Kathleen de la Peña McCook is a

library scholar A library and information scientist, also known as a library scholar, is a researcher or academic who specializes in the field of library and information science and often participates in scholarly writing about and related to library and informati ...

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

, and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. Much of her work centers around

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

issues, and the freedom of information. McCook has been active in a number of professional organizations within the field of librarianship. She was highly involved in the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

's Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship. She was the recipient of their 2016 Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a past president of the

Association for Library and Information Science Education Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

and the recipient of the 2003

Beta Phi Mu Award The Beta Phi Mu Award is an annual prize recognizing an individual for distinguished service to education for librarianship. First bestowed in 1954, Award recipients include various prominent leaders in the field of librarianship. The Award is spo ...

for "distinguished service in library education". McCook has taught full-time since 1978. She has served on the faculties of Dominican University, the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, and

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. Currently, she is serving as a

Distinguished University Professor Professors in the United States commonly occupy any of several positions of teaching and research within a college or university. In the U.S., the word "professor" informally refers collectively to the academic ranks of assistant professor, asso ...

at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

's School of Information. She also served as 2003 scholar-in-residence for the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

Awards and honors

* 2019 Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service to the profession of librarianship * 2004 ALA Office of Diversity, Achievement in Diversity Research Honoree * 1997 President of the Association of Library and Information Science Education * 1991 Named Outstanding Alumni by the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

School of Library and Information StudiesMcCook, Kathleen de la Peña (2011). Introduction to Public Librarianship (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers. .

Selected bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Faculty web page
at the

*
Ebla to E-Books: The Preservation and Annihilation of Memory
' by Kathleen McCook at

Substack Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCook, Kathleen de la Pena American librarians American women librarians Hispanic and Latino American librarians American librarianship and human rights Living people University of Chicago Graduate Library School alumni University of South Florida faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Library and Information Studies alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Scotch-Irish descent American women academics 21st-century American women