LIS Alumna kYmberly Keeton named 2016 ALA Emerging Leader participant

The UNT Department of Library and Information Sciences is pleased to announce that kYmberly Keeton (MS 2014) has been selected as one of the 2016 participants of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Emerging Leaders program. The program is a leadership development program designed to enable library staff and information workers to participate in project planning work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity early in their careers. This program enables those in the first few years of their careers to have an opportunity to contribute to the leadership of ALA. The program is limited to no more than 50 participants each year.

Keeton is the creative director and publisher of ART | library deco, an online African-American art journal, and the Faculty Senate Secretary at Lincoln University Missouri. She also serves on the Literacy and Outreach Advisory Services Committee for ALA, the Resources for Colleges Editorial Board, the Rose M. Nolan Black History Library Executive Board and is the Membership Chair for the African American Studies Libraries Section. She also enjoys writing short stories and her first publication 2.Butahflies.Charlie.Browne.&.Painky.Lillies won the Honorable Mention Sylvan N. Karchmer Short Fiction Prize at The University of Houston, and was published in the PARALLAX Journal at Richland College in Dallas, TX. In 2010, she completed her first underground novel, The Autumn Jones E-Files for the annual NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month competition.

kYmberly graduated from the LIS Master's program in 2014. She was also the Student Coordinator for the Houston program, where she was mentored by Dr. Ana Cleveland. She is currently an Academic ART Librarian/Assistant Professor at Lincoln University in Jefferson, MO. She is working on a digital library project and her first book of scholarly works to be published in 2017.

The LIS family congratulates kYmberly and wishes her every success in the program!