I’m a career-changer. I will be graduating this December ‘18 with an MLIS from Florida State University. I will also have a certificate in Strategic Intelligence from the University of South Florida. My interest in military libraries has been an evolving process.
Since I’m not yet employed within the military sector, my “best experience” consists of a culmination of experiences that I’ve had throughout the multiple summers of completing internships in libraries and archives and other agencies within the Federal/Government sectors. I’ve worked in a Presidential Library, Regional Archives/ & Records Management Center, CRS, Naval Surface Warfare Center & 2 internships within the DOD.
When I joined SLA I saw that there was a chapter specifically for Military Librarians. I decided to join so that I could start to learn more about potential opportunities and how to navigate this avenue when I change careers. My first preference would be to remain in Florida (I already live in paradise), but I have concluded that I will have be open to relocating to other regions, particularly within the DMV.
This past year, one of my personal goals for professional growth was to start attending conferences. Last December ’17, I attended my first DMIL conference. What made it a great experience was that I recognized a few of the librarians that I had met the previous summer while I was an intern in the NCR (DTIC and Quantico teams). Since I’m back in the area this summer for another internship, I also attended the SLA conference in Baltimore. I didn’t feel like such an outsider since there were several familiar faces.
Since I currently work and live in the Miami-Ft Lauderdale area, most people want to visit the beaches. I’d probably take them on a stroll down Las Olas Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale and find an interesting place to dine.
As a former elementary teacher and Media Specialist, I enjoy children’s literature the most. One of my favorite books is The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain. There are some life lessons tucked inside the tale.
Posted on July 18, 2018.
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Ronald (Ron) Joe, MBA, MLIS
US Army
FT Bragg, NC 28307
1. How did you get involved in military librarianship?
Answered an ad and got the job as Librarian (Technical Information Specialist) contractor for the Navy Submarine Medical Research Lab, NSMRL. Submarine Base New London; Groton, CT.
2. How did you get involved in DMIL?
Already a sometimes active member of SLA since a student in 1994; NSMRL paid for SLA membership and conference fees. As a Navy Librarian I was encouraged by colleagues like Nellie Moffit, and James King to participate in the Military Libraries Division, MLD, SLA.
3. What has been your best experience working for the military?
A service member, dropped in to say thanks and told how his “Current Awareness” subscription of pushed articles and reports gave him the jargon, and program fluency needed to participate in meetings with Non-military and non-governmental agencies. His knowledge from the “Environmental Scanning” of recent and relevant information gave him credibility, authority, power.
A tactical field medic described how he and his fellow medics discuss articles, learning new methods and techniques. Information services, literature access and full text PDF document deliveries improving a first responder’s treatment practices potentially saving a life or limb?
Providing information products and services to warfighters, contributing to the individual’s development and success, and assisting in the enterprise’s mission accomplishment; whether arranging visits, tours and speakers as part of the research effort, providing assistance for those attending a service school, pushing reading materials out to the deployed, making training aids, country culture handbooks freely available; I strive to be relevant and useful, and derive, achieve a sense of purpose and contribution.
4. What has been your best experience being involved in DMIL?
MLW/MLTWs:
Meeting with colleagues from throughout DoD sharing knowledge and passions for librarianship.
I learned of the MWR’s Books for Troops program that provides paperbacks and PlayAway audiobooks to deployed personnel. MLW provided the opportunity for a face to face introduction with someone that understood my problem and connected me with the necessary office, individual, that has provided reading and informational materials for my deployed personnel for more than 8 years.
At December’s 2017 MLTW, I got to put a name to a face, meeting with representatives from FEDLINK and SLA. Developing relationships in person enhances our acceptance of common problems and situations. These personal connections make it easier to communicate needs and resolve issues.
Conference content Presentation takeaways:
2015 MLTW “Change the narrative.” Brand our products and services talking about “Librarians” not what libraries do. We as information professional Librarians provide products, services, programming not a brick and mortar, “library”. Remind those that hire, fire, fund, or influence; Librarians lead, manage, build, provide…
2017 MLTW “Bad Libraries Build Collections, Good Libraries Build Communities”
MLW Norfolk “Go beyond metrics”, and the usual; door stats, ref stats, circ stats. Look for outcomes. Interview, ask, interact with community members and learn, share; where and how the Librarian made a difference?
5. What positions in DMIL have you held?
Chaired the 2012 MLW web committee. Presented 2017 MLTW.
6. If someone were to visit your library or your town, what would you be sure to show them or recommend that they see?
Airborne and Special Operations Museum https://www.asomf.org/
Tour the Libraries of FT Bragg; Throckmorton (MWR), Womack Hospital Library, Marquat, JFK Special Warfare Center,
Headquarters for : FORSCOM, 18th Airborne Corps, US Army Special Operations Command, Special Forces Command, 82d Airborne Division.
7. Please recommend one LIS-specific book or article that you read recently that you found particularly good. What makes it worthwhile?
Artificial Intelligence, AI a widely published acknowledged boon, threat. A Clear and Present Danger, AI, a disruptive technology, not well understood.
