Congratulations to FSU SLIS student Suzanne Marshall, who will have an article published in the Winter 2012 issue of the American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable journal, DttP: Documents to the People!  Suzanne’s article “A Hidden Story: American Indian Code Talkers” is based on a paper that she originally wrote in the Spring 2012 Government Information class taught by Dr. Lorri Mon of the School of Library and Information Studies, Florida’s iSchool at the Florida State University.

Suzanne used her skills in government documents research to trace the history of American Indian languages used as an unbreakable code for military communications in wartime.  She notes that American Indians who served as military “code talkers” often went unrecognized for their exceptional service since code talking was classified until 1968, and that even afterward few people knew about this service since “declassification did not mean dissemination.”

Suzanne is the fourth MLIS student to be published in the competitive annual student papers issue of DttP from Dr. Lorri Mon’s LIS 5661 Goverment Information class, joining three FSU SLIS students previously published in DttP: Nina Rose, Amy Coughenor, and Barbara Hughey.  Students from government documents classes at universities nationwide compete to be selected for publication in the special issue each year.  Suzanne graduates in December 2012, and is a Reference Librarian at West Florida Public Library.