{"id":123945,"date":"2021-05-14T15:35:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T19:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sis.utk.edu\/?p=123945"},"modified":"2021-05-14T15:35:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T19:35:40","slug":"2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/","title":{"rendered":"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"For Nancy Pack (\u201981), the last three decades of being a librarian has really been about one thing: the people. Whether it was her cohort at the School of Information Sciences, many of whom she\u2019s stayed in touch with throughout the years, or the varied patrons she has served, it has been the people who have made it a career she loves.<\/p>\n

Getting a Good Start<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pack became interested in librarianship when she was a kindergarten teacher and visited her school\u2019s library frequently to aid in creating units and for other resources. The idea to be a library media specialist appealed to her \u2013 she liked the idea of promoting early literacy and having an opportunity to aid so many children\u2019s education. After a couple of years teaching, she returned to the University of Arkansas to become a school library media specialist.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my professors though I had a spark of something and said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you get an ALA master\u2019s degree? Since Arkansas didn\u2019t have an ALA master\u2019s degree accredited program, I had to look elsewhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As a lifelong Southerner, Pack was reluctant to travel too far from the region she knew, but decided that the nine hours distance between home and Knoxville, Tennessee, was worth it for the program at the University of Tennessee. There, she said she learned all of the basic building blocks to take with her wherever she went, and in whatever type of library she desired \u2013 and Pack took full advantage of this. She\u2019s worked in libraries in six states, including: public libraries, a special library at an Airforce base; libraries for the blind and disadvantaged; and a state library.<\/p>\n

She got a jump start on library administration by becoming library director of William F. Laman Public Library in North Little Rock, Arkansas, right after she graduated. Though she initially planned to work at a school, all the school library positions had been filled, so she began looking in public libraries and became the first librarian at Laman to have an ALA-accredited degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pretty much had a learning curve, not being a director or librarian before, but I had a lot of good mentors who helped me learn the ropes. I do think a lot of the coursework at UT prepared me \u00a0for being a director, knowing collection development and the cutting edge things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When Pack thinks about her time at SIS, she lists off various names that many alumni would know such as Gary Purcell, Ruth Wilson, Ann Prentiss, Bill Robinson, Glenn Estes, and many more. She said all of the professors created assignments that challenged her to think and to expand her perspectives.<\/p>\n

Besides the professors, her fellow students were a constant source of companionship and support for Pack during that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to acknowledge the classmates I had because without them, I probably wouldn\u2019t have survived. . \u201cThe class of 1980-1982 was remarkable, and I say that my degree was earned by all of us working together and sharing our knowledge and being able to network with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

I left my family in Arkansas and went to Tennessee and didn\u2019t know anyone there. We were all broke, didn\u2019t have money, they would say, \u2018Come on over to my house and bring whatever you want for food,\u2019 and they\u2019d roll up the carpet and we\u2019d have a little party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expanding a Career<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s too much to go through every single position Pack has ever held, she says \u2013 but she does like recalling the highlights of her experiences over the years. For example, working with blind library patrons in Florida and Maryland was particularly interesting and rewarding. In Florida, she was a consultant for the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and there she assisted with a documentary the library made about older people who had been blind for either all or the majority of their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt documented their trials and tribulations, and we found that some social justice issues went on with the visually impaired people of color. There was one woman who encountered police who told her she was on the wrong side of town, and she told them that she wouldn\u2019t know, she couldn\u2019t see.\u201d \u201cWe also documented how visually impaired people raised sighted children,\u2013 I watched how they cared for them, how they put jingle bells on their children\u2019s shoes so they could hear where they were.\u201d<\/p>\n

A completely different experience was her time as a contracted librarian working at Moody Airforce Base in Georgia. There, she served what would be a typical public library population of adults and children, but she also maintained a collection of military history because the library was a feeder into officer training at Air University.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you had a group of materials for your children, a group of materials for leisure reading and you had this whole complete military history that was very in-depth and also databases to search. It was interesting working there because being \u00a0on the military network and you had restrictions.\u00a0 You had to figure out how to best get and utilize resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her time at public libraries, including at the Chattanooga Public\u00a0 and Tuscaloosa Public Library, allowed her to create programs for people of all ages, backgrounds and income levels. She particularly enjoyed creating programing for the aging population. She also valued the opportunities she has had to oversee renovations and the building of new library branches. Her career has been so varied, and even after 30 years in the game, she is always up for a new challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say a lot of things I\u2019ve been involved in was a result of \u00a0being in the right place at the right time\u2013 serendipitous. I\u2019ve had all the areas of experience that a librarian goes through in a career, I\u2019ve been very fortunate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Changing Times & Tech <\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest challenge in her career, however, was not one Pack intentionally took on but one that everyone faced starting in 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic. She is currently the executive director of the Alabama Public Library Service, which oversees all of the public libraries in the state, as well as the Alabama Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.<\/p>\n

