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The University of North Texas at Dallas presented to Leora Kemp a plaque honoring her for her leadership, service, and support to the university and library this morning (Thursday April 14). Ms. Kemp was the founding librarian at the UNT Dallas campus.
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| Leora Kemp |
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| Ceremony at UNT Dallas Library |
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| UNT Dallas Librarian Brenda Robertson |
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| UNT Dallas President Bob Mong, Brenda Robertson, Cindy Batman, and Leora Kemp |
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| Leora |
LEORA KEMP Biography
Leora Kemp served Texas students and libraries for nearly sixty years. She was known as a generous person who would hand out her cards to students, telling them that she was their “personal librarian.” People who worked with her referred to her as “a librarian’s librarian,” “the consummate librarian,” and “a wonderful supervisor.”
Her work in libraries started early as a student of Duncanville High School where she volunteered at the school library. She grew up in a world of books. Her mother and grandparents were voracious readers. She read anything from a Nancy Drew mystery, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, or the World Book Encyclopedia. It was a Duncanville High School Teacher, Grace Brandenburg, who inspired Ms Kemp to continue her involvement with the library world.
Ms Kemp earned her bachelor’s degree at East Texas State (Texas A&M-Commerce), then earned her master’s degree in religious education at SMU’s Perkins Divinity School. For several years she worked at SMU’s Bridwell Library. After a short period at the University of Denver library and in New Mexico she moved to Alba, Texas where she taught middle school and worked at the school’s library. In 1978 she earned a master’s degree in library science from UNT and started working in the library at Texas State Technical Institute near Waco. In 1988 Ms Kemp began work at the Dallas Public library at Lakewood in East Dallas where she enjoyed serving the diverse user population. Five years later she transferred to the Hampton and Illinois Public Library branch of the Dallas public library.
While working at the Dallas Public Library she began researching adoption records. She would go on to assist 36 local residents to find their birth parents and relatives.
Ms Kemp began working at the UNT System Center at Dallas (University of North Texas at Dallas) on February 21, 2000. On her first day she was tasked with building a new library with only three empty book shelves, no tables, no chairs, and dozens of computers that were scheduled to be placed throughout the building. She admitted some apprehension after her first day, but she began networking with area libraries and serving on as many leadership committees as possible. With these relationships and insights, she laid the foundation of UNT Dallas’ virtual library.
When asked about her legacy Ms Kemp said she would like to be remembered as, “somebody who would listen and be empathetic...I’ve often told my staff that I want this library to be known as having the best service-attitude in the North Texas area. I’d say the world but that’s a little far-flung yet.” Ms Kemp said that her work as a librarian has been a “blessing from God, and I wish everybody had an opportunity in their lifetime to love a job as much as I’ve loved this one.”
Ms Kemp is the oldest child of Jimmy and Dorothy Barnham Kemp and has two brothers and a sister.
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