Monika Rhue

Monika Rhue is currently serving as the Director of the James B. Duke Memorial Library, Johnson C. Smith University. She has an extensive background in project management. Rhue work experiences include library management, grant writing, teaching basic archival instruction, serving as an archival consultant, conducting oral histories, museum curation, and managing information literacy training.

Rhue managed JCSU’s first digitization project in 2003, which allowed the University to share its early records in a digital format. This project opened the way for several records to be digitized from the Inez Moore Parker archives at JCSU. She managed the archives first digital project to transfer instantaneous discs into a digital format, “Save the Music: The History of Biddleville Quintet,” and launched Digital Smith, the University’s searchable archives with 3,000+ primary resources. She was instrumental in accessioning the James Gibson Peeler collection with over 100,000 photographs and negatives that document the history and culture of Charlotte’s African American population. Mr. Peeler’s work as a photographer in Charlotte spanned almost half a century, from 1959-2003.

Rhue is serving on the planning advisory team for 2018 Radcliffe Workshop on Technology and Archival Processing. She has served as an archival consultant for the State Archives of North Carolina Traveling Archivist Program. Rhue is the 2017-2018 Board Chair for HBCU Library Alliance.

Rhue is the author of Organizing and Preserving Family and Religious Records: A Step-by-Step Guide, and Dress the African Way: An Activity Book for the Family and contributing writer to ACRL publication, Creating Leaders: An Examination of Academic and Research Library Leadership Institutes.

Rhue current project involves partnering with Arts and Science Council Culture Blocks to capture and preserve the rich heritage of the West Corridor neighborhoods. The project involves conducting community preservation workshops, oral histories, conceptualizing the content for West Corridor Neighborhood Heritage Collection website, and traveling exhibit.