English: Biography: Virginia Lacy Jones has been associated with the Atlanta University School of Library Service since its inception in 1941, serving as dean since 1945. Born in Cincinnati, she was the only child of Edward and Ellen Parker Lacy. Eighteen months old when her father died, her mother moved with her to West Virginia. Miss Lacy attended Sumner High School in St. Louis. She graduated from Hampton Institute in 1933 with a bachelor's degree in library science and worked as an assistant librarian at Louisville Municipal College in Kentucky before returning to Hampton for a bachelor's degree in education. For two years, she served as head librarian at Louisville while also teaching library science at Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical Institute during the summers. Upon completion of her master's degree in library science at the University of Illinois, she became head of the catalog department at Trevor Arnett Library at Atlanta University. She traveled extensively as a consultant for the university, surveying administration, organization, and curricula in library schools, and was appointed to the faculty when the library school opened in 1941. She received her doctorate in 1945 from the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago. An active member of several state and national library organizations, including the Association of American Library Schools, and the American Library Association (ALA), where she served a five-year term on the executive board, she was appointed in 1967 to the President's Advisory Committee on Library Research and Training Projects. Among her many honors are two awards from the ALA in recognltlon of her outstanding work and commitment in the field of library science.

Description: The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981. With support from the Schlesinger Library, the project recorded a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20th century. Photograph taken by Judith Sedwick
Repository: Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
Collection: Black Women Oral History Project
Research Guide: http://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_bwohp

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