My career has spanned almost 40 years and my research interests have changed with the changing information landscape. My research has and continues to be of a practical nature, exploring ideas that can be applied to the daily work. I began my career as an agricultural information specialist and have maintained that interest throughout my career. Early in my career I supported the preservation of the US land grant documents and worked closely with the U.S. National Agricultural Library on various initiatives. As personal computing became affordable I began experimenting with various pieces of equipment and software in the library environment and published software reviews and how to articles.
In the late 1980’s early 1990’s my focused shifted to library development in the developing world and I became active in the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD). My area of interest moved into resource sharing and making resources affordable to the countries in the south and library development in general. This is an interest that continues to this day.
My presentations have generally reflected my interest in both technology and in library development. Over the years I have been an invited speaker to areas outside of the normal library realm but always in the context of agriculture. Many of these presentations dealt with the rise of the internet and how to integrate it into everyday life
My current research interest continues to be in information access and management in developing countries. I am now looking at the technology being used and the impact of the open access initiative on lessening the digital divide between the countries in the north and the countries in the south.