Amelia Gibson, Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), has received a 2017 North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) Round Table for Ethnic Minority Concerns (REMCo) Library Education Roadbuilder’s Award for 2017.
The Roadbuilder’s Award recognizes ethnic minority librarians and librarian educators who are positive role models and pioneers in librarianship. Gibson will be honored at the REMCo Author Luncheon during the NCLA conference on Oct. 19.
Gibson was nominated for the award by SILS alumnus Gerald Holmes (MSLS ’85), Reference Librarian and Diversity Coordinator for University Libraries at UNC Greensboro and co-chair of the SILS Alumni Inclusion and Diversity (SAID) Committee.
“Since Dr. Gibson joined the SILS faculty in 2014, I have witnessed her work and commitment to SILS students,” Holmes said. “I was honored to nominate her for this award. As we work to recruit new professionals to the library and information science field, we need to recognize leaders like Dr. Gibson for their scholarship and dedication.”
Gibson’s research interests center on health information behavior and local communities and places as information systems. She is particularly interested in the effects of place, space, and community on the information worlds, information behavior, information needs, and information access of various populations. Her current work focuses on information poverty and how intersections of identity, place, space, and social and economic power/privilege influence information access and information behavior.
She has received significant support for her research in the past year, most notably an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Early Career Award for a project examining the potential for libraries to help people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families fulfill their information needs. In 2016, she received the Eleanor M. and Frederick G. Kilgour Research Grant Award from SILS and a Junior Faculty Development Award from the University for he research exploring the health information needs and behaviors of young black women in the Durham, N.C. area. Most recently, Gibson and SILS Professor Sandra Hughes-Hassell received a Diversity Research Grant from the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services for her research on how youth of color perceive and experience libraries to create a guide to help staff members make libraries more welcoming.
Gibson earned her PhD in information studies from Florida State University. Before joining SILS, she was a research associate at the Information Use Management and Policy Institute, where she worked on research to understand issues related to rural communities and e-government, and broadband adoption through community anchor institutes.
