programs at each library while combining all publicity into a unified theme – Happenings in Hattiesburg Libraries. In fall 2013, The Library of Hattiesburg, Petal, and Forrest County, hosted three events including a film showing and talk, the War and Society Roundtable book talk, and a lecture on military artifacts. 

In spring 2014, Special Collections at Southern Miss hosted three lectures highlighting the library's timber industry collections, the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, and civil rights books, manuscripts, and photographs. Brannock cited the work of University Communications in the success of the project, with its work designing the poster/pushcards for publicity of the events.

*Lawrence was honored at the event with the Peggy May Award for her work on the Mississippi Digital Library. The Peggy May Award was created to recognize individuals who exemplify outstanding achievement in library development and/or recruitment of personnel to the library field.

The mission of the Mississippi Digital Library's is to provide a unified portal to search digital collections across the state for researchers worldwide. Over the past several years, Lawrence has added 20 new libraries, museums, and cultural heritage institutions to the Mississippi Digital Library, while also increasing awareness of its collections.

For more information about Special Collections at Southern Miss, visit http://www.lib.usm.edu/spcol.html.