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Inaugural Fisher Family Library Faculty Fellows for Inclusive Excellence Making an Impact at UMD Libraries

In first year of fellowship, Marcus Ortiz and Alona Norwood are advancing inclusivity, student success, and community archiving initiatives.

Left: Alona Norwood headshot. Right: Marcus Ortiz headshot.

Marcus Ortiz and Alona Norwood, the two inaugural Fisher Family Library Faculty Fellows for Inclusive Excellence, arrived at UMD Libraries this fall to get started on their two-year appointments, and they have hit the ground running.

The fellowship was established in 2023 by Todd and Christine Fisher ’91 to give two early-career librarians with diverse backgrounds an opportunity to be mentored, gain valuable work experience asUMD library faculty members, and contribute to meaningful projects in their areas of expertise that advance the libraries’ mission and strategic initiatives.

Although Ortiz and Norwood have different backgrounds and areas of expertise, they have a few things in common: early success in library fields and the potential to achieve even more after their fellowships end.

Meet Marcus Ortiz: Programming for Student Success

Student success is paramount to Marcus Ortiz, the current library liaison for the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies in the College of Arts and Humanities.

Ortiz received his MLIS from San Jose State University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Arizona State University in Indigenous Education. Naturally, his graduate work on centering Indigenous knowledge dovetails with his librarianship.

“I’m interested in new ways to support Indigenous populations in libraries; the way they go about research and looking for information is different than a general population of students,” says Ortiz. “My thesis is going to look at what that looks like and how we can develop a librarianship model that is rooted in those needs and those ideas.” To that end, he is working with Dr. Shelbi Meissner of the UMD Indigenous Futures Lab to see how the library can best support the Lab’s work.

He is also invested in making sure queer students have a welcoming and helpful experience at the library. He is currently collaborating with the UMD LGBTQ+ Equity Center, where he will provide onsite reference support in the Spring. He’s also working on an assessment across UMD Libraries investigating the user experience of LGBTQ students and how to best meet their needs. “We’re asking questions like ‘How do these students use the space? What services are they accessing? What services do they need that maybe we don't offer and we should consider doing in the future?’”

Besides his own research interests and investment in student success, Ortiz is also passionate about library outreach and programming, which he did in his previous roles at the Ramstein Air Base Library in Germany and the public library in Arlington, Virginia. His “Lunch and Learn” programs focused on queer history, and during Black History Month, his library screened the documentary Brother Outsider about civil rights leader and organizer Bayard Rustin. The co-director spoke, as did Rustin’s surviving partner. “Lifting up voices that have been historically marginalized is really at the core of the work that I've done in the past and what I hope to continue to do here at UMD,” says Ortiz.

Meet Alona Norwood: Expanding Community Archiving

Alona Norwood started her work as a community archivist long before she began her library career. After getting a Bachelor’s in peace and social justice from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, she interned at Black in Appalachia, a Tennessee-based nonprofit that works in the local community to highlight the history and contributions of African Americans in the Mountain South.

As an intern, Norwood conducted oral histories, digitized materials, and helped with the podcast Black in Appalachia, and was eventually hired on as staff. In this position, she grew to appreciate the organization and intricacies of archiving, which eventually led her to the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science, where she was part of an intimate cohort of primarily BIPOC students. “It was really nice to have that built-in community,” says Norwood.

In Chapel Hill, Norwood had a two-year placement at North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, where she worked in the digital lab, built their collections up, and made connections in the local community.

Although she considered returning to her fulfilling work at Black in Appalachia after graduation she applied for the inaugural Fisher Family Fellowship at UMD. She got the call she was selected a day after she gave birth to her daughter.

At UMD, Norwood has dived headfirst into community archives under Joni Floyd, Maryland & Historical Collections curator. Upcoming projects of hers include work on the Capitol Centre community archive, documenting the history and legacy of the 1970s local arena, and processing the Baltimore News American photographs. You can also find her at the reference desk for the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library, where she answers questions for researchers who visit the reading room to access special collection and archival materials.

“I’m learning a whole lot about how academic institutions work, but also applying my skills and my know-how. It’s been a fun journey so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next and how our community archives will be able to grow,” she says. 

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