On Wednesday, July 17, the first Linda Chapman Fellow was announced at a brief ceremony at West Tisbury Free Public Library. The recipient of the fellowship was Rachel Rooney, West Tisbury library IT reference librarian.
“When West Tisbury Library trustee Linda Chapman died unexpectedly in 2016,” Dan Waters, West Tisbury Library foundation president said, “there was a deep sense of shock, grief and loss. Linda had made enormous contributions to the art and science of teaching, not just in Westchester County, NY, where she taught both students and teachers, but nationally as well, serving often as a keynote speaker and presenter for the American Library Association.”
When Chapman became involved in the West Tisbury library, she contributed her vast experience, along with her years of insight about integrating libraries and technology into the process of learning.
“It was with this in mind,” Beth Kramer, library director of the West Tisbury library said, “that Stephen Chapman, Linda’s husband, created the Linda M. Chapman Fellowship.” Family and friends invested in the fund’s endowment, and the Fellowship subsidizes professional library training for one West Tisbury Library staff person per year. That staff person will be known as a Linda Chapman Fellow, and his/her name will be added to a plaque at the circulation desk each year.
“The world of library science is ever changing and ever evolving,” Kramer said, “and that’s the importance of keeping up with training, so we’re so grateful to have this opportunity to offer continued education of the library staff and it wasn’t difficult to choose the first recipient of the Linda Chapman Fellowship — Rachel Rooney our IT reference librarian who exemplifies the kind of curiosity and quest for knowledge Linda Chapman stood for.
“This means everything to me,” Rooney said. In June she attended the annual American Library Association conference. “It was great to meet lots of people and get ideas and share them with the staff and the community back home,” Rooney said.
“The Fellowship, its plaque, and its growing list of staff names over many years,” Waters said, “will be a way to honor Linda physically at the library while at the same time putting the commitment of her values and the library’s mission into everyday practice. Her legacy will benefit generations of future librarians, and the plaque will gradually become an honor roll of the community’s librarians who were touched by this gift, which honors Linda’s generosity and thirst for lifelong learning.”
“I think of what she would have done over the years,” Steven Chapman said, “had she survived, to share her knowledge, her energy and her enthusiasm and this fellowship allows her, in absentia, to share that guidance and leadership.”
The West Tisbury Library Foundation invites contributions to the Linda Chapman Fellowship fund: P.O. Box 1238, West Tisbury, MA 02575. Inquiries about other thoughtful memorial gifts to the Foundation’s endowment are also welcome.