FIMS Profile

A little bit about me.

In terms of education, I have an Honours BA (Anthropology and History – double major) from the University of Windsor and did my graduate work (Master in Library Science) here at Western. While there, I fell in love with the challenges and potential of technology and wondered if I could do both, be a librarian and work with technology.

It turns out I could. I have been a librarian and technologist at FIMS and pre-merger, the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at UWO for the last 38 years.

I started my library career in 1980, when I was hired by SLIS, as the Systems Librarian, to develop and manage the School’s (60,000 volume) library’s in house Integrated library systems as well as their many custom databases. Additionally the role was responsible for providing technology to students, staff and faculty and the teaching of online searching to students in the library science program.

With the creation of FIMS in the 90s and move to Middlesex College, my focus became much wider, providing technology/lab infrastructure, access services and support to all FIMS programs as the Manager of FIMS Computing Services. This included working with Journalism faculty on multiple instances of the New Media course , which allowed me to more fully understand the needs and processes of Journalism education. More recently, in addition to my regular duties and managing my team of Charlotte, Becky and Matt, I have been extensively involved in space planning for FIMS new home in the FIMS/Nursing building and our move to it.

At Western, I currently hold a continuing appointment and the rank of associate librarian. During my career, I have worked extensively with a variety of libraries and librarians throughout Canada and abroad. I am an associate member of  the Association of Caribbean, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL).

I try to keep involved and abreast of in the library profession as much as possible. This includes presenting papers and workshops at library conferences, including last year’s theme keynote presentation entitled “Making Commons Work: How to translate ideas into successful physical spaces” at the 2013 ACURIL conference - Knowledge Territories: Exploring Commons Environments for Learning, Research, Creativity and Productivity in Libraries, Archives and Museums in the Caribbean, San Juan Puerto Rico, June 9-14,2013.

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