Tiffany Duck and Dorothy Hargett: 2018 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color Travel Grant Winners
This year, VLA offered two Travel Grants (at $1400) apiece for two Virginians to attend the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 26-30, 2018. We would like to congratulate Tiffany Duck and Dorothy Hargett and wish them a fantastic experience at JCLC!
TIFFANY DUCK
Tiffany Duck is a native of the Tidewater area and has worked in various positions within public, community college, and academic libraries for over 8 years. She spent most of her professional career working at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library as a Regional Circulation Manager and as a Branch Manager. There, she launched the “Reading is Grand! Celebrating Grand-Families @ Your Library” program, an intergenerational program that facilitates bonding between grandparents and grandchildren. Today, Tiffany proudly serves as the Manager of Library Locations at the Suffolk Public Library, providing leadership and oversight to the front-line operations of Suffolk's branches.
Tiffany is active professionally, serving as the Chair of the eBook Awards Committee (the first of its kind) for the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and as Co-chair of the Literary Awards Committee. In addition to being active in ALA, she serves on the VLA Intellectual Freedom Committee.
Earning her M.L.I.S from San Jose State University in 2013, Tiffany's areas of interest include community engagement, customer service and access, library advocacy, and intellectual freedom.
In August 2017, Tiffany won the prestigious Dr. John C. Tyson Leadership Award, named after the first African-American State Librarian of Virginia.
"I am thrilled to have won the JCLC travel grant from the Virginia Library Association. This conference experience is invaluable because of the way that all the ethnic caucuses are coming together to learn and discuss methods to further embrace our communities. I plan to take full advantage of this opportunity and share all the valuable resources and discussions with my Executive Team and Suffolk Pubic Library family after the conference."
Dorothy Hargett
Dorothy Hargett is an Assistant Librarian and Head of Access Services, at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. As the Head of Access Services she is responsible for providing leadership and overseeing all aspects of the management and functions of the Circulation and Interlibrary Loan departments.
Dorothy has served on many local and national library planning committees and deemed an expert in the field of Access Services. She has received commendations for her work as a literacy tutor and mentor for elementary students from Title I Schools in Hampton Roads.
Ms. Hargett’s passion for customer service and effective leadership in the workplace has provided many opportunities to present at various venues on these topics. She obtained a Masters of Library Information Science from the University of Tennessee, and a Master of Arts degree in Human Services Counseling from Regent University.
"I am very excited and honored to attend the 2018 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color. I am filled with enthusiasm to be present at a conference with a goal to share programs and agendas that will focus on diverse communities. I am always looking for innovative ways to serve, encourage and inspire library patrons, no matter age, color or nationality. My expectations in attending this conference are to interact and learn from librarians from different parts of the world. I am eager to gain knowledge about new programs and creative ideas that I can share with my colleagues in order to effectively serve an increasingly diverse community. I believe that every patron who walks through the doors of the library should feel welcome."
