Herring, Mark Youngblood 1952–

views updated

Herring, Mark Youngblood 1952–

(Mark Herring, Mark Y. Herring, Clarke Ransom)

PERSONAL: Born October 10, 1952, in Dothan, AL; son of Reuben (an editor) and Dorothy (McCorvey) Herring; married Brenda Carol Lane (a teacher), August 11, 1972; children: Adriel Herring Slaughter, Areli Allene. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Vanderbilt University, B.A., M.L.S.; Eastern Tennessee State University, Ed.D. Politics: Republican. Religion: Presbyterian. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, running, reading.

ADDRESSES: Office—Dacus Library, Winthrop University, 824 Oakland Ave., Rock Hill, SC 29733. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. Educational tutor, 1975–78; King College, Bristol, TN, director, 1979–88; worked as executive director of a nonprofit organization, 1988–92; Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, dean of library services, 1992–99; Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC, dean of library services, 1999–. Conference presenter.

MEMBER: American Library Association, National Association of Scholars, South Carolina Library Association.

WRITINGS:

Controversial Issues in Librarianship: An Annotated Bibliography, 1960–1984, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1987.

Ethics and the Professor: An Annotated Bibliography, 1970–1985, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1988.

(As Mark Y Herring) Organizing Friends Groups: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians, Neal-Schuman (New York, NY), 1993.

(As Mark Y. Herring) The Pro-Life/Choice Debate: Historical Guides to Controversial Issues in America, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 2003.

(As Mark Herring) Raising Funds with Friends Groups: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians, Neal-Schuman (New York, NY), 2004.

Featured columnist, "Little Red Herrings," Against the Grain, 2003–. Contributor to books, including The How-to-Do-It Manual for Small Libraries, edited by William Katz, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1988; Community College Reference Services, edited by William Katz, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1992; and Doing the Work of Reference: Practical Tips for Excelling As a Reference Librarian. Contributor of articles, poetry, short stories, and reviews to periodicals, including Chronicle of Higher Education, American Libraries, Library Journal, College and Research Libraries News, Reference Librarian, Family in America, Policy Review, Presbyterian Journal, and Libraries and Culture. Special issue editor, Against the Grain, 2003. Some writings appear under pseudonym Clarke Ransom.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Genetic Engineering, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), completion expected c. 2006; Discipline of Delusion, a novel; research on library issues and First Amendment rights.

SIDELIGHTS: Mark Youngblood Herring told CA: "The best advice I ever got about writing came from my late father. He told me once that a writer needs only two things: an assignment and a deadline. When he first told me this, I dismissed it as advice from his journalistic background that held no real value for me. Then I thought about it and realized that any writer, regardless of what is being written, must have these two things or forever live in a writer's miasma, that mystical place where things somehow get magically written.

"I write both fiction and nonfiction, but have had far more success with the latter than the former. Mark Twain said that a writer should write for three years, and if his writing is not paying him by then, do something else. My very first payment as a writer came at the age of ten, when I won a third-place contest writing an essay about my savings account. For all I know there were only three entries. But seeing my name in print and a very small check made an indelible impression that I have not been able to shake since.

"I am influenced by Dostoyevsky and Flannery O'Connor more than any other writers, but it shows less than I would like. Because I read every day, I am also influenced by certain felicities of style and eloquence (again with less success than I wish)."