Candidate for President-Elect

Laura Slavin

While working as Cataloging Librarian at Troy University in 2003, Laura Slavin was awarded the SELA Gale Grant that provided her with $500 to help attend her first SELA conference. Because of this wonderful opportunity, she has been an active member of SELA ever since, serving as Chair of the Continuing Education and Staff Development Committee, the Electronic Resources Round Table, and is currently Chair-Elect of the University and College Library Section. She is a member of the Alabama Library Association and the Alabama Association of College & Research Libraries. She presented over twenty presentations at various conferences and published several articles.

She earned her Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida and her Master’s of Business Administration from Lincoln Memorial University. After working at Troy University and part-time at the Troy Public Library, Laura accepted a position as Technical Services Librarian and Systems Librarian at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. She then accepted a position as Systems Librarian at the Huntsville Madison County Public Library in Alabama. Currently, Laura is the Electronic Resources Librarian at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

Laura believes strongly that active membership in SELA is a way for librarians to help and give back - to their profession, to libraries, and to communities across the Southeastern United States.

Candidates for Treasurer

Becky Bickford

Becky Bickford is an Assistant Professor/Social Sciences Librarian at Mississippi State University. She previously worked at MSU in the Collection Management Services department as a monographic copy cataloger while pursuing her MLIS. A job transfer for her husband took her to South Georgia, where she found a position as the Information Services Librarian for South Georgia State College. Becky returned to MSU in 2017 as a staff member in Research Services before her appointment as Social Sciences Librarian in 2018.

Vicki L. Gregory

Professor Emeritus
University of South Florida

Vicki L. Gregory earned both her MLS and an MA in history from the University of Alabama and holds a Ph.D. in Communication, Information and Library Studies from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She retired recently and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of South Florida, where she taught collection development, digital libraries and library management. Previously she was Head of Systems and Operations at Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama. She has held numerous positions in various library and information science professional associations throughout her career as a librarian and educator. In Florida she served as the ALA Councilor on the Florida Library Association Board from 2005-2008 and as a Director of the Florida Library Association from 2001-2003. In the American Library Association, she has served as a member of the ALA Committee on Accreditation and was its Chair for two of the four years of her membership. She also served for four years on ALA’s Reference and User Services Notable Books Council.

She is currently the SELA Treasurer and was treasurer of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) from 2007-2016. . She is also currently Treasurer of Beta Phi Mu, the international library professional honor society. Within SELA, she has served as the Florida Representative on the Board of Directors and has also served two terms as Chair of the Awards Committee. In addition, she has served as Chair of the Charles Beard Award Committee and as a member of the Rothrock Awards Committee as well as other positions during her membership in SELA

Candidates for Secretary

Bernadette Johnson

Reference Librarian – Associate Professor

Bernadette Johnson is a reference librarian at the James A. Rogers Library of Francis Marion University. She is also the Government Information Coordinator. Bernadette has served in this position for 15 years. Bernadette is also active on the African American Faculty Staff Coalition at Francis Marion University where she serves as secretary (2020-2022) and currently chairs two committees within the Coalition.

Bernadette is a member of the South Carolina Library Association and a member of the Southeastern Library Association (SELA) where she served as co-chair of the Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) from 2019-2020.

Bill McRee

William “Bill” McRee is the Special Collections Librarian and Curator of the Dr. N. Lee Morris Gallery at the Florence County Library System and has worked for that institution for a total of 24 years. He also worked at Greenville County Library System for 12 years in special collections and reference.

He is serving as Chair of the Board for the Palmetto Archives, Libraries, Museums Council on Preservation, and is Secretary of the South Carolina Archival Association.He has been a member of SELA for 35 years serving in various capacities as chair of the Headquarters Liasion Committee, chair of the Awards Committee, and the Planning Committee. He serves on the Planning Committee currently and is also Chair of the Resolutions Committee and the Oustanding Southeastern Library Program Award Committee.