General information

Introducing the New LITA Blog Writers

You’ll still be able to find LITA announcements and events posted on the blog, but now there will also be original content by LITA members representing a variety of perspectives, from library students to  public, academic, and special librarians.

The LITA blog also welcomes guest posts. To submit an idea for consideration, please email me at briannahmarshall(at)gmail(dot)com with a bio, brief summary of your post topic, and link to a writing sample if possible.

Without further ado, here are the writers whose posts you’ll be reading in the coming months.

Bryan J. Brown

Bryan received his BS in English and Philosophy from the University of Southern Indiana, and is a recent graduate from Indiana University’s Department of Information and Library Science where he focused on digital libraries and metadata. After graduation, Bryan transplanted to Tallahassee, FL to be a developer at Florida State University Libraries’ Technology and Digital Scholarship Department. His professional interests include Open Source software in libraries and archives, digital preservation and the semantic web. For more information, check out bryjbrown.github.io.

Lindsay Cronk

Lindsay – librarian, blogger, and adventurer – graduated with her MLIS from Valdosta State is 2012 and has been advocating and serving libraries through her work at LYRASIS ever since. Her interests include open source development models, tools for library marketing and outreach, student research behavior, and later career David Bowie. You can catch her online at her blog or tweeting @linds_bot.

Brittney Farley

Brittney is in her final year as an MSLIS student at the Florida State University’s iSchool. Her specializations include information management/technology and human-computer interaction. She received her BA in History from the University of Florida. She is currently a library assistant in the City of Boca Raton Public Library’s Instructional Services department. Brittney blends her background, as help desk assistant and researcher, to better serve patrons of varying technical understanding.

Lauren Hays

Lauren is the instructional and research librarian at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS. Along with her master’s in library science, she recently completed her second master’s degree in educational technology and also received a graduate certificate in online teaching and learning.  Her professional interests include information literacy, adult learners, online learning, technology, connected learning, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.   In her spare time, she can be found drinking coffee, reading, or planning her next trip.  Follow her on Twitter @Lib_Lauren.

John Klima

John is the Assistant Director of the Waukesha Public Library where one of his many hats is maintaining, upgrading, and innovating technology within the library. Klima wrote a number of articles on steampunk for Library Journal. From 2001 to 2013 he edited the Hugo-Award winning magazine Electric Velocipede. Klima has also edited several anthologies including Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories, and Happily Ever After. He co-edited the anthology Glitter & Mayhem with Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.

Brianna Marshall

Brianna is Digital Curation Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she manages the institutional repository and develops campuswide services for research data management and curation. She received her Master of Information Science and Master of Library Science from Indiana University’s School of Informatics and Computing in May 2014. From 2012-2014 she was a writer and managing editor for the library student-run blog Hack Library School. Now she is excited to be the new LITA blog editor. She tweets on occasion at @notsosternlib and keeps a blog, too.

Leanne Mobley

Leanne recently earned her MLS from Indiana University and currently works as the Digital Literacy Librarian for the Martin County Library System. Her background is in media production and she is passionate about using technology to bring ideas to life. She is an ardent library lover and still carries her very first library card in her wallet. Find her on Twitter @hey_library.

Leanne Olson

Leanne is a Metadata Management Librarian at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada.  Her main library-related areas of interest include metadata and cataloguing, digital libraries, authority control, teaching, and library history.  She’s also a playwright and lover of the outdoors.  Much of her blogging will be done from her backyard, possibly under five feet of snow.

Michael Rodriguez

Michael is the newly minted eLearning Librarian at Hodges University in southwest Florida, with the faculty rank of Assistant Professor. He graduated in August 2014 with his MLIS from Florida State University and has a background in history and public librarianship. Michael is also a technologist, interested in software customization, distance education, and free web tools and apps. When not doing cool stuff at work, he kayaks among the many mangrove islands off the Florida coast. He tweets @topshelver and blogs at Shelver’s Cove.

Erik Sandall

Erik is Electronic Services Librarian and Webmaster at Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco, Calif. His professional interests are in integrated library systems, content management systems, online databases, ebooks, and web design and development. When he’s not working on these things, Erik is probably playing soccer or practicing how to open a wine bottle without breaking the cork.

Leo Stezano

Leo is a Project Manager at the Avery Architecture and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University; this is his first library job since receiving his MLIS from Syracuse University in 2011. Previously he spent many years in the private sector, working in Project and Product Management and Business Analysis for a variety of companies. His professional interests include digital librarianship, process optimization, and innovative technical project philosophies. He also enjoys playing soccer and raising two toddlers. You can follow Leo at http://leosmlisblog.wordpress.com/ and on Twitter at @LeoStezano.

Grace Thomas

Grace is a first year grad student working toward a dual-degree MLIS at Indiana University. With a background in English, Computer Science, and Digital Humanities from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she is especially interested in digital libraries and archives, and digital preservation. Currently, she works as a Graduate Assistant with associate professors John Walsh and Noriko Hara in the IU School of Informatics and Computing, and on the Petrarchive Digital Archive Project. Grace spends the rest of her time in swimming pools, watching any and all dance performances, and exploring Bloomington by bicycle, occasionally tweeting about all of the above at @gracehthom.

One comment

  1. Rachel Vacek

    This is awesome. I’m thrilled to see such a diverse bunch of passionate library folks writing for the LITA blog and engaging members in new and exciting ways. This is very exciting and I know LITA members and beyond will find the articles interesting, practical, inspiring, and thoughtful.

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