University Library News Release
Date: April 14, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
Molly Molloy Receives NMSU Social Justice Award
NMSU Librarian Molly Molloy has been awarded the NMSU Social Justice Award. The award, presented by the NMSU Department of Government, honors members of NMSU's faculty, staff or student body, who have volunteered to help create a more just society.
As the Latin American and Border Studies Librarian at the New Mexico State University Library since 1992, Molly has exhibited a commitment to social justice issues along the U.S.-Mexico border that demonstrates passion and energy extending well beyond her employment at NMSU.
Cindy Pierard, the head of Reference and Research Services, said, "Molly has been tireless in her efforts to share information and encourage critical thinking about the complex realities of border life, and to seek fairness and justice for individuals who live here, including those whose voices are frequently missing from the larger national debate."
A centerpiece of Molly's work is access to information. In the early 1990s, she developed online guides for Latin American and Border Issues that receive 10,000-15,000 hits each month, as well as local, national and international acclaim. Her Frontera border news service has nearly two hundred subscribers, including many journalists, informing articles that have appeared in newspapers including the Houston Chronicle, the St. Augustine Record and the University of Texas-Austin Daily Texan. The list also supports feature pieces such as National Public Radio's Hearing Voices series on Ciudad Juarez.
Recently, Molly has worked with other members of the NMSU Library and campus community to develop an archive of materials documenting social justice issues in the border region. She was instrumental in making possible the 2006 gift to the Library of the papers of women's rights and human rights activist Esther Chavez Cano. These papers provide insight into activism against multiple types of violence in Ciudad Juarez and address issues including violence against women, reproductive rights, economic justice issues and maquiladoras. They also provide important documentation of the many activist groups that emerged in Juarez in response to tremendous socioeconomic upheaval and violence.
Molly is one of two recipients of the 2009 Social Justice Award, which was also awarded to a NMSU student.
For more information, contact Cindy Pierard at (575) 646-7010.
-30-