Who We Are

ACRLog Coordinators

Blog Team Coordinator: Jen Jarson has been the Head Librarian at the Penn State University, Lehigh Valley campus since 2017 and the Interim Head Librarian at the Penn State University, Schuylkill campus since 2024. Previously, she worked at Muhlenberg College as the Information Literacy and Assessment Librarian, Social Sciences Subject Specialist, and Head of Public Outreach and Information Literacy Services. Her research interests include information literacy teaching and learning, undergraduate research, and peer-to-peer learning. Contact Jen at jmj12 [at] psu [dot] edu.

First Year Academic Librarian Experience Coordinator: Justin Fuhr is a Science librarian at the University of Manitoba. His professional interests include reflective practice, librarian philosophies, organizational culture and community, and support for early-career librarians such as mentorship. His current research assesses author contribution statements in library & information science scholarship. Contact Justin at justin.fuhr [at] umanitoba [dot] ca.

Guest Post Coordinator: Maura Smale is Chief Librarian at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. A longtime resident of the CUNYverse, she previously worked as Coordinator of Library Instruction then Chief Librarian at New York City College of Technology. Her professional background includes a transition from archaeology to academic librarianship, with a sideline in online media and publishing. Her research interests include undergraduate academic culture, game-based learning, open access publishing, critical librarianship, and instructional technology. Contact Maura at msmale [at] gc [dot] cuny [dot] edu.

Marketing and Strategy Coordinator: Emily Zerrenner is a Health and Human Services Librarian at Salisbury University in Maryland. She is the liaison to subjects like Public Health, Nursing, Social Work, and Exercise Science. She has a lot of interests – that’s why she’s a librarian – but some that she has been researching lately include physical data visualization, data humanism, GenAI, reference services, and the role of library student workers. Contact Emily at egzerrenner [at] salisbury [dot] edu.

ACRLog Contributors

Eleanor Ball is a Social Sciences Librarian and Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Northern Iowa. Previously, she served as a Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress. She is an early-career librarian interested in critical approaches to generative AI, student literacy, and privacy.

Hailley Fargo is the Associate Dean in Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University. She is also a co-founder of The Librarian Parlor, another blog for learning and sharing experiences around LIS research. Hailley’s research interests include student engagement in higher education, peer-to-peer services in the library, undergraduate research, information and digital literacy, and reference services.

Violet Fox is a Metadata Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the creator of the Cataloging Lab, a wiki designed to encourage collaboration in library metadata. Violet is passionate about critical cataloging, zine librarianship, and promoting the mental health of library workers.

Zoë McLaughlin is the South and Southeast Asia librarian at Michigan State University. Besides collection and liaison work, she also catalogs, mainly in South and Southeast Asian languages, and works on physical and digital accessibility in libraries. When she can, she translates from Indonesian and searches for zines and other interesting publications from South and Southeast Asia.

Caelin Ross is the Performing Arts Librarian at Arizona State University Library. She earned her Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With fifteen years of experience in academic libraries and non-profit organizations, Caelin’s interests include collection management, community engagement, and exploring emotional labor, grief work, and performance in libraries and archives. As the curator for the Theatre for Youth and Community Collection, her projects aim to create meaningful ways for students to engage with performing arts resources while supporting the documentation of historically marginalized perspectives.

Lisa Shin is a Research Librarian for the Health, Medical Sciences, and STEM subjects at the University of Ottawa. She is an early-career librarian interested in health librarianship, open science, and audiovisual materials in libraries.

Sam Winemiller is the Open Knowledge & Research Impact Librarian at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Prior to librarianship, Sam received a Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Sport Studies and worked for the nonprofit advocacy organization Athlete Ally as a Senior Research Associate. These experiences inform current professional and scholarly interests in: information for public good; the open knowledge movement in scholarly communication; community-engaged scholarship; and research assessment reform. Contact Sam at winemillers [at] uncw [dot] edu.

ACRLog Alumni

Veronica Arellano-Douglas is the Instruction Coordinator at the University of Houston Libraries. She is the co-creator of Librarian Design Share, a blog and online repository of creative commons licensed library-related design. Her research interests include critical librarianship, information literacy, and pedagogy; graphic design and visual communication in libraries; and diversity, equity, and inclusion in LIS.

Quetzalli Barrientos is a resident librarian at American University. She does reference and instruction, but works on projects with other departments in the library. Her research interests include first year success, student retention, and improving reference services. As a resident librarian, she is excited about exploring the different parts of librarianship and learning as much as she can.

