Digital humanities librarian Ashley Maynor has been named a “mover and shaker” in the library field by the national publication Library Journal.
In its March 15 issue, Library Journal profiled fifty-four up-and-coming information professionals who are shaping the future of libraries. Maynor was recognized as a tech leader for developing new ways for university scholars to share their research in innovative digital forms, as well as helping grieving communities to confront gun violence through transmedia storytelling.
Maynor has been the digital humanities librarian and an assistant professor at the UT Libraries since 2013. As digital humanities librarian, she collaborates with faculty and students across all disciplines to enhance their research and teaching through new modes of inquiry and new methods of scholarly communication. From text mining to visualization of complex data to creating and curating online collections, Maynor makes scholarly work accessible to the public in new and innovative digital forms.
Maynor—who holds an MFA in film and media arts, as well as a master’s degree in information sciences—was honored for coupling her skills as a filmmaker and her training as an archivist to empower others to tell their own stories.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, more than half a million letters and 65,000 teddy bears poured into Newtown, Connecticut. Maynor’s interactive web documentary, The Story of the Stuff, explores the phenomenon of spontaneous memorials by tracking the disposition of those condolence items.
Her next project, Cranes for Change, aims to translate that outpouring of grief and sympathy for the victims of gun violence into a means of effecting change. The community engagement web app launched December 14, 2015, on the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
Maynor is also the co-founder of The Collective, a new movement in library professional development that emphasizes skill building, collaboration and networking to help academic librarians better serve next-generation library users.
The 2016 movers and shakers were selected by the editors of Library Journal, one of the oldest and most respected publications covering the library field. Read the movers and shakers’ profiles in the March 15 issue of Library Journal and online.
—
CONTACT:
Martha Rudolph, UT Libraries (865-974-4273, mrudolp2@utk.edu)