Brett Selected as TLA District 8 Officer
Kelsey Brett was recently chosen as the TLA District 8 chair-elect.
Kelsey Brett, discovery systems librarian at the University of Houston Libraries, has been chosen as the Texas Library Association (TLA) District 8 chair-elect. The unit provides training, advocacy, and networking opportunities for members from 28 counties in southeast Texas.
Brett has also been selected to participate in the TLA Texas Accelerated Library Leaders program, commonly known as the TALL Texans Leadership Institute. TALL Texans is a transformational program designed to provide advanced leadership and management development for attendees, who become better equipped to take new initiative for the benefit of their institutions and stakeholders.
“I have been a member of TLA since I was in library school, and I love the community that is shared among its members,” Brett said. “It is a great opportunity to connect with other types of librarians like school and public librarians, and learn from each other’s similarities and differences. I value TLA for the professional development opportunities, and also for the opportunities it opens for me to help shape the future of Texas libraries.”
Brett came to UH in 2012 as a resource discovery systems fellow. She was then promoted to her current role, in which she works to enhance and promote discovery systems. She also focuses on licensing and management of electronic resources. Brett has published and presented in the areas of usability studies, user-centered discovery system redesign, electronic resource management, and student-centered services. She was influential in starting a twice-yearly therapy dog program at UH, and is a strong advocate for student success. Brett holds a master of science in information studies from the University of Texas at Austin.
UH Libraries receives multiple awards
The University of Houston Libraries was a multiple award winner at the Annual Conference of the Texas Library Association last week.
Dana Rooks, Dean of Libraries, was awarded the 2009 TLA Distinguished Service Award. Dean Rooks is a former TLA president and winner of the 1997 Librarian of the Year award for her work on TexShare, a cooperative program that enables the sharing of resources among academic, special and public libraries.
The UH Libraries also received two Branding Iron Awards for marketing, including the Best in Show Award for Student Video Network-produced library commercials. The Demco Award, another marketing prize, also honored the commercials.
Finally, a team of library employees won the annual Book Cart Drill Team competition. The employees, including Dean Rooks, performed a dance routine titled “Materials Girl” with book carts. The team may now advance to the national competition at the Annual Conference of the American Library Association.
The commercials and Book Cart Drill Team competition may all be viewed at YouTube: