Meet MLC Monday: Ally Watkins

Meet Ally Watkins, Library Consultant at the Mississippi Library Commission! Ally works as a liaison between public libraries in Mississippi and MLC. She gives advice and provides information and resources to library directors and staff. Part of the Library Development team, she also assists with training and continuing education.

Watkins began at MLC in April 2015 after working in public libraries in Mississippi. She holds a Bachelor's of English from the University of Mississippi and a Master's of Library and Information Science from the University of Southern Mississippi. She also took part in MLC's Mississippi Library Leadership Institute.

Ally says that one of the reasons she likes working at MLC so much is her frequent travels across the state. "I love seeing all the libraries in the state. I like being able to provide help and advice for our librarians that are on the front line helping Mississippians." She is a big library advocate and spoke some of her love for libraries. "I love libraries because they're one of the last places where someone can go in and ask for help and receive it. Libraries are absolutely vital to many people fro educational, vocational, and recreational purposes. Being able to help provide these services is really important to me."

Ally loves to read. Her favorite book is Persuasion by Jane Austen. She says, though, that she'll ready pretty much anything. She likes checking out middle grade and YA books and reads a ton of comics. (She shares them with the rest of the staff and we really appreciate it!) Apart from reading, Watkins also likes to cook. She is an awesome aunt as well, and spends a lot of her free time hanging out with her nieces and nephew.