Editorial

Tim Palmer, Liza Palmer
2021 Film Matters  
We may be biased, but Film Matters thinks librarians are the unsung heroes of life. If they're doing it right, librarians are information warriors-passionate advocates righting fake news wrongs, ensuring equitable access, removing barriers to service. Indeed, behind every great scholarly work are librarians and library specialists working industriously behind the scenes, fulfilling interlibrary loan requests, researching obscure references, and dusting off archival materials long untouched. On
more » ... une 11, 2021, we lost just such a librarian, a third-generation librarian at that. Anne Elizabeth Pemberton leaves us far too soon. But she leaves us a world much better for her having been here. Hurricane Anne was her website, 1 and hurricane Anne was a personality loved by so many around her-whether it was her rampant sense of humor, her fierce intelligence, her refusal to take herself, or anything around her, too seriously. When Anne was in session-at a library class, on a road trip, hosting a meal at a Mexican restaurant, cheering on the Vols-to those around her, she was the center of the universe. A dynamo in public and at work, Anne was beloved by those closest to her: excellent company, a fantastic listener, a loyal friend, the best Mom a companion animal could hope for (to rescue cats Ricky, Sadie, and Diego, and dogs Gracie, Trouble, Chance, Storm, and Skye). Time spent with Anne was always time well spent. A leader at the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Randall Library, Anne was a teacher who felt the call to empower students strongly, tirelessly. For Anne, the role of librarian was to deliver a kick in the pants-she meant this both honestly and as a joke, like so many of Anne's best zingers. An active disability and accessibility advocate, she ran multiple marathons in support of multiple sclerosis research; more recently, she focused her attention on the important intersection of information literacy, social justice, and mindfulness via her blog The Hopeful Librarian. 2 Preceded in death by her beloved mother, Nancy Anne Garrett Pemberton, and Ricky, her one-of-a-kind cat, Anne is survived by those closest to her: father James, brother John, nephews Truett and Titan, aunt Susan, aunt Jean Allgood, partner Jason Batton, and former husband Peter Fritzler. Yet she also leaves behind so many communities that she impacted, including the
doi:10.1386/fm_00172_2 fatcat:rkpjdnap4bhfdmswsgcyc67gl4