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May 12, 2008
SLIS Grad Publishes Book on California Libraries
Stacy Shotsberger Russo, who graduated from SLIS in December 2004, recently had her first book published. Titled The Library as Place in California, the book represents the culmination of an idea that Russo first had while taking one of the core courses at SLIS, Information and Society. It was during that class that Russo first became familiar with the concept of the library as place. "It really spoke to me," says Russo.
Later, she took Laurie Putnam's class Publishing for the Profession, and transformed her interest in the subject into a book proposal. With Putnam's encouragement, Russo continued to develop the proposal and investigate potential publishers after she had graduated, ultimately submitting it to McFarland & Company for consideration. After a two-month negotiation process, the book was on its way to publication. Russo credits Putnam's class with making the book a reality by demystifying the publishing process and giving her the confidence to pursue it; in fact, Russo was so grateful that she thanks Putnam in the acknowledgment section of her book.
Russo initially planned to focus specifically on academic libraries, but ended up including public and special libraries as well. In the preface to her book, she explains "This project is about the physicality of libraries, of the experience of walking and sitting within them, and the road trips I embarked on to meet them in the flesh." She stresses that the book is not intended as a directory or any kind of scientific study, but simply a tribute to some of her favorite libraries.
Russo is now working as a librarian at Chapman University's Leatherby Libraries. During the time she worked on her book, she was a librarian at California State University at Fullerton. While there, she took advantage of vacation time and holidays to spend many long weekends researching the libraries included in her book, from San Diego to Mendocino. Her husband accompanied her and took all of the photographs included in the book, and several colleagues made suggestions about libraries to visit. Throughout the research process, she was amazed by the enthusiastic support and assistance she received from the staff at those libraries. Many had files of information waiting for her when she arrived, met with her personally and took her on tours, and answered follow-up questions via email.
The focus of Russo's book is not just on the buildings that house the libraries, but also the communities the libraries serve. She carefully observed what was near each library, who its patrons were and how the library interacted with the community. "It gave me the chance to write about libraries and California," says Russo, "two things I love."
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