Renna Redd loves the outdoors. She enjoys spending time outside with her family, she serves as a co-leader for her daughter’s Girl Scout troop, and she especially loves the Appalachian region. She also loves her job as Clemson Libraries’ director of collections strategies and resource sharing coordinator, comparing collections maintenance to growing a garden.
Redd grew up in Guyton, Georgia, a small town outside of Savannah that she says still does not have a stoplight. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a degree in art history, she still wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her career, and she ended up at the University of Mississippi earning a master’s degree in southern studies. It was there that she got her first taste of library work, working for the University of Mississippi Blues Archive.
After graduating, Redd moved back to UGA where she got a job working at the Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. During this time, she realized she wanted to stick with a library career, so she returned to school to earn her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina. During her time at UGA was when she met her husband, Carl, a special projects archivist for Clemson Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives. The two met at an archives conference.
After more than seven years at UGA, Redd made the move to South Carolina, taking the position of information technology librarian at Anderson University. In 2015, she came to Clemson as Interlibrary Loan (ILL) librarian.
Redd’s role has grown over the years. She oversees all resource sharing programs, including ILL and PASCAL Delivers, which allows Clemson to borrow from and loan to academic libraries across the state. If a patron can’t find what they need in Clemson’s collection, chances are Redd and her team can find it for them from another library, whether it’s from the other side of the state in Charleston or the other side of the world in New Zealand.
Redd has also been named director of collections strategies, ensuring that the Libraries’ collections are meeting the needs of Clemson’s students, faculty and staff. And she has recently been serving as interim director of acquisitions as well.
“My day-to-day work is mostly involved with collections, being in touch with vendors to make sure everyone has access to everything, talking about subscriptions for next year, working with other libraries and collaborating to figure out what we have, what we need, and what we don’t need any more,” she said.
That’s where the garden metaphor comes in.
“A collection is very much like a garden,” she said. “Maybe a program has been phased out but we’re still getting materials for that area. Sometimes we need to weed the garden. We need to make sure the garden is healthy, and that we’re clearing out the underbrush that is taking resources away from what we actually need.”
Redd said her favorite thing about working at Clemson is the people. And the ice cream at the ’55 Exchange. But mostly the people.
“We have a lot of good people who are providing great service to our campus. I’m proud to work with a group of people who all share that same commitment,” she said.
Outside of work, Redd serves as chair of the board of directors for the Holly Springs Center, which provides affordable childcare services in northern Pickens County while at the same time teaching children about the outdoors and about Appalachian culture, music, arts and crafts.