Janice Rice Retires

October 8, 2015

~By Pamela O’Donnell

Janice Rice
Janice Rice

After 36 years of service to the General Library System, Janice Rice retired from College Library on September 15, 2015. Janice had a long and distinguished career at the library, most recently serving as the Outreach Coordinator and supervisor for the Diversity Resident Librarians. Her work also includes helping create the Ethnic Studies Collection, for which she was a selector, and serving as a liaison to many campus student programs and student services offices.

Within the libraries, Janice has been an active participant in various state and national association committees, including WLA’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table, the ACRL President’s Committee for Recruiting Underrepresented Minorities, the Ethnic Materials & Information Exchange Round Table, and the American Indian Library Association, for which she served as President in 2008. Janice was the co-chair of the national Joint Conference of Librarians of Color in 2012. Her commitment to the library profession is also evident her support for UW-Madison’s SLIS program, Tribal Libraries, Archives and Museums, both as a consultant and course co-instructor. She has written book reviews, contributed to books and articles about American Indians and presented at local, state and national conferences. She is a true treasure of a resource and is counted on by University and community groups for her significant contributions to knowledge and information about American Indian issues generally and the Ho-Chunk Nation in particular.

Janice has a long record of commitment to improving diversity issues at the University of Wisconsin for the institution and its faculty, staff, students, and alumni. For example, she worked on committees such as the Coalition of Minority Women in the early 1980’s and the Committee on Minority Faculty and Academic Staff in the 1990’s, along with more recent efforts in the 2000’s on the American Indian Symposium, Diversity Forum, and the UW System (statewide) Task Force on Access to Success for Native American Students. Janice received several awards, including the UW-Madison and UW-System Outstanding Woman of Color in Education Award in 2009, and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Indian Library Association in 2012.

In recognition of her many achievements, we asked Janice to respond to a few questions about her career and accomplishments. View the full story (and Janice’s responses) on the College Library site!