About Philip

Philip Shackelford is Executive Director of the Lee-Itawamba Library System, a two-county public library system headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi. Prior to joining the team in Tupelo, Philip spent seven years as Library Director at South Arkansas College. While in Arkansas he also served as President of the Arkansas Library Association (ArLA), Associate Editor for the Arkansas Libraries journal, Secretary of ARKLink (a statewide consortium of academic libraries), and chaired a number of groups within the ArLA ecosystem, including the Two-Year Colleges Round Table, the Awards Committee, the Conference Committee, and the Pandemic Response Committee. Philip was selected for the American Library Association Emerging Leaders Class of 2019, and has also served as a pre-publication book reviewer for Library Journal.

Philip is also a military historian. His book, Rise of the Mavericks: The U.S. Air Force Security Service and the Cold War (Naval Institute Press, 2023) explores the emergence of a unique communications intelligence organization within the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War. Described as a “vital contribution,” Rise of the Mavericks has attracted critical acclaim that praised its “grounded, human perspective,” thorough research, and potential to shape future scholarship. Looking forward, Philip is interested in strategy, technology, intelligence, national security, and organizational culture, and the ways in which these areas interact—both within the U.S. defense establishment and the American public. Philip has delivered guest lectures at both the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Bringing these multifaceted elements of his background together, Philip is also the creator and host of The Modern Scholar Podcast, featuring weekly conversations with scholars, librarians, and community leaders who are not only performing cutting edge work, but share the same passion to educate, encourage, and empower those around them. Philip uses the show as a platform to examine the inside worlds of libraries and academia, highlighting both the pitfalls and the strategies others can use to navigate this professional landscape as modern scholars.

Philip is passionate about community engagement. In Arkansas he served on the Advisory Committee for the Farmer’s Market at Murphy Arts District, as a member of the planning team for the Union County Violence Intervention Plan (VIP) at the SHARE Foundation, and as Founding Chair of the South Arkansas Arts Coalition. Currently he serves on the Tupelo Homeless Task Force, in conjunction with his role at the Lee-Itawamba Library System, and continues to explore opportunities to promote community collaboration and growth.

Philip holds a Master’s degree in History (MA) and a Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS), both from Kent State University.

“Unofficial” Bio