LaVerne Gray

LaVerne Gray completed her PhD in the College of Communication and Information at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her dissertation, “In a Collective Voice: Uncovering the Black Feminist Information Community of Activist-Mothers in Chicago Public Housing, 1955-1970,” explores Black feminist agency in community development within constructed urban spaces. The study employs qualitative analyses of archival documents, to reveal a Black Feminist Information Community(BFIC) framework. Her research was supported through the 2017 Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC) Fellowship, where she used archives throughout the city of Chicago to explore evidence for her research.

Using Critical Race and Black Feminist perspectives, LaVerne Gray’s research explores information location and value in marginal community spaces. She is keenly interested in African-American historical information collectives and archival-evidence analysis.

Gray earned her MLIS in Library and Information Science at Dominican University, MSEd in Educational Psychology at Northern Illinois University, and BA in Rehabilitation/Child Development at Wilberforce University. Gray has published on themes related to outreach, teaching, and information literacy. Her broad research interests include information literacy, critical theory, culturally responsive pedagogy, diversity, and academic library leadership.

Along with Ariana Cook, Gray co-won a 2024 Carnegie-Whitney Grant for the project "From These Roots: Bibliography of African American genealogical resources and tools."