Betty Ladner was a 72-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place over the phone in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in New Orleans in 1948. She was educated at the College of Mount. St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she earned a B.A. in Chemistry; and at the University of Chicago, where she earned an M.A. in Library Science. She was employed as a Reference Librarian at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina from 1987-1990; as an Information Specialist for Lorillard Tobacco Company from 1991-1992; as an Assistant Director, and Director, at the Northwest AHEC Library at Wake Forest University School of Medicine from 1992-1999; and as an Associate University Librarian and Executive Director of External Relations at the J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte from 1999-2020.
Betty Ladner, recently retired Executive Director of External Relations and longtime member of the Senior Management Team for the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte reflects on her career and details her experiences on April 30, 2019. Ms. Ladner relates her career path, focusing on her role as a medical librarian and information specialist for Wake Forest Medical School from 1992-1999. During the latter years of her career at Wake Forest, Ms. Ladner worked closely with healthcare institutions in a seventeen-county region in Northwest North Carolina. She reflects on how this period was a time of significant change in Information Science. Ms. Ladner joined the faculty at J. Murrey Atkins Library in 1999. She relates that she was in her office on the second floor of the library at UNC Charlotte when a gunman opened fire on a classroom in the adjacent Kennedy Building on April 30, 2019. She became aware of the incident when the active shooter alarm was issued. Ms. Ladner describes how she and Anne Moore, the Dean of the Library whose office was close by, sheltered together in Ms. Ladner's office, taking cover under her desk. She discusses using the LiveSafe application on her phone to communicate with campus police, noting that she felt there needed to be more information for people in lockdown. Without this information Ms. Ladner and Dean Moore experienced significant trauma during the period when the library was released from lockdown by police. She describes how she and Dean Moore heard doors being smashed, not knowing whether their lives were in danger. She notes her relief on seeing the police as they knocked down her door, and her feelings of gratitude for their courage. She reflects that despite the incident she still feels relatively safe on campus, that she and Dean Moore have not discussed the experience since, and that she has avoided focusing on the experience. She notes that she feels mostly gratitude for the safety officers, police, and first responders who took charge of the situation. The interviews concludes with a discussion of the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.
