PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (March 24, 2022) – Her experience as an undergraduate student worker in the Blagg-Huey Library at Texas Woman’s University created a plot twist for Kimberly Gay: Could she be a librarian? It turns out she had found a calling.
Kimberly Gay
More than 20 years later, Gay, who is head of Reference and Information Services at Prairie View A&M University’s John B. Coleman Library, is starting a new chapter with her election to the executive board of Beta Phi Mu, the international library and information studies honor society. In this new role, she serves as director-at-large.
“I have been a professional master-degreed academic librarian for more than 20 years in the educational field, whereas only about 12% of professional master-degreed librarians are of color,” Gay said, adding that it’s an honor to give back.
Gay’s term will be the first for a library staff member from an HBCU in Texas in the honor society’s 73-year history. Throughout her three-year executive board appointment, she will work with BPM’s national and international endeavors of Library and Information Studies University Programs.
Gay will help recognize distinguished achievement in and scholarly contributions to library and information studies, or library education, and foster, sponsor and support professional and scholarly library projects. She will also help promote membership, curricula and library services in branches of school, public, special and academic libraries, both nationally and internationally.
In this new leadership position, Gay hopes to encourage young minds to pursue the field of library science. She will also use her influence on the board to advocate for diversity and representation in her field.
“I have been afforded the opportunity to continue to build my librarianship career through the leadership and encouragement I have been showered with on the PVAMU campus,” Gay said. “I get support to showcase my talents and represent PVAMU as a first-class librarian. PVAMU produces productive students, but they also help foster and mentor, producing productive faculty and staff.”
Gay is an active member and 2003 Spectrum Scholar for both the Texas Library Association and the American Library Association. She also served on the TLA Executive Board as the representative-at-large for Academic Libraries from 2015 to 2018. Gay has worked on the executive boards of TLA’s Black Caucus, Local History and Archives/Genealogy, District Eight (8) and the Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List.
In addition, Gay has presented at more than 150 library workshops, programs and sessions at conferences of the American Library Association, Texas Library Association and National Conference of African American Librarians, as well as the Texas A&M University, Texas Distance Learning, University of Houston, PVAMU, Houston Public and Harris County Public libraries.
As she turns the page in this chapter and adds this new leadership role to her repertoire, Gay says this appointment has allowed her to look back. PVAMU, although not her alma mater, has always been a home for her. Because of that, she is excited and motivated to continue to build up the programs that open so many doors for students.
“PVAMU has all my family’s educational legacy, dating back to the 1940s and 1950s,” said Gay. “There was no other place I could have gone to be a professional librarian. It made sense for me to come to PVAMU and give back my service. PVAMU helped educate more than 30 members of my family for more than 80 years.”
“I came on campus to work for the students and give back to PVAMU for what PVAMU gave to my family,” Gay continued. “PVAMU gave them degrees, homes and successful careers, which all equals having a well-fulfilled life and generational wealth.”
By Meredith Mohr
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