Angel Truesdale, Social Sciences and Business Librarian, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, named winner of the 2023 BRASS Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award sponsored by Global Financial Data

Angel Truesdale has been selected as the 2023 winner of the BRASS Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award sponsored by Global Financial Data. The grant consists of $1,250 and is awarded to an individual new to the field of academic business librarianship in order to support attendance to the ALA Annual Conference.

“Angel Truesdale has made numerous contributions to business librarianship in a few short years. Nationally, she served as chair of the BRASS New Business Librarians group and as the current chair of the BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee, and regionally to numerous groups. She has proven to be a strong contributor and mentor to other new business librarians.” – Award Committee statement

As one of two chairs of the New Business Librarians group, Angel reinstated monthly discussions and organized special guest speakers of experienced business librarians, some in BRASS leadership. A new program was also developed to assist new business librarians with engagement and networking. These monthly coffee chats are a way for group members to share ideas, collaborate on projects, and learn about different work environments. Currently, while serving on the BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee, Angel has been instrumental in making the BRASS Online Symposia available after the live programs to capture the recordings, resources, and presentation materials.

Since 2019, Angel Truesdale has served as the Social Sciences and Business Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the J. Murrey Atkins Library. As the Business Librarian, she is engaged in student-centered research, instruction, and programming that advocates for business information literacy and social awareness. Angel’s work with the College of Business faculty as well as undergraduate and graduate students, allows her to collaborate on projects that involve data visualization, psychographic research, and company data. Further, she has facilitated office hours, research lab sessions, and research consultations as necessary for constituents. A consummate educator, Angel has presented as numerous regional and national conferences, workshops, and community events.

Angel has served as vice-chair for the Business Librarians of North Carolina (BLINC), a section of the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA). As vice-chair for BLINC, she chaired a conference with the Capital Area Business Academic Librarians (CABAL) during the pandemic, with Critical Issues in Business Librarianship as a theme. Additionally, she is currently a director for the Entrepreneurship in Libraries Conference and for the past two years has co-chaired a pitch competition for librarians. Locally, she has co-presented three presentations with the state consortium, NC LIVE. The presentations, Business Librarianship: It’s Not That Scary, Make it Your Business: NC LIVE Resources for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, and Librarians Respond to Coronavirus: Critical Resources for Business and Government, were all collaborative efforts among passionate North Carolina business librarians. Angel is also co-founder of the Bizlibratory blog, where she writes and edits blog posts as well as maintains the website. Guest writers for the blog are provided with an avenue to share ideas, brainstorm projects, and experiment with topics in business librarianship.

At her library, Angel has served as library faculty secretary, parliamentarian, and is currently president-elect of the body. She has also chaired a subcommittee to the library’s Diversity and Inclusions committee, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs subcommittee which developed equity focused internal events for library employees. Angel is currently chair of the arts, exhibits, and displays committee, which evaluates visual media and produces exhibits for the library. Throughout her career, Angel has enjoyed connecting with patrons and serving her community. She also enjoys learning about cinematic storytelling as a narrative tool, the documentary practice, and undervalued voices in cinema. Her other interests include Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), entrepreneurship in marginalized communities, facilitation, critical librarianship, international law, transformative justice, and housing equity.

BRASS Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award committee was Chaired by Felipe.