University Libraries Recent Promotions and Honors

Recently several University Libraries employees have been honored with promotions, awards or grants.

Alex Howard, Business and Entrepreneurship Librarian, and Fannie Cox, Outreach and Reference Librarian, both from Ekstrom Library’s Research Assistance and Instruction department, were awarded grants from the Office of Community Engagement Gheens Foundation Mini Grant Program. Howard received a grant based on her research study titled, Engaged Learning & Entrepreneurship: Supporting Campus & Community Collaboration. Cox was awarded a grant for “The Friends of Parkland Library Raise Awareness Project” to support the newly reopened Parkland Library.

Alex Howard (l) and Fannie Cox hold their certificates of recognition.

The grants support programs which “will directly benefit the community through direct service, research, or outreach in collaboration with community partners.” Priority was given to projects in collaboration with underrepresented communities such as west and south Louisville, the immigrant and refugee community, rural communities, or the international community. Awardees were honored on Oct. 14 during an Awards Ceremony at the 2022 Community Engagement Luncheon.

Anita Hall, Assessment and Analytics Librarian, was recently awarded the Kentucky Library Association (KLA) Kentucky Libraries Feature Article of the Year Award for the article: The Impact of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic Response on Kentucky’s Library Workforce. Co-authored with Brandi Duggins, the article examines initial library responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kentucky and their effect on library workers. A study reveals that over 30% of respondents were affected by some type of employment-related measure, with 11% either furloughed or laid off.

The Libraries have promoted two librarians to assistant professor: Gina Genova, a Clinical Librarian with Kornhauser Medical Sciences Library, and Alex Howard, Business and Entrepreneurship Librarian with Ekstrom Library.

Genova started at the University of Louisville’s Kornhauser Health Sciences Library in November 2020 while the university was still working remotely due to COVID. Since then, she has worked with students across the health sciences campus and with several clinical departments, primarily pediatrics and otolaryngology. So far, her research has focused on finishing reporting for a fellowship project from her graduate program and on joining evidence synthesis projects, such as systematic reviews, with HSC faculty. She has presented work on systematic reviews at the Medical Library Association’s annual conference, and serves as an ambassador for the Kentucky region of the Network of the National Library of Medicine.

Howard began work in 2020 as an instructor and was promoted to assistant professor after two years of service. As the Business Research & Teaching Librarian, her primary role is to serve as the liaison to the College of Business and offer research assistance and instruction to students, faculty, and staff. She serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group for the University Libraries and in 2021 was appointed by the university president to serve on our university’s Commission on Diversity and Racial Equity. Her research as a tenure-track faculty member investigates how universities can support local Black-owned businesses in their communities.

She was selected to participate in the American Library Association’s 2022 class of Emerging Leaders, a prestigious national program that only accepts up to 50 participants annually from across the country. She was also named an Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Member of the Week in that same year.

In addition to her promotion to assistant professor, she was appointed to the role of Engaged Learning Coordinator for University Libraries starting November 1, 2022.

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