Immersion Program Faculty

Char Booth
Instruction Services Manager and E-Learning Librarian
Claremont Colleges

Char Booth explores the integration of education, research, technology, and design in library services, and focuses on the Immersion curricular areas of information literacy, teaching/pedagogy, assessment and learning theory. She is Instruction Services Manager and E-Learning Librarian at the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, CA, and between 2008 and 2011 was E-Learning Librarian at UC Berkeley. A 2007 ALA Emerging Leader and 2008 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, Char blogs at info-mational and tweets @charbooth, and her recent publications include Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators (ALA Editions, 2011), Hope, Hype, and VoIP: Riding the Library Technology Cycle (ALA TechSource, 2010), and Informing Innovation: Tracking Student Interest in Emerging Library Technologies (ACRL Publications, 2009). She presents frequently on pedagogy and the USER Method (Understand, Structure, Engage, Reflect), an instructional design approach she developed for library educators (described here in American Libraries and detailed in Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning). Char consults on user research, accessible design, and teaching effectiveness, and 2010 and 2011 has been active in the ACRL IT Task Force and the ALA Presidential Task Force on Equitable Access to Electronic Information (EQUACC). She completed a Master's of Educational Technology at Ohio University in 2008, a MSIS at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information in 2005, and a B.A. in History at Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 2001. Char is a 2007 alumna of the Immersion Teacher Track.

Craig Gibson
Associate Director for Research and Education
The Ohio State University

Craig Gibson is Associate Director for Research and Education at The Ohio State University Libraries. He is responsible for the teaching, research, outreach and engagement, and subject liaison programs and services in The Ohio State Libraries, and serves as liaison to the five regional OSU campus libraries. From 1996 through 2011, he was Associate University Librarian for Research, Instructional and Outreach Services in the Libraries at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, where he was responsible for the following public services across four campus libraries: the Libraries’ Liaison Program, marketing and outreach, reference and instruction, government documents, maps, and GIS, interlibrary loan and document delivery, and access services. At George Mason, he collaborated with the University’s Center for Teaching Excellence on pedagogical workshops for faculty and on continuing education for Librarians, and with the Office of Institutional Assessment to benchmark assessments of technology skills, and contributed to the University’s QEP (Quality Enhancment Plan) initiative focused on transforming undergraduate education—an initiative entitled “Fostering a Culture of Student Scholarship.” Other positions held include those at Washington State University (1988-1996), Lewis-Clark State College (1986-88), and the University of Texas at Arlington (1985-86). He has taught as adjunct faculty in the library science program at The Catholic University of America, and has given numerous presentations and workshops on critical thinking and research skills, staff development, and the changing role of the liaison librarian; written articles on critical thinking, assessment, distance learning; and consulted on information literacy program development and assessment of information literacy. His professional activities include memberships in various ACRL Instruction Section committees, and serving as Member-at-Large for the Section, 1995-98. In 1999, he was selected as a member of the Instruction Section's "Think Tank", for which he co-authored a working paper on assessment of information literacy skills. In 2000, he worked with the ACRL Task Force on Information Literacy Competencies to write the final draft of the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, and in 2005 served as reviewer of discipline-specific applications of those Standards for two professional library associations. From 1997-2006, he was an ACRL representative on, and recorder for, the National Forum on Information Literacy. He was a member of the ACRL Baltimore Conference Planning Committee in 2006-07, and since 2008, has been the Chair of the ACRL Publications in Librarianship Editorial Board. He also edited the ACRL monograph, Student Engagement and Information Literacy (2006).

Debra Gilchrist, PhD
Dean of Libraries and Institutional Effectiveness
Pierce College

Debra Gilchrist is Dean of Libraries and Institutional Effectiveness for Pierce College, a community college in Lakewood, Washington. She is responsible for leadership and management of the library, media services, assessment, and institutional research for a multi-campus district. Prior to her position at Pierce, she was Instruction Librarian at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Debra has given presentations and published in the areas of library instruction, outcomes assessment, the teaching library mission, and faculty/librarian collaboration. She is currently facilitating the implementation of an information competency requirement that is based on student outcomes and focused on measuring library effectiveness based on student learning outcomes. Her professional activities include ALA Councilor (1994-2001), Chair of the ACRL Community and Junior College Library Section Instruction Section Committee (1995-1997), SRRT Action Council (1991-1994) as well as other appointments to ALA, local, and regional committees. She received the Miriam Dudley Award in 2007 and was co-recipient in 1997 of the ACRL Instruction Section Innovation in Instruction Award. Debra holds a B.S. in Recreation/Social Service from California State University, Northridge (1977), her M.L.S. from the University of Denver (1983), an M.S. in Geography from South Dakota State University (1987), and a PhD from Oregon State University in Higher Education Administration and Leadership (2007).

