As Librarian and Research & Assessment Analyst at Syracuse University Library, I bring both library and social science credentials to bear on the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data towards understanding changing user needs for library resources, services and facilities. At Syracuse University, I also headed Digital & Electronic Resource Management Services and served in a similar role, as Electronic Resources Coordinator, at New Mexico State University Library. I was the Systems Librarian and Head of Technical Services at the Thomas Branigan Public Library (Las Cruces, New Mexico) and a research specialist at the Encyclopaedia Britannica. I earned my MLIS from Clark Atlanta University, an M.A. in social sciences from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. My research interests include the use of anthropological methods in understanding the culture of libraries and their users, information seeking behavior and the usability of web interfaces, and organizing data for library assessment.
Articles
Librarians Do It Differently: Comparative Usability Testing with Students and Library Staff, Proceedings of the 2010 Library Assessment Conference: Building Effective, Sustainable, Practical Assessment (2010)
Our experience as librarians suggests that library staff search and locate library resources differently than...
Patterns of Culture: Re-aligning Library Culture with User Needs, Proceedings of the 2008 Library Assessment Conference: Building Effective, Sustainable, Practical Assessment (2008)
Radical changes in technology and information access have given rise to new academic disciplinary connections,...
On the Fly BI: Reaching and Teaching from the Reference Desk (with Nancy B. Turner and Susan E. Beck), The Reference Librarian (2001)
Today’s reference librarians are constantly faced with the challenge of orienting users to the complex,...
Presentations
The Brief Wondrous Life of the Syracuse Kindle (with Melinda Dermody, Suzanne Preate, and Scott Warren), Library Publications (2010)
In the fall 2009 semester, the Syracuse University Library launched a pilot program to test...