The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has awarded Nix Mendy the Julia C. Blixrud Scholarship to attend the ARL Fall Forum 2020. The scholarship was established in 2015 to honor the memory and extend the legacy of longtime ARL staff member Julia C. Blixrud. It is supported by generous donations to the Julia C. Blixrud Memorial Fund.
This year’s Blixrud Scholarship recipient, Nix Mendy, is a library associate at Tulane University, where they arrange a large literary collection, build reparative description projects alongside the collection management team, and enhance accessibility to five distinctive units. They also independently lead oral history projects regarding LGBTQ+ identity and migration within the African diaspora. They hope to challenge misrepresentation and foster greater self-determination in the historical record by prioritizing the stories and expertise of marginalized communities. Mendy earned an MS in library and information science from Simmons University in summer 2020 and is a 2019–2020 American Library Association Spectrum Scholar.
The theme of the ARL Fall Forum 2020, which will be held online on Thursday, October 8, is “Leading Libraries toward Anti-racism in a Changing World.” As part of the scholarship, Mendy will tweet from the forum and write an overview of the event.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 124 research libraries in Canada and the US whose mission is to advance research, learning, and scholarly communication. The Association fosters the open exchange of ideas and expertise; advances diversity, equity, and inclusion; and pursues advocacy and public policy efforts that reflect the values of the library, scholarly, and higher education communities. ARL forges partnerships and catalyzes the collective efforts of research libraries to enable knowledge creation and to achieve enduring and barrier-free access to information. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.
