Julie Sarpy


A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, and I have spent my graduate education in Texas studying library science, health informatics and medieval history. Having received my undergraduate degree from UCLA, I received my MSLS from University of North Texas and my MA from Southern Methodist University.  And I received my doctorate from the University of Houston in European History in 2016.

While at the University of Houston, I had an opportunity to intern at the Galveston & Texas History Center in the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas in 2015. That was an exciting opportunity where I had the chance to process and archive the Lise Darst Collection of papers and photographs. She was a former curator at the Galveston & Texas History Museum and her family documents and pictures were donated to the center. I also had an opportunity to digitize a postcard collection from the turn of the twentieth century Galveston. Furthermore, while at the University of Houston, I worked as a Teaching Assistant for the professors in American History and Ancient History. I led discussion sections and review sessions and had a chance to communicate with students and further expound on the topics covered in lecture.

It was the latter experience combined with my library science degree with my emphasis in health informatics that has led me to my current position as Reference and Instruction Librarian at the MArtin and Gail Press Health Professions Division Library at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I interviewed for this position in early April 2016 and was offered the job three weeks later. I moved out here six years ago and have not looked back. Now married,  I am the Library Liaison and Adjunct Assistant Professor to the Kiran C. Patel Colleges of Allopathic and Osteopathic at the Martin and Gail Press Health Professions Division Library at Nova Southeastern University. A specialist in Medieval history, my book Joanna of Flanders: Heroine and Exile was published by Amberley Press in 2019 and is being developed as a movie. And received a grant from the Network of National Libraries of Medicine for our Hackathon Library Event held in 2020.