A primer: Artificial Intelligence: Everything You Want to Know Liisi Ruuse Published: August 4, 2017 Updated: June 20, 2018 https://www.scoro.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-everything-you-want-to-know/
More in depth: Artificial Intelligence: What Every Policymaker Needs to Know https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/artificial-intelligence-what-every-policymaker-needs-to-know JUNE 19, 2018 By Paul Scharre and Michael Horowitz
8. If you were to recommend one book, just for fun, what would it be?
Better heard than read?! Read, narrated in the first person, the author gives many life lessons from his growing up “coloured” in a turbulent post-apartheid South Africa. Trevor Noah, now the Daily Show host, tells his story with laugh out loud humor covering a hard, dark backdrop of pain, and confusion.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood Audible Audiobook – Unabridged Trevor Noah (Author, Narrator)
DMIL Member Interview with Amber Collins
Posted on April 29, 2018.
1. How did you get involved in military librarianship?
While I was in library school, one of my professors was a former DoDDS [Department of Defense Dependents Schools] Librarian. The idea of being able to live in foreign countries and practice librarianship was intriguing. The State of Hawaii had a hiring freeze when I was graduating so I applied for a variety of positions within the DoD.
2. How did you get involved in DMIL?
My first assignment was at Air University Library at Maxwell AFB, AL. My supervisor was very active in the Alabama Chapter of SLA, and within the first month I was involved with the planning of their annual event. Joining DMIL was a natural follow-on. I later attended SLA 2004 in Nashville and had my first exposure to a national conference.
3. What has been your best experience working for the military?
I’d say one of the most rewarding situations was to be able to see the end product of a research project being put into use by the Airmen it was designed for. I had been involved with the initial literature search before the project start, I had continued to provide research support throughout the life of the project, to include literature searches upon request and the review and submittal of the publications, briefings, and other STINFO generated. I then reviewed the final technical report and subsequently submitted it to DTIC. Lastly, I was offered the opportunity to visit the Silver Flag Exercise Site, located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. During the seven day Silver Flag course, Civil Engineers, Communications, Force Support, and Finance personnel learn how to build and maintain bare-base operations at a forward-deployed location. I was able to observe the Airmen utilizing the methodology and resources that had been developed during the research project to rapidly repair the runway after an enemy attack.
4. What has been your best experience being involved in DMIL?
The opportunity to meet and share experiences with other librarians occupying a unique occupational niche. I’ve established life-long friendships whilst attending DMIL/SLA events.
5. What positions in DMIL have you held?
Member of the Awards Committee
6. If someone were to visit your library or your town, what would you be sure to show them or recommend that they see?
I now work at the Defense Technical Information Center, the DoD repository for science and technical information. As such, I don’t have a library per se, but instead we offer electronic access to the DoD S&T corpus. I’d recommend that they examine DTICs new product, PubDefense (https://publicaccess.dtic.mil). It houses the peer-reviewed journal articles of DoD- and ODNI/IARPA-funded research projects and is generated by a combination of publisher supplied metadata and submissions from the DTIC TR collections. The goal is to make DoD- and ODNI/IARPA-funded publicly releasable journal articles available through a single search portal. Of course we also have the ability to search our Technical Reports collection for completed research, URED for research in progress information, and host collaboration tools and the DoD budget information.
If visiting the DC area, I highly recommend visiting the Kennedy Center for a guided tour as well as visiting the monuments at night.
DMIL Member Interview with Susan Wright

Posted on March 8,2018.
1. How did you get involved in military librarianship?
I started working at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the spring of 2014.
2. How did you get involved in DMIL?
I started attending the breakfasts several conferences ago and have mostly have participated in some social events that they sponsored or cosponsored (Scavenger hunts, mystery outings). This year I saw the request for volunteers and figured I could try to do something if it didn’t conflict with anything in my schedule.
3. What has been your best experience working for the military?
Basically having a job again, even though I’m a contractor and am not directly working for the military. I do like the fact that we serve people who are working to end some nasty diseases even if my role doesn’t involve much direct public service.
4. What has been your best experience being involved in DMIL?
The social events have been fun. A number of the websites Sharon has posted are fascinating.
5. What positions in DMIL have you held?
None as of yet, I would be open to doing something if it fit within my schedule.
6. If someone were to visit your library or your town, what would you be sure to show them or recommend that they see?
We have one special (Smadel) collection in the back of the library. On top of some of the bookcases there are three historical maps of our country showing areas where you could easily contract malaria at different points in time. The most recent is 1882, but I just find the series fascinating—I had no idea how prevalent malaria was in our country in the past.
I live about 20 some odd miles away from the library, in Columbia, Maryland. There’s a series of walking/bike trails that go all over town. So if someone wanted to visit there, I take them to one of the key trail nodes so they could explore (easier on a bike)
7. If you were to recommend one book, just for fun, what would it be?
Just one? Last fall I learned about the Jane Austen mystery series (Stephanie Barron). They feature Jane Austen as narrator and detective and are filled with all sorts of details about her life and times and people she knew and places she was. I’ve read six of them (not in order, the first one that crossed my radar was #12 out of 13) but they’re great fun. I brought #11 to Phoenix and that was the first one I figured out Whodunnit before the end.