LISSA - University of South Carolina

Signing off one last time: LISSA Treasurer Erin Gernon and President Beth King (celebrating with LISSA’s fantastic faculty advisor, Margaret Cook Jackson!) Congratulations to all the MLIS graduates of the class of 2026! Forever to thee! 🤙🏻 🐓

The deadline to apply for the Joel Myerson Internship in Rare Books is this week! Apply by April 17 to be considered!

The Joel Myerson Internship provides support for students to work with materials in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, especially the Joel Myerson Collection of Nineteenth-Century American Literature and/or the Little-Myerson Collection. This is a paid internship, and students are expected to be able to work on-site, part-time on the Columbia campus.

To apply for this internship, please fill out the application form (linked below), including uploading all required documents (preferably as PDF files) by the submission deadline.

The deadline for applications is April 17, 2026. Applicants will be notified by the end of April. The successful applicant will be expected to be able to work during the summer of 2026.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=GUsqSzXRDkKLsrHNI4mYzJ_XeGWg7IRMrDRh77AuKI9UMEZDQ09YREdUM1g0OEdOTFpJVDlSV1dTMS4u

Direct questions to:
Michael Weisenburg
Director of Rare Books & Special Collections
Phone: 803-777-2721
Email: [email protected]

LISSA members Beth and Kimberly enjoyed an intimate and informative tour of Richland Library’s Sandhills branch, led by assistant manager Brittany Smith who is LISSA’s very own newly-elected treasurer! The group explored library spaces, learned about the extensive community collaborations the branch offers to its patrons, and discussed the unique dynamic library has with Richland County School District Two, since its district office and “Institute of Innovation” are housed under the same roof as the Sandhills branch. It was an enlightening look into the innerworkings of a public library branch, and we are grateful to Brittany for giving us her time!

LISSA was thrilled to visit the USC Library Annex this afternoon to learn about conservation and preservation of materials in this unique facility. Led by Library Annex Manager, Nelson Rivera, the group toured the building’s work spaces, preservation lab, and stepped inside “The Box”: a high-density storage area which houses more than 1.2 million volumes. We even got to take a ride up to the very top of the stacks in the facility’s cherry picker and see Dizzy Gillespie’s high school trumpet! Thank you to Nelson and the rest of the Annex staff for this enriching learning experience!

Congratulations to LISSA President, Beth King, on being elected as a Member-at-Large for SCASL’s 2026-2027 Slate of Officers!

The 2026-2027 SCASL Slate of Officers: our next Treasurer Elizabeth Harris, President Elect Loni Lewis, and member-at-large Beth King

LISSA had another enriching tour of the Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections this afternoon! Director Dr. Michael Weisenburg and Cataloging Librarian David Shay gave us incredible insights into how special collections are run and how catalog entries are constructed. We even got to see some significant rare materials from the library’s collection including the comic book where Spider-Man makes his first appearance and poet and author James Dickey’s typewriter. We appreciate these knowledgeable library professionals taking the time to show us their world!

Kudos to LISSA Secretary, Shadrea McKnight, for being accepted into the newest cohort of SCASL Emerging Leaders! 👏

Congratulations to the new class of 2027 SCASL Emerging Leaders! Megan Link, Wendy Parker-Powell, Shadrea McKnight, Jessica Tracy, Stephanie Sulton, not pictured Renata Inabinet

LISSA had a great time touring Thomas Cooper Library () this evening! 📚

A big thank you to Beki Gettys, Associate Dean for Public Services, for guiding us through key library spaces and services. We explored classrooms, media production studios, and the stacks while learning more about career paths in academic librarianship, trends in academic libraries, and the information literacy skills the library and its services foster.

We were grateful for the chance to learn more about the work academic libraries do to support student learning and to enjoy some great conversations and camaraderie along the way.

LISSA members and guests had the opportunity to visit the South Caroliniana Library on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. SCL is the nation’s first freestanding college library and at 180 years old, has an impressive collection of Southern and South Carolina-related research materials.

During a guided tour led by Instruction and Outreach Librarian Brittany Champion, the group explored the galleries of the Johnston Room, the library’s reading room, and the Kendall Room, which serves as a gallery and instructional space. After delving into valuable information about the library’s history and how different academic departments collaborate with SCL to provide instruction on working with primary sources, we also had the chance to dig through some sources ourselves!

Thank you to Brittany and for having us!