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Institute for Information Literacy Immersion Faculty:

Craig Gibson
Associate University Librarian for Public Services
George Mason University
jgibson1@gmu.edu

Craig Gibson is Associate University Librarian for Public Services at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, where he is 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 for access services in the main library. He previously held a one-quarter time appointment as consultant in the University's Department of Instructional and Technology Support Services, whose purpose is in part to assist faculty and students integrate information technology resources into the curriculum. He has 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.  Previous positions include those at Washington State University (1988-1996), Lewis-Clark State College (1986-88), and the University of Texas at Arlington (1985-86). In 1997, he proposed and developed for Catholic University's graduate library science program its first-ever course in bibliographic instruction, since renamed “Information Literacy: Theory, Practice, Design, and Management,” and teaches this course regularly at Catholic University's extension site in northern Virginia. He has given numerous presentations and workshops on critical thinking and research skills, staff development, and the concept of the learning library, has written articles on critical thinking, assessment, distance learning, and has 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.  In 2002-03, he worked with the TLT Group to initiate the highly successful online workshops co-sponsored by ACRL and the TLT Group on such topics as information literacy assessment, collaboration, and best practices associated with successful instruction programs.  Since 1996, he has been a member of, and recorder for, the National Forum on Information Literacy. He is currently a member of the ACRL Baltimore (2007) National Conference Planning Committee.

Debra Gilchrist, PhD
Dean of Libraries and Institutional Effectiveness
Pierce College
dgilchrist@pierce.ctc.edu

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).

Randy Hensley
Student Learning Programs & Services
University of Hawaii at Manoa
rhensley@hawaii.edu

Randy Hensley is the Student Learning Programs & Services Librarian for the University of Hawaii at Manoa Libraries. Prior to this position he served as Public Services head where he was responsible for the seven departments that provide reference, instruction, and collection development services. Before that he was Head of Central Information Services at the same institution. He has worked collaboratively with library and teaching faculty to develop a three credit information literacy course, taught by librarians, as part of the learning communities programs for first-year undergraduates. Prior to joining the faculty at U.H., he was Assistant Head of the Undergraduate Library at the University of Washington (1982-94) where he taught the user education theory and practice course at the U.W. Graduate School of Library and Information Science. In collaboration with writing instructors at the University of Washington, he developed a model for teaching the evaluation of sources. He has held numerous elective and appointed positions in state and national library associations, including Chair, ACRL Instruction Section (1997-98) and President, Washington Library Association (1993-94). He has presented and published in the areas of learning styles, instructional design, teaching methods, learning communities, first year undergraduates instruction, and technology-based instruction. Randy holds a B.A. in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.L.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in Sociology from California State University, Chico, and a Training Specialist Certificate from the University of Washington. He is the 2002 recipient of the ACRL Instruction Section Miriam Dudley Instruction Library Award.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe
Head of the Undergraduate Library, Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, and Associate Professor of Library Administration
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ljanicke@uiuc.edu

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is Head of the Undergraduate Library, 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.

John Holmes
Coordinator, UWill Project
University of Washington
jwholmes@u.washington.edu

John Holmes has been Coordinator of the UWill Project at the University of Washington Libraries since April 2000. He is the principal investigator for the UWill, a grant-funded, Web-based information literacy project designed to make it easier for instructors to integrate information literacy objectives into their courses by providing templates for online tutorials that may be customized from the desktop and linked to course Web pages. John has been a reference librarian at the Odegaard Undergraduate Library at UW since 1996, has served as Coordinator of the user education program, and has been the instructor for both LIS 560: User Education and Informatics 220: Research Strategies in International Studies in the UW Information School. He was a curriculum developer and trainer in the Washington State Library’s Information Literacy Project, training library staff from across the state, in all library types and at all levels of service, to deliver information literacy instruction to their communities. His publications and presentations have focused on instruction for re-entry students, e-learning issues, and promoting collaborations among public, school, and academic libraries to provide coordinated community learning in information use across the lifespan. Before moving to Seattle, he trained undergraduates at Michigan State University to teach baseline information competencies to their peers at a high-volume information and referral desk.

Mary C. MacDonald
Head of Instructional Services and Information Literacy Librarian
University of Rhode Island
marymac@uri.edu

Mary MacDonald is associate professor and Head of Instructional Services and Information Literacy Librarian at the University Library, 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. At URI, she serves on the 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 has presented 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: 35 Practical Standards Based Exercises (ALA Editions 2003) 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.

 Megan Oakleaf
Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
moakleaf@syr.edu

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
ttravis@csulb.edu

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
kaw@umn.edu

Karen Williams is the Associate University Librarian for Academic Programs at the University of Minnesota.  Karen came to the University of Minnesota in November 2004.  Prior to her position at UM, she held a number of leadership positions at the University of Arizona where she worked since 1983.  Her first professional position there was as the administrator of the Library Skills Program, a workbook program integrated into all freshmen composition classes. She has been actively involved in information literacy efforts since that time and was one of the authors of RIO, a web-based tutorial in use across the UA campus. 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 elected to the ACRL Board of Directors in May 2005 and will assume her Board responsibilities this summer.  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
bswoodar@uiuc.edu

Beth Woodard has served as a reference librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1983. In the Reference Library, she coordinates graduate assistant training and continuing education, and participates in departmental instructional planning and development. Since 2002, she has also served as the library-wide Coordinator for Staff Development and Training. 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. 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. 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). Currently she serves on the ARBA Advisory Board, and chairs the IS Task Force for the Analysis of Instructional Environments. She currently co-edits the Information Literacy column for RUSQ, and serves on the editorial board of Research Strategies. 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.

Susan Barnes Whyte
Library Director
Linfield College
swhyte@linfield.edu

Susan Barnes Whyte is the library director at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. Susan has a bachelor’s from Earlham College and a Master’s in Librarianship from Emory University. Prior to library work, Susan was a practicing musician: a pianist and singer. Upon entering librarianship, Susan has held positions in cataloging, technical services, interlibrary loan, public services, reference and instruction. She has team-taught distance courses and classroom courses in research writing at Linfield. In spring 2004 she taught the first course on teaching and information literacy offered by Emporia State University’s School of Library and Information Management in Portland, Oregon. Susan was awarded the Edith P. Green Distinguished Award for her teaching at Linfield in 1995. She presents often at local, regional and national conferences and workshops. She is a member of the College Library Section of ACRL, the incoming chair of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, and a newly elected member of the OCLC Members Council. She managed the planning, design and construction of the new library at Linfield, which opened fall 2003. She is a graduate of the Frye Institute for Leadership (2002). Susan has a B.A. from Earlham College and a M.Ln. from Emory University.

Anne E. Zald
Head, Instruction Dept.
University Libraries
University of Nevada Las Vegas
anne.zald@unlv.edu

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.