Watkins to Lead Index Arkansas Project in University Libraries Department of Special Collections

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Joan Watkins is the newly appointed manager and senior editor of the Index Arkansas Project, formerly titled the Arkansas Periodicals Index. The project, sponsored by the special collections department of the University of Arkansas Libraries, involves indexing a large number of Arkansas-related journals and other publications dealing with Arkansas topics.

Watkins, an enthusiastic supporter of Arkansas studies, started her career as a librarian and then went on to a variety of administrative positions in the public sector. She held various positions with Gov. Bill Clinton’s office, including press secretary and policy adviser, followed by several leadership posts at the University of Arkansas. She also worked as a consultant in the areas of information systems, records management, policy analysis, communications, and management. Watkins graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and Phi Beta Kappa honors. Her master’s degree in library and information science is from the University of Oklahoma. “I am intrigued by the fact that this job brings me full circle in my library career, so there is a level of professional comfort,” she said.

Computer technologies have significantly changed the field of librarianship since Watkins first worked as a librarian for the University of Arkansas. The challenge of this project for Watkins is organizing and providing access to materials electronically. “That’s the new part for me, and what attracted me to the project,” Watkins observed. She named another attraction as “her devotion to this state and to the people who are trying to understand Arkansas and its geography, its history, and its literature.”

Arkansas is one of the more under-studied states in America, according to Tom W. Dillard, head of the special collections department. With Arkansas history education now mandated by state law, more students are doing research in various fields of Arkansas studies. One of the major hurdles faced by researchers on Arkansas topics has been the lack of good, easily available guides to published literature on the state. The need for good indexes has increased as the periodical literature has grown, due to a substantial increase in the number of county history journals and regional periodicals.

“Arkansans need to tell our own story; no one else will do that for us. A comprehensive index such as Index Arkansas offers the possibility of dramatically increasing the quantity and quality of research done on Arkansas,” Dillard said. The current index is available electronically on the University Libraries’ Web site at http://arkindex.uark.edu. Watkins’ plans call for updating and improving future editions of the index.

The Arkansas Periodicals Index project, predecessor to Index Arkansas, has been in development for many years, initiated by long-time librarian Georgia Clark and expanded by Elizabeth McKee and Andrea Cantrell of the University of Arkansas Libraries. The project was recently placed under the administrative supervision of the special collections department, the largest academic archives in the state of Arkansas. Special collections department was created in 1967 to encourage research and writing in the history and culture of Arkansas. With the addition of Watkins’ leadership, Dillard hopes to revive this project, which will greatly improve access to the growing published record of Arkansas topics.