Happy 2021! As LMD heads into a new year, we are thrilled to introduce you to our leadership team! Today, we interviewed Jennifer Evans, LMD Secretary. Jennifer is our second board member interviewed. For her complete bio, please scroll to the end. 
What is your current role in the workplace?I am a Senior Electronic Resources Librarian, at SAS Institute in Cary, NC (USA). Since starting in 2010, my role affords me the opportunity to provide research assistance to SAS employees from various departments and countries. I assist in the management of the Library’s Online Tools, ensuring company-wide access through account creation and maintenance. Additionally, I am responsible for the fulfillment of article requests. I enjoy all aspects of librarianship, especially promoting Library services through blogs, newsletters, articles, in-person and virtual orientation sessions. Prior to coming to SAS, I was the contracted Site Librarian at Microsoft’s Charlotte campus.
Why or how did you become a librarian/info pro?Work as an information professional is a second career for me. Museum collection management/ registration was the first and it was during an internship at the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL I was introduced to special libraries. Upon returning to Charlotte in the summer of 2005, I immediately enrolled in library school and was drawn down the path to corporate librarianship.Tell us a little about your history with SLA and/or LMD and why you took a role on the LMD Board.Locally I am active in the Carolina’s Community of the Special Libraries Association, and in 2009 received their Horizon Award for outstanding new professional in the field. The desire to take on a larger role in SLA was there but it was not until the invitation came from current LMD President, Joanie Olivier, that I decided to take action. The role of LMD Secretary is the perfect starting place for me as I get to better understand the Community and its reach to info pros around the world.
What do you see as a key professional or organization challenge that you hope to address in 2021?Career development sometimes takes a back seat to the more pressing issues in busy libraries, especially for folks just starting out. I would like to see more programming developed for new professionals learning to “manage up” to leaders, who most often are not familiar with information centers.
Do you have any plans or initiatives for LMD in 2021 you'd like to tell us about?For this first year, my goal is to familiarize myself with the inner-workings of the LMD Community and listen to the needs of its members.
Finally, what's a little-known fact about you?I was never scared of spiders until I almost ran face first into a web of a golden silk spider in Southport, NC. The females are enormous - almost tarantula-sized!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jennifer Evans is a life-long learner. She holds a BA in art history and a BA in English literature from the University of Tennessee, and a MA in history from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She received her Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She’s traveled east with each career move from her hometown of Knoxville, TN: first to the mountains of Asheville, NC, then to the city of Charlotte, NC, and now just outside Raleigh, NC. Eventually she’ll end up at the beach (just not Southport).