Steven Bell is the Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at Temple University in Philadelphia. He maintains a Web site and Weblog, Steven Bell’s Keeping Up Web Site and The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, that promote current awareness skills and resources. Steven is a co-founder of the Blended Librarian’s Online Learning Community on the Learning Times Network. He also contributes to the blog Designing Better Libraries. For additional information about Steven J. Bell or to find links to the various Web sites he publishes and maintains, point your browser to http://stevenbell.info

Laura Braunstein is the English Language and Literature Librarian at Dartmouth College’s Baker-Berry Library. She has a doctorate in English from Northwestern University, where she taught writing and literature classes. She has worked as an index editor for the MLA International Bibliography, and serves as a consultant for the Schulz Library at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Her research interests include collaborative learning, using archival materials in teaching, and the impact of the digital humanities on teaching and learning. She coproduced the ACRL Literatures in English Section promotional video, “Literature Librarians and Faculty: Partnering for Academic Success.”

Dylan Burns is the Arts and Humanities Librarian at the University of Washington. He serves as a liaison to the Cinema and Media Studies Program and the School of Music. His research centers around emotions and librarianship, digital humanities, scholarly communications, open access, and streaming media in libraries.

Sarah Crissinger is an Information Literacy Librarian at Davidson College. As a new professional, recent LIS grad, and a transplant to the south, Sarah is constantly exploring and reflecting on many new experiences. Her research interests include service learning, OER, altmetrics, and improving services for first-generation and minority students. Sarah’s views don’t reflect her employer.

Jade E. Davis is Director of Educational Technology & Learning Management at the University of Pennsylvania Library. She leads a team committed to strategic technological innovation in library spaces, student engagement, play, teaching, research, and learning support. She was previously the inaugural Director of Digital Project Management and Columbia University Libraries. She has a PhD in Communication studies with a focus in media, technology and culture from UNC Chapel Hill. Her research looks at new modes of knowledge production, how digital information complicates information literacy, the ethics of digital knowledge production, digital media & learning, and empathy culture.  Prior to earning her PhD she worked in digital project management and production, a digital humanities lab, and HASTAC.

Barbara Fister is an academic librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, specializing in instruction. Her research interests include undergraduate research processes and the intersection of their reading, writing, and research practices. More recently, she has been investigating popular literacy as practiced in online communities, the rhetorical uses of anxiety in the framing of social issues, and the role research plays in creative work, as well as the role of the library in nurturing the social aspects of learning. She is the author of a book on third world women’s literatures, contributes to Bedford/St. Martin’s line of writing handbooks and, in her spare time, writes crime fiction.

Amy Fry is the Electronic Resources Coordinator at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and the instruction liaison for the Art Department. She has been a librarian at academic libraries in Missouri, Minnesota and California, working in reference, electronic resources management, and interlibrary loan. Her research interests include usage patterns, resource discovery and search behavior related to online resources, and she recently collaborated on a usability study and website redesign project at BGSU. She is also the chair of the ALA RUSA MARS Local Systems & Services Committee.

Emily Hampton Haynes is a Public Services Librarian at Carroll Community College of Maryland. Previously she served as Reference and Education Services librarian at Hood College. Her research interests include information literacy, pedagogy, outreach, and mindfulness in higher education.

Alex Harrington was the Access Services & Instruction Librarian at the Harrell Health Sciences Library at Penn State University, Hershey campus. Previously, she worked at the Joint-Use Library on the Virginia Beach campus of Tidewater Community College. Her research interests include promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in libraries of all kinds, effective use of library spaces, and open access.

Marc Meola is Information Literacy Librarian at the Community College of Philadelphia. His previous positions include Humanities Librarian at The College of New Jersey and Reference Librarian at Temple University.

Cynthia Mari Orozco is the Equity + OER Librarian at East Los Angeles College and PhD Candidate in Information Studies at UCLA. She is a former resident librarian at Loyola Marymount University and tenure-track librarian at California State University Long Beach before moving into community college librarianship. Her interests include OER and open pedagogy, information literacy, and scholarly communications in community colleges.

Angela Rathmel is the head of Acquisitions & Resource Sharing at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. She has worked in the ‘technical services’ side of academic libraries since 2000 and has a passion for exploring and building connections between public and technical services in libraries. Angela’s professional interests include libraries’ organizational response to change, particularly with respect to organizational communication, information seeking, and knowledge management. Her current research explores the reference interview, traditionally used by public services, and how it can be applied in technical services and electronic resources troubleshooting.

Stephanie Sendaula is an On-Call Reference Librarian at Mercer County Community College, West Windsor campus. Her professional background includes a transition from librarianship to publishing and back again, with a sideline in freelance writing. Her research interests include outreach, instruction, and information literacy.

Veronica A. Wells is the Information Services Coordinator/Music Librarian at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She is currently in her first professional position after earning an MLIS and Master of Arts in Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Veronica’s research interests include assessment of music information literacy instruction, incorporating emerging technologies into library instruction in a meaningful way, and best practices for educating faculty and students on Copyright Law and intellectual property.