Alma Dawson


Alma Dawson is an American scholar of librarianship. She retired as Russell B. Long Professor at the School of Library & Information Science, Louisiana State University in 2014 and was awarded Emeritus status in 2015. In 2019 Dr. Dawson was honored with the Essae Martha Culver Distinguished Service Award from the Louisiana Library Association which honors a librarian whose professional service and achievements, whose leadership in Louisiana association work, and whose lifetime accomplishments in a field of librarianship within the state merit recognition of particular value to Louisiana librarianship.
Dawson earned the B.S. degree from Grambling State University in secondary education and taught in the Natchitoches Parish School System. She earned the master's degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She then worked as a librarian at Prairie View A&M University. In 1982 she joined the Louisiana State University Libraries faculty as the library and information science librarian.

She earned the PhD in Library Science and Higher Education from the Texas Woman's University in 1996 and joined the faculty of the School of Library and Information Science at Louisiana State University where she was promoted through the academic ranks to the named professorship: Russell B. Long Professor.

Project Recovery--After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Dawson was awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2009 titled “Project Recovery." Students recruited under this initiative received IMLS-funded scholarships to earn master's degrees in librarianship. As part of their education and early-career development, the students participated in projects identified by partner libraries affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

Publications