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe
Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, and Associate Professor of Library Administration
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, and Associate Professor of Library Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Undergraduate Library is widely-known for its use of social networking and other innovative programs to reach out and connect with students. Lisa has worked to foster a culture of exploration and experimentation in "The Undergrad" as well as through her leadership of the Library's User Education Committee. As Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, Lisa oversees information literacy programs emanating from over 35 campus libraries serving more than 15,000 students/year. Lisa is internationally sought after as a conference speaker and is widely published in the field of information literacy. She has master's degrees in educational psychology and library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Wendy Holliday
Coordinator of Library Instruction
Utah State University

Wendy Holliday is Coordinator of Library Instruction at Utah State University, where she has worked since 2002. She is responsible for program planning and assessment for an active course-integrated library instruction program that reaches nearly 10,000 students each year. Her research focuses on student experiences of information literacy and learning, collaboration with faculty, and higher education reform. Her most recent work has been influenced by the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), with the goal of applying rigorous analysis to classroom learning “problems” in order to improve practice. Prior to becoming a librarian, she was the Hopi Tribal Archivist and a historian. She has more than 20 years of experience teaching both history and information literacy at the college level. She holds an MLS from the University of Illinois and a PhD in history from New York University.

Mary C. MacDonald
Head of Instructional Services and Information Literacy Librarian
University of Rhode Island

Mary MacDonald is professor and Head of Instructional Services and Information Literacy Librarian at the University Libraries, University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island. In 1999 she co-authored the Plan for Information Literacy at the University of Rhode Island and co-designed the Library's 3 - credit information literacy course, LIB120: Introduction to Information Literacy and a 1-credit course, LIB140: Special Topics in Information Literacy. Mary has recently co-designed LIB 220: Issues of the Information Age, (3 credits), which she also teaches. At URI, she serves on the University-wide Curriculum Affairs Committee and the Learning Outcomes Oversight Committee. Mary is an adjunct faculty at the URI-GSLIS teaching Reference and Information Services and was awarded the URI GSLIS Alumna of the Year award for 2007. She presents regionally and nationally on the topic of creating information literacy plans and programs. Mary has served on several ACRL Instruction Section committees including a term on the Executive Committee. She was co-recipient in 2006 of the ACRL Instruction Section Innovation in Instruction Award. She is active in ACRL New England, and in the past served as Chair of the New England Library Instruction Interest Group (NELIG). She is co-author of Teaching Information Literacy: 50 Practical Standards Based Exercises (ALA Editions 2010) and of Creating a Comprehensive Information Literacy Plan (Neal-Schuman 2005). Mary earned a B.A. in Communication Studies ('82) and an M.L.I.S. ('96) from the University of Rhode Island.

Michelle Millet
Head of Research Services
University of Texas at San Antonio

Michelle S. Millet currently serves as the Head of Research Services at the University of Texas at San Antonio. There she leads a department of ten, soon to be eleven professional librarians, who are working to build an information literacy program across the campus, emphasizing upper division and graduate level coursework. In her capacity as the department head, she also closely collaborates with the Teaching and Learning Center, a unit that reports to the Library Dean. In her previous position at Trinity University, a liberal arts institution, Michelle spearheaded the development of a five-year campus plan to integrate information literacy across the curriculum as part of an accreditation opportunity called the Quality Enhancement Plan. Previously Michelle also worked at The University of Montana in Missoula, working closely with faculty across the social sciences and those involved in online teaching in distance education programs. Prior to being a librarian, Michelle taught in a History graduate program, bringing a classroom teaching experience to her career and the Immersion program. She’s published and presented on faculty collaboration, information literacy assessment and program development. She is also active in the Instruction Section of ACRL, having chaired several different section committees. Michelle has an M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida, and an MA and a BA in History from Florida Atlantic University.

