Passionate about books, Denise Lynne Montgomery dedicated more than three decades to advancing library science. She started her journey at Sweet Briar College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1975. Ms. Montgomery then furthered her knowledge by obtaining a Master of Science in Library Science from Florida State University in 1981 and by joining prominent organizations like the American Library Association and the Georgia Library Association.
Degrees in hand, Ms. Montgomery set off to make her mark. Her first professional position was in the reader’s services library at St. Leo College, followed by associate professor and head of interlibrary loans at Valdosta State University. She really felt at home at the latter school; she remained there from 1984 until she retired in 2018. One of the highlights of her time at Valdosta State University was getting a document delivery system established on campus. This made the process of managing returnable materials and interlibrary loan books more efficient.
To share her experience on a wider scale, Ms. Montgomery submitted her own works to the literary community. She contributed articles to a variety of professional journals, including Library Trends, as well as to the book, “Royal Visits and War Brides to Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics and History.” She was also the senior research editor of The Yale Dictionary of Quotations and the editor of “Ottemiller’s Index to Plays in Collections.” The latter was included on the Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Titles list in 2012.
Although Ms. Montgomery has stepped back from the professional world, she still enjoys contributing to her field. She currently volunteers at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at Stanton University three days a week. Her focus in this capacity is updating the library, including adding e-book versions of old and rare books to the catalogue. This is beneficial for both preservation and for providing access to people who can’t always make it to the library.