UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication Library Homepage

Located in Howell Hall, the library began as a "reading room." It was designed as a place for students and faculty to read local and state newspapers and selected scholarly journals. Dorothy "Dot" Choate was the School's first reading room staffer. She started in the mid 1970s part-time; subsequently she became a full-time reading room manager with students as part-time assistants. Dot retired in December 1989. During her tenure she saw the development of the Walter Spearman Collection named for a respected and beloved journalism professor. The School's Journalism Foundation underwrites the library's entire budget.

Holt McPherson, long-time editor of the High Point Enterprise and 1954-55 president of the North Carolina Press Association, became an invaluable aly of the School's Journalism Foundation and the reading room.

Barbara Semonche became the JoMC's first professionally-trained library director in January 1990. A former newspaper librarian with The Durham Morning Herald and The Durham Sun from 1976 to 1990, Semonche set about to implement a research and teaching component into the library's services.

Now identified as the School of Journalism and Mass Communiction, the new library concept expanded by introducing computer-assisted research into the curriculum. Focusing upon the School's mission of teaching, research and service the McPherson Journalism Library expanded its collections and services to serve that mission. The library director now teaches and supports the research studies of students, both graduate and undergraduate, and faculty. A news library internship was launched in conjunction with the UNC-CH School of Information and Library Science. Internet instruction is offered and web pages and electronic bulletin boards are added to online databases to expand the range of reference and research capabilities.

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This page was created by Barbara P. Semonche and Brian Raitz. It was last updated on July 28, 1995. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to contact Barbara here.