Charles E. Parker, executive director of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, is our 2007 Distinguished Alumnus. “Charlie” is known as a tireless leader, advocate, and lobbyist for libraries. While working as a consultant at the State Library and Archives of Florida he provided information and guidance to library directors that helped secure increases to the State Aid to Libraries Programs in the 1990’s. He has guided the Florida Library Association (FLA) in advocating and lobbying for funding and legislation and has participated in efforts to get legislation proposed to rectify State Aid Formula inequities. He served as an inspirational president of the FLA—disseminating information about the status of property tax legislation, developing the Campaign to Convince Floridians of the Value of Public Libraries to prevent funding cuts, and coordinating FLA legislative activities with the Secretary of State and State Librarian.

Originally a native of North Carolina, Mary Jane Little spent almost 20 years in Tallahassee. She graduated from Florida State University, receiving her Undergraduate Degree (1974) and Graduate Degree (1975) in Library Science. Her undergraduate work focused on School Librarianship and her Graduate work was in Academic/Public/Reference Librarianship. After receiving her Masters Degree, Little went on to spend over 17 years with the Leon County Public Library System, working in Youth Services. She came to St. Johns County in 1991, taking the role of the first-ever Assistant Director of the St. Johns County Public Library System. In 1993, she was appointed to her current position of Library System Director.

Additionally, she has served as an adjunct instructor for FSU for over 20 years, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in Librarianship. She is a member of Beta Phi Mu, the honorary society for Masters Degreed Librarians. She is also a member of the First Coast Pilot Club, the St. Augustine Rotary Club (and is a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Club), the Enterprising Women’s Leadership Institute (where she was recently honored for her leadership to her community through the First Coast Pilot Club), the American Library Association and the Florida Library Association. In 2006, the Florida Library Association named Little its first Librarian of the Year.

An extremely active member of the Florida Library Association, as the 1999 President, she succeeded in bringing the Annual Conference of the Florida Library Association to the World Golf Village. She has participated in the Leadership St. Johns Program of the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce.

Mary Jane Little has been a resident of Putnam County for the past 15 years, living in East Palatka with her husband, David Covington.

Laurence Miller holds three degrees from the College of Information (Ph.D., 1971; Adv. M.S., 1970; M.S. 1963). He has been Executive Director of University Libraries at Florida International University since 1981.

During his distinguished career, he has served libraries and librarianship on local, statewide and national levels. One of the six founding members of the board of directors of the Southeast Florida Library and Information Network (SEFLIN), he has been on the board for more than twenty years, holding all major offices.

Dr. Miller served the State Library of Florida as a member (1983-89) and chair (1988-89) of the State Advisory Council on Libraries (Florida academic libraries representative). Additionally, he was a member of the State Network Advisory Committee of the state library from 1984-86.

Nationally, Dr. Miller is recognized as serving on numerous committees of the American Library Association’s Association of College and Research Libraries—chair of its Intellectual Freedom Committee and chair of the Committee on Professional Ethics. He has also served on the board of directors of the ALA’s Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies.

School of Information Studies alumna Lorraine Dey Summers (MLS, 1969) has devoted her career to the improvement of libraries and librarianship—and her devotion has benefited libraries on state, regional, and national levels.

As Assistant State Librarian for the State Library of Florida from 1978 to 2001, Lorraine worked towards the development of Florida’s libraries. During her two terms as president of the Southeastern Library Association and as secretary and member of the board of directors of the Southeastern Library Network, Inc. (SOLINET), Lorraine supported the development of regional libraries.

Lorraine provided national leadership by serving two terms on the American Library Association Council and as president of the ALA’s Association of Specialized and Cooperative Libraries.

On an individual level, Lorraine has been an inspiration to emerging leaders in librarianship as a frequent mentor at Snowbird’s Library Leadership Institute. We are proud to honor the contributions of the distinguished career of Lorraine Dey Summers with the School’s Distinguished Alumna Award.

Anna H. Perrault is Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She earned an M.A. in English Literature and an M.S. in Library Science from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in Library and Information Studies from the Florida State University.

Dr. Perrault began her career in librarianship at the Louisiana State University Libraries, where she was Humanities Bibliographer (1976-1984) and Head of Interlibrary Services and Reference Collection Management (1986-1993). Dr. Perrault has an impressive list of publications and presentations (17 publications, 26 presentations since 1994) including most recently United States History: A Multicultural, Interdisciplinary Guide to Information Sources (Libraries Unlimited 2003) co- authored with Professor Emeritus Ron Blazek of FSU SIS.

In the course of her career she has become widely known for bibiliometric research in academic library collections for which she has won numerous awards, including an OCLC/ALISE Research Grant (2001), the ALCTS Blackwell's Scholarship Award (2000), the ALISE Doctoral Dissertation Award (1995), and the Library Acquisitions Practice and Theory Research Award (1992). Global Collective Resources: a Study of Monographic Bibliographic Records in WorldCat is an accomplishment of international significance (http://www.oclc.org/research). Other honors include Fulbright Senior Specialist (2002-2007), USF President's Award for Excellence (2003), and Choice Outstanding Academic Books (1995).

Dr. Perrault has maintained a full service record throughout her career most notably as President of the Louisiana Library Association (1991-1992), ALA Councilor (1992-1996), and Director of Beta Phi Mu International, the honor society for library and information science (1977-2003). She is currently serving as vice- president and president-elect of Beta Phi Mu. Additional information may be found at http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/faculty/perra.html.

Jacqueline D. Montgomery was chosen as the school's Distinguished Alumni 2002. Dr. Montgomery, who graduated from the school with a PhD in 1987, retired in May 2001 after working for The Procter & Gamble Company for nearly 25 years. Her specialty was in scientific and technical information retrieval and use, particularly in industrial research and development environments.

While at Procter & Gamble, Dr. Montgomery held positions in various scientific and technical Research and Development areas. These positions required her to search and analyze technical literature, manage information centers, design databases, establish data collection on the packaging used by the company worldwide, and secure participation from the research community on U.S. legislation with potential impact on the company's operations.

She was an assistant professor for a year at the University of Missouri, where she taught courses on information retrieval, scientific information resources, and managing libraries and information centers with specialized collections.

Dr. Montgomery holds a master's degree in Library Science from the University of Southern California, a master's degree in Chemistry from Purdue University, and a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Tuskegee University.