This week we’re happy to spotlight 2025 alum Eleanor Ball! Ball graduated this last May and spent her summer after graduation doing a 10-week fellowship with the Library of Congress’ Literary Initiatives Office. Her fellowship was focused on “providing support to the 25th National Book Festival. My responsibilities included researching potential authors, titles, and moderators for Library programming; writing and proofreading promotional blog posts; drafting session descriptions and the Story District schedule; and creating an in-person attendee guide for the Festival.” She was honored to get to contribute to such an important event with the Library of Congress.
Following her fellowship, she began a three-year term as an Information Literacy and Liaison Librarian and Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Northern Iowa. She felt like she was really well prepared for this role by SLIS, after completing two different practicums, one of which was with Katie DeVries. In this practicum she “got hands-on experience in reference, one-shot instruction, LibGuides, and collection development. It gave [her] ample material to discuss during job interviews, and it enabled [her] to hit the ground running in this role.” She’s enjoying her current position, and the teaching experience its giving her.
Ball presented at the 2025 Iowa Library Association conference, doing a lightning talk on an e-journal audit that she did as part of her other practicum on e-resources, with Julie Gaida and Eve Stan. This was her first time presenting, and we are so excited for her continued growth and success! She says that this conference was “a great example of the kinds of hands-on work SLIS students can do as part of practicums, work that has tangible benefits for libraries around Iowa City, the state, and even the country.”
“Additionally, if I were to give one piece of advice to current SLIS students, it would be to get involved with professional associations early and network aggressively. To be frank, it’s a tough job market, and you can get a leg up if you’ve previously networked with people who turn out to be on your search committee. Professional associations like ILA, ACRL, and ALA can be great ways to start connecting with people who work in your particular area of interest (e.g. liaison librarians, Iowa librarians, children’s librarians) and learn what you need to do now to set yourself up as a successful candidate in the future. Never talk yourself out of approaching somebody, signing up for something, or raising your hand with the idea that “I’m a student, I don’t have anything to contribute,” as I did too many times. You DO have something to contribute—a unique combination of skills, experiences, and insights that will be a huge asset to whichever library you eventually call home.”
We are so proud to call Eleanor an alum and look forward to everything she continues to do in the future!