ACRL New England Chapter News Online

ISSN 1527-0106

Winter 2007, Number 110

In This Issue (Home):

President's Letter

2007 Annual Conference Date Set

Board Elections begin this month!

ACRL Legislative Advocates Needed

Interest Group Reports:

Chapter Member News:

Board Minutes, January 9, 2007
Calendar Listings

Laurie Deredita named to endowed librarian position to oversee special collections

Laurie M. Deredita has been named the Sheppe Director of Special Collections and Archives in the Department of Information Services at Connecticut College (http://www.connecticutcollege.edu).

The position was recently endowed as part of an $8 million bequest by Ruth Rusch Sheppe, a member of the Connecticut College class of 1940. Deredita has been the special collections librarian since 1999 and has been a member of the staff of Shain Library since 1981.

This is the first endowed librarian position at Connecticut College. The position oversees the Charles E. Shain Library’s rare books, artists’ books, examples of fine printing, and manuscript collections, as well as the Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection.

The collection also includes the Lear/Carson Collection, given by award-winning Rachel Carson biographer and alumna and trustee Linda Lear, and the Sheaffer-O’Neill Collection, acquired from Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, Louis Sheaffer. The special collections at Connecticut College are used by students and faculty, and exhibitions from the collections are presented frequently.

Deredita is a graduate of Skidmore College, holds master’s degrees in Spanish literature from Yale University and library sciences from the Columbia University School of Library Science. She has also taken additional courses at the graduate library school of the University of Rhode Island and at the Rare Book School of the University of Virginia.

Deredita is especially interested in the integration of special collections materials into college courses, in preservation issues, and in developing and expanding the artists’ book collection.

Sheppe’s bequest, which was one of the largest in the college’s history, also supports the college financial aid program. Sheppe, who lived in Chevy Chase, Md., was a retired attorney, volunteer tutor and a longtime alumni representative. She passed away in January 2005.