Karen Nicholson, M.A., M.L.I.S.
Information Literacy and Staff Development Librarian
McMaster University

Karen Nicholson is Information Literacy and Staff Development Librarian at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She works to improve information literacy outcomes, programs and services by working collaboratively with librarians and campus partners. She has led a number of strategic initiatives, including articulating the Library’s vision for 21st century information literacy programs and services and implementing a blended learning model for information literacy instruction. She played a lead role in the Library’s successful transition to a blended service model by creating, designing, implementing and evaluating an eight-month training program for library paraprofessionals. Karen has expertise in the areas of quality assurance in higher education and graduate attributes. She facilitated the implementation of Ontario's new Quality Assurance Framework for publicly funded universities during an eleven-month secondment to the Council of Ontario Universities in 2010. She also worked as Embedded Teaching and Learning Librarian at the Centre for Leadership in Learning at McMaster in 2009, during which time she successfully launched communities of practice for McMaster instructors, and developed two undergraduate courses in digital media literacy. Prior to joining McMaster, Karen was Information Literacy Coordinator at McGill University in Montreal from 2002-2007. She received her M.L.I.S. in 2001 from McGill University, and holds an M.A., also from McGill. She completed Ph.D. coursework at the Université de Montréal and Josaï International University in Japan. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Concordia University in Montreal, and at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario.

Megan Oakleaf
Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies
Syracuse University

Megan Oakleaf is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY.  She is the professor of record for a core course entitled “Planning, Marketing, and Assessing Library Services” and also teaches “Information Resources: Users and Services.”  Megan arrived at iSchool at Syracuse after completing her dissertation entitled, “Assessing Information Literacy Skills: A Rubric Approach,” at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  While at UNC, Megan designed and taught 11 semesters of a for-credit information literacy course called “Retrieving and Analyzing Information."  Previously, Megan was the Librarian for Instruction and Undergraduate Research at North Carolina State University.  In this role, she designed, implemented, coordinated, and assessed the library instruction program.  She trained fellow librarians in instructional theory and methods; spearheaded development of the LOBO tutorial, a modular information literacy tutorial for first-year students and winner of the ALA/Information Today “Library of the Future” Award; served on the Committee on Undergraduate Education; and provided library instruction to the First Year Writing Program, First Year College, Honors Program, and Department of Communication.  Megan has presented on topics including information literacy, outcomes based assessment, evidence based decision making, user education, information services, and digital librarianship at numerous conferences, including ACRL National Conferences, the Library Assessment Conference, the IUPUI Assessment Institute, the NCSU Undergraduate Assessment Symposium, the Texas A&M Assessment Conference, and EDUCAUSE.  Recently, Megan won “Best Paper” at the International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference.  Megan earned her MLS from Kent State University and also holds a BA in English and Spanish and a BS in English Education and Spanish Education from Miami University.  Prior to a career in librarianship, Megan taught language arts and advanced composition in public secondary schools, grades 8-12.

Tiffini Travis
Director of Information Literacy and Outreach Services
California State University, Long Beach

Tiffini Travis is the Director of Information Literacy and Outreach Services at CSU Long Beach. In this role she has developed a comprehensive strategic plan for library instruction and is responsible for fostering campus-wide information literacy initiatives. She was recently awarded two CSU Information Competence grants. The first is a two-year grant to fully integrate information literacy outcomes into targeted general education (foundation and capstone) courses in a strategic and sequenced pattern. The second will develop an online library component that incorporates case-based problem-based learning with calibrated peer review software.  Her research interests include information literacy assessment, student use of the Internet for research, and web site usability. She has published an article in College & Research Libraries entitled “Testing the Competition: Usability of Commercial Information Sites Compared to Academic Library Web Sites” and is currently editing a book with her colleague Elaina Norlin entitled, Business Plans for E-learning: International Case Studies (Scarecrow Press 2006). She has presented both nationally and  internationally on a variety of topics including evaluation of electronic services, information seeking behavior of undergraduates and using social networking software (MySpace, facebook) for outreach. Tiffini has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MLIS from UCLA.