Her approach to the sudden changes necessitated by the pandemic is simple and one she said she learned during her master\u2019s program: information has been the same, it just gets repackaged in different formats. For example, providing virtual story time on YouTube or Facebook isn\u2019t all that different from when librarians recorded stories that could be listened to over the telephone in the 1990s, Pack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything out there is just a new twist to what we\u2019ve been doing, the basic elements are still there,\u201d she said. \u201cIt always goes back to the basic building blocks and applying them .\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those serendipitous moments in her career happened right before the pandemic, when she worked with the Alabama Supercomputer Authority and the state legislature to get 100 megabytes of internet service and WIFI into 220 public libraries across the state. This allowed patrons to go sit in library parking lots and utilize the WIFI without having to be near other people. Many of the state\u2019s libraries serve under 50,000 people and are in areas where broadband is not available, so providing reliable internet was a boon to those residents.<\/p>\n

As she has in other positions, Pack has overseen renovations at the large state library building. Renovations were done to remediate water and mold issues, but she also began looking at how the space could better serve patrons following pandemic safety measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays it has totally changed, you\u2019re looking at social distancing and what fabrics may harbor germs. Our last renovation project was completed in January redoing the front entrance and recarpeting. \u00a0When we began rearranging furniture, it was on my mine to put it back \u00a0with social distancing in place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Outside of pandemic-related issues, Pack is also excited about new technologies to assist patrons of the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, including new braille e-readers. Alabama is one of seven states selected to pilot the devices, and she\u2019s hopeful it will be we successful and the Library of Congress will start providing the e-readers for those who read braille.<\/p>\n

Pack knows she\u2019ll see even more new technologies emerge during her career, and that libraries will always be at the forefront of finding ways to ensure those technologies benefit the most vulnerable, those people who are most in need of additional resources. It\u2019s the reason she went to library school in the first place: to touch people\u2019s lives and to make a difference; and like information itself, her passions and motivations may be packaged in different formats, but the purpose remains the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe highlight of my career are the people I\u2019ve worked with and provided services to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Nancy Pack (\u201981), the last three decades of being a librarian has really been about one thing: the people. Whether it was her cohort at the School of Information Sciences, many of whom she\u2019s stayed in touch with throughout the years, or the varied patrons she has served, it has been the people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack - School of Information Sciences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack - School of Information Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Nancy Pack (\u201981), the last three decades of being a librarian has really been about one thing: the people. Whether it was her cohort at the School of Information Sciences, many of whom she\u2019s stayed in touch with throughout the years, or the varied patrons she has served, it has been the people who […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School of Information Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-14T19:35:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hillary Tune\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hillary Tune\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hillary Tune\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e\"},\"headline\":\"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-14T19:35:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1512,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sis.utk.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/\",\"name\":\"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack - School of Information Sciences\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sis.utk.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-14T19:35:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sis.utk.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sis.utk.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/\",\"name\":\"School of Information Sciences\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e\",\"name\":\"Hillary Tune\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/sis\\\/author\\\/htune1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack - School of Information Sciences","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack - School of Information Sciences","og_description":"For Nancy Pack (\u201981), the last three decades of being a librarian has really been about one thing: the people. Whether it was her cohort at the School of Information Sciences, many of whom she\u2019s stayed in touch with throughout the years, or the varied patrons she has served, it has been the people who […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/","og_site_name":"School of Information Sciences","article_published_time":"2021-05-14T19:35:40+00:00","author":"Hillary Tune","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hillary Tune","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/"},"author":{"name":"Hillary Tune","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/#\/schema\/person\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e"},"headline":"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack","datePublished":"2021-05-14T19:35:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/"},"wordCount":1512,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sis.utk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/","name":"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack - School of Information Sciences","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sis.utk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-14T19:35:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/#\/schema\/person\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sis.utk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sis.utk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IMG_1489r-267x400.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/2021\/05\/14\/2021-sis-distinguished-alumni-award-nancy-pack\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2021 SIS Distinguished Alumni Award: Nancy Pack"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/","name":"School of Information Sciences","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/#\/schema\/person\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e","name":"Hillary Tune","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/author\/htune1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}