Your name, current work place and position:
Anchalee (Joy) Panigabutra-Roberts
Head of Cataloging
Associate Professor
The University of Tennessee Libraries in Knoxville, TN
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9333-1102
Where did you attend school for your MLIS degree?
University of Wisconsin-Madison
How long have you been an APALA member?
10.5 years to date.
Why did you first join?
I heard about APALA from a friend. I think. It’s been a long time since I joined APALA.
Are you currently involved as an officer/committee member/other volunteer?
I am currently serving on APALA Executive Board as a Member-at-Large for 2018-2020.
We’re very interested in the diversity of ethnic/cultural heritage within APALA. Please share your ethnic/cultural heritage with us and any other background information, as desired.
Joy is my Thai family nickname by birth. I am ¾ Thai and ¼ Lao (from my paternal grandmother). I grew up in Thailand, but I spent my working life as an academic librarian/faculty in cataloging and metadata services in Canada, the U.S. Midwest, New Cairo, Egypt and currently in Knoxville, TN.
What aspects of librarianship are key to your personal satisfaction at work. Please share some of your professional goals and interests.
My career in librarianship has been mostly in cataloging and metadata services. I did have appointments as the Women’s and Gender Studies subject liaison and a faculty affiliate for six years at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and as a liaison for the Graduate School of Education at the American University in Cairo, Egypt for a few years. I do enjoy both aspects of my work as a subject liaison and as a technical services librarian. Working with our users enhance my ability to provide better access to our information from the technical services’ perspective. And I enjoyed working with our students to connect them with the resources that they need to support their courses and theses and to help them get excited about the new subjects they were exploring. I do miss working with our students very much. Currently I am in a leadership position as a mid-manager. While I enjoy this aspect of my career, it has been challenging to manage during the time of changes. I found that I need to continue to upgrade my skills in both the technical aspects of my work and the leadership/management aspects too. I’m fortunate to have the support and ability to learn and grow in both aspects of my career right now. And I hope to be able to advance my career in all aspects and look forward to what the future will bring.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
It is great coming back to serve APALA once again. I look forward to working to support the EB, APALA committees, and our membership.