Library welcomes ACRL Diversity Residents

The Georgia Tech Library kicked off 2023 in a big way, welcoming two inaugural Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Diversity Residents for a term of up to two years.

The residents, Alexandra “Alex” Brinson and Kayleah Brown, are both early-career librarians looking for an opportunity to bring new perspectives and fresh ideas to the Library, said Dean Leslie Sharp.

“We could not be more thrilled to welcome these two emerging professionals to our Library,” said Sharp. “We can’t wait for them to help our multi-year mission of highlighting and increasing the diversity of faculty positions at major research libraries.”

Brinson (she/her) holds a master’s Library and Information Science from Kent State University and a bachelor’s in English Literature from Agnes Scott College in Decatur. Her research interests include metadata design, special collections, and how technology can improve the discoverability of cultural heritage materials.

She has worked on projects contributing to the Black Women’s Suffrage collection for the Digital Public Library of America and editing Wikidata records for Georgia's Natural, Cultural and Historic Organizations linked open-data project. In 2019 she was named an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar, and in 2022 she joined the Diverse BookFinder’s Metadata Community of Practice.

Kayleah Brown (they/them) joins the Georgia Tech Library from Emory University. As an Electronic and Continuing Resources Specialist, they oversaw acquisitions and electronic resource management for the Robert W. Woodruff Library.

Brown received their master’s of Library and Information Science from Valdosta State University in 2020 with a focus on collection development in academic libraries. In addition to their work in libraries, they have a background in literary studies. In 2016, Brown earned their Master of Arts in English from Emory University, where they studied posthumanism and the representation of marginalized identities in 20th-century literature.

During their first year at Georgia Tech, Brinson and Brown will be dedicated to academic librarianship and archival work through experience in Public Services, Community Engagement and Scholarly Outreach, Archives and Special Collections, Information Technology, Technical Services, and Administration. In the second year, they will work on a capstone project to develop, complete, and report research or creative work at a conference and as a publication.