Janelle Cleaves and Addie Holloman, library service assistants at R-CCC Learning Resources Center, attended a national conference for library workers

April 13, 2023

(AHOSKIE) Roanoke-Chowan Community College library assistants Addie Holloman and Janelle Cleaves (now Distance Learning Director) attended one of the largest professional opportunities in their field – the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference and Exhibition held in Washington, DC.   

Thousands of library workers attend the ALA annual conference each year from across the world. 

“R-CCC has an outstanding Learning Resources Center, and we are proud of our excellent library assistants who applied for multiple grants and awards to attend the conference,” states Dr. Jami Woods, Vice President of Student Instruction and Student Services.  “The bulk of the funding for this great opportunity came from the State Library of North Carolina’s Continuing Education Scholarship.” 

Holloman won a complimentary ticket to the 53rd Annual Coretta Scott King Book Awards Breakfast to honor this year’s winner and honor recipients, a sold-out event. 

Cleaves was chosen as this year’s winner of the Shirley Olofson Memorial Award, a $1,000 award given annually to a member of ALA’s New Member’s Round Table conference attendee.  

While at the conference, the duo attended many sessions to benefit the R-CCC library on resources to handle book challenges and bans, ideas, and assets for marketing the library.  They also learned about new titles to add to the library’s shelves; and connected with vendors and other librarians while volunteering at the Coretta Scott King Awards table.  

Some of the resources include access to adaptive furniture, online databases, and additional conferences that will be beneficial to the R-CCC library.  

This project was made possible by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (IMLS grant number LS-249980-OLS-21)