FIMS Profile

Karen Nicholson

  • About Me

  • Publications

  • Research

  • Courses Taught

I hold a PhD from Western, and an MLIS and MA from McGill. My research focuses on information literacy, academic libraries, higher education, and space-time. As an academic librarian,  my areas of expertise are (critical) information literacy, assessment, and management. 

Hicks, A., Nicholson, K. P., & Seale, M. (2022). Make me think! Exploring library user experience through the lens of (critical) information literacy. The Library Quarterly, 92(2), 109–128. https://doi.org/10.1086/718597

Nicholson, K. P. (2022). Spatial thinking, gender and immaterial affective labour in the post-Fordist academic library. Journal of Documentation, 78(1), 96–112. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2020-0194

Seale, M., Hicks, A., & Nicholson, K. (2022). Toward a critical turn in library UX. College & Research Libraries, 83(1), 6–24. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.83.1.6

Nicholson, K. P. "Being in time": New public management, academic librarians, and the temporal labor of pink-collar public service work. Library Trends, 68(2), 130-152. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2019.0034

Nicholson, Karen P. “On the Space/Time of Information Literacy, Higher Education, and the Global Knowledge Economy,” in “Evidences, Implications, and Critical Interrogations of Neoliberalism in Information Studies,” eds. Marika Cifor and Jamie A. Lee. Special issue, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies 2, no.1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.24242/jclis.v2i1.86

Nicholson, K. P., & Seale, M. (Eds.). (2018). The politics of theory and the practice of critical librarianship. Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press. 

 Nicholson, K.P., Pagowsky, N., & Seale, M. (2019). Just-in-Time or Just-in-Case? Time, Learning Analytics, and the Academic Library. Library Trends 68(1), 54-75. doi:10.1353/lib.2019.0030

Nicholson, K. P. (2018, June 8). Information into action? Reflections on (critical) practice. Keynote address presented at the WILU 2018 Conference, University of Ottawa. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fimspres/51/

Nicholson, Karen P. (2017). The “Value Agenda”: Negotiating a Path Between Compliance and Critical Practice [keynote address]. Canadian Libraries Assessment Workshop (CLAW). University of Victoria, October 26, 2017. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fimspres/49/

Nicholson, K. P. (2016). “Taking back” information literacy: Time and the one-shot in the neoliberal university. In N. Pagowsky & K. McElroy (eds.), Critical library pedagogy handbook (vol. 1) (pp. 25-39). Chicago: ACRL. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fimspub/41/

 Nicholson, Karen P. "The McDonaldization of Academic Libraries and the Values of Transformational Change" (March 2015) College & Research Libraries vol. 76, no. 3, p. 328-338. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.76.3.328

Nicholson, K. (2016). Information Literacy as a Situated Practice in the Neoliberal University. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes Du congrès Annuel De l’ACSI. https://doi.org/10.29173/cais864.


LIS 9001 Perspectives on Library and Information Science 2021 Winter , 2019 Winter LIS 9005 Managing and Working in Information Organizations 2024 Winter , 2019 Fall LIS 9152 Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals 2011 Summer , 2009 Fall LIS 9170 Special Topic: Critical Librarianship 2023 Fall , 2022 Fall , 2021 Fall , 2021 Summer LIS 9630 Academic Libraries 2020 Winter