Karen Williams
Associate University Librarian for Academic Programs
University of Minnesota

Karen Williams has served as the Associate University Librarian for Academic Programs at the University of Minnesota since 2004.  Over the last few years, Minnesota has added two new positions that support teaching and learning efforts, the Information Literacy Coordinator and an Instructional Designer.  An Information Literacy Collaborative was created with representation from all public service departments and is working to define a programmatic effort for a large, public research university.  Prior to her position at Minnesota, she held a number of leadership positions at the University of Arizona where she worked since 1983.  She was a founding member of the University of Arizona Learning Technology Partnership, a campus collaboration that fosters the meaningful integration of new learning technologies and information literacy into the curriculum.  Karen was a member of the UA Library's Education Project Team which won the the 1999 ACRL Instruction Section Innovation in Instruction Award and she co-authored a chapter in the ACRL IS Think Tank III publication, "Information Literacy and the Technological Transformation of Higher Education". She also contributed a chapter on leadership to the 2008 edition of the Information Literacy Instruction Handbook.  Karen has served on numerous ACRL committees, was Chair of the Instruction Section and recently finished a term as a Member-at-Large of the ACRL Board.  Karen holds a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from the University of Michigan-Flint, and an A.M.L.S. from the University of Michigan.

Beth S. Woodard
Central Information Services Librarian
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Beth Woodard has served as a reference librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1983. Since 2002, she has also served as the library-wide Coordinator for Staff Development and Training, providing a wide variety of instructional opportunities for undergraduate student workers, graduate assistants, staff members, academic professionals and library faculty.  These range from preparing an online introduction to the libraries for use by over 400 undergraduate student workers using course-management software, to providing a week-long face-to-face orientation to the library’s 80 graduate assistants, and from providing an intensive institute for training supervisors to providing more customized orientation for new library faculty on research expectations at the institution. Previously she was a reference librarian at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. From 1993 to 1995, Beth team-taught a course in library use instruction in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. In 1999, she joined the faculty for the Immersion program.  From 2007-2008, she taught the ACRL online course on Teaching Portfolios with Joan Ruelle and Judith Arnold.  She has served as a consultant for improving instruction programs and teaching skills for librarians at several universities in the Midwest, ranging from one-day sessions to five days, and has been asked to present sessions internationally as well. She has served on numerous ALA committees within RUSA (including editor of the RUSA Update and director-at-large) and the ACRL Instruction Section (including secretary and chair), contributing to the Model Statement of Objectives (1984-1987), the Guidelines for Bibliographic Instruction (1994-96), and its review (2008-2009),  and the Assessment of Information Environment (2004-2006).  She received the  RUSA Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award in 1998 and the ACRL Instruction Section Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award in 2010. She co-edited the Information Literacy column in RUSQ with Lori Arp from 2002-2009, and has served on the editorial boards of Research Strategies (2001-2006), Communications in Information Literacy (2007-2009) and Practical Academic Librarianship (2010). She has published both on reference and instruction topics.  Beth holds a B.A. in English from Illinois Wesleyan University, and an M.S. in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Anne E. Zald
Head, Instruction Dept.
University Libraries
University of Nevada Las Vegas

Anne E. Zald is the Head, Instruction Department, University Libraries at the University of Nevada Las Vegas where efforts to embed information literacy learning across the curriculum are her primary responsibility.  Previously Anne held several positions at the University of Washington Libraries including Documents Reference Librarian, UWired Librarian, Geography Librarian and Head of the Map Collection & Cartographic Information Services.   While at the UW Anne served as a lecturer for the Information School, teaching courses for information problem solving courses for undergraduates and "Sources of Information in the Social Sciences" for the MLIS program.  Anne was co-recipient of the 1995 ACRL Instruction Section Innovation in Instruction Award and contributed to ACRL IS Think Tank III, "Information Literacy and the Technological Transformation of Higher Education". She recently co-authored a chapter in the 2008 edition of the Information Literacy Instruction Handbook.  Anne earned a B.A. in History from Oberlin College and an A.M.L.S. from the University of Michigan and worked as Reference/Documents Librarian at both Wayne State University and Oberlin College. Anne joined the Institute faculty in June 1999.