Dr. Wendy Stephens

Associate Professor, School Library Media
CEPS Complex, Building 1, Pod 1, Room 108C
256-782-5094
wstephens@jsu.edu

A north Alabama native, Wendy Stephens spent fifteen years as a high school librarian, first at Buckhorn High School and then at Cullman High School. In 2015, she joined the faculty of Jacksonville State University as Library Media Program Chair. She earned National Board Certification in Library Media in 2008 (and renewed in 2018), and was the first Google Certified Teacher in Alabama.

Wendy Stephens is the 2023-24 President of the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY). She is an active member of the American Library Association and its youth services divisions, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the Assembly for Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English (ALAN), the Children’s Literature Assembly (CLA) and the Children's Literature Association (ChLA), and is a past president of both the Alabama Library Association (ALLA) and the Alabama School Library Association (ASLA).

She has received the Association for Library Service for Children’s Louise Seaman Bechtel fellowship and the Marantz fellowship from Kent State University.

Dr. Wendy Stephens

Courses Taught

  • LM 512
  • LM 513
  • LM 515
  • LM 530
  • LM 531
  • LM 532
  • LM 612
  • EFD 500
  • EFD 615
  • EFD 701

Education

  • B.A., Art History and Studio Art, Dartmouth College
  • M.A., English, University of Alabama in Huntsville
  • M.L.I.S., Library and Information Studies, University of Alabama
  • M.Ed., Educational Leadership, Samford University
  • Ph.D., Information Science, University of North Texas

Academic & Research Interests

  • School librarianship and the library ecosystem, children's literature, emerging technologies, and the history and future of authorship, readership, and publishing

Other Responsibilities

  • Dr. Stephens served as 2022-23 Faculty Senate President.

Publications and Presentations

  • Dr. Stephens' publications include the monograph Mindful School Libraries (ABC-CLIO, 2021), book chapters on instructional design and teaching with virtual and augmented realities, and journal articles in Knowledge Quest, Young Adult Library Services, VOYA, School Library Journal, Children in Libraries, and Educational Leadership.