San Diego State University |
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Gloria Rhodes: From Outreach Librarian to Acting Development Director Gloria Rhodes' mission when she first arrived at the SDSU Library five years ago was to "meet with community leaders to develop a rapport with them and to get community resources into the library." Now, as the acting development director, her mission has taken on a grander scale. "I am very excited about the opportunity to work in the development area for the library. This is an extension of what I have been doing in my prior role as outreach librarian. As the acting development director, I work closely with friends and supporters to be our partners as we continue to enhance the services and resources of our library - the intellectual hub of the campus - to prepare students for 21st century learning," Rhodes said. |
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A native of North Carolina, Rhodes received her undergraduate degree from Elizabeth City State University in
North Carolina and her master's of library science degree from North Carolina Central University. She was a
school librarian in Norfolk, Virginia, for five years and the young adult services librarian at the Oceanside
Public Library in Oceanside, California, for 10 years. After leaving Oceanside, Rhodes was the multicultural
outreach librarian at California State University, San Marcos. She became outreach librarian at the SDSU Library
in February 2002.
As outreach librarian at the SDSU Library, Rhodes was instrumental in building ongoing relationships with the community. One of her efforts is an oral history project titled "Documenting the African American Presence in San Diego County," which records the perspectives of African American pioneers on racial and ethnic relations during the formation of San Diego's unique, multicultural community. "The project will provide researchers with a deeper understanding of our local African American communities and the residents who helped to shape them. The oral histories are housed in Special Collections and University Archives in the SDSU Library and Information Access, making this project accessible to researchers from both the campus and external communities of San Diego," Rhodes said. Rhodes hopes that the project will strengthen the campus outreach network by creating a cross-cultural bridge between SDSU and the external community. In addition to the oral histories, Rhodes' project has brought in important documents, including letters, papers, newspaper clippings and photographs, that highlight the many contributions of the project's participants. For additional information about the oral history project or development questions, please contact Gloria L. Rhodes at 619-594-1169 or by e-mail, grhodes@mail.sdsu.edu. |
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