Meet the New(ish) Librarians

InULA is an organization focused on the librarian not the library, the person not the job. In the interest of getting to know each other better as peeople, InULA Notes imposed on several new(ish) librarians to share some of their personal history and interests. Read on to learn about Maria T. Accardi (IUS), Tina Baich (IUPUI), Jeff Bowman (IUPUI), Keith Cochran (IUB), Jennifer Laherty (IUB), Steven Sowell (IUB), and Tony White (IUB).

Maria T. Accardi, Assistant Librarian, Coordinator of Instruction, Indiana University Southeast

When did you start? I started in August 2007.

Where did you go to library school? I graduated with my MLIS in 2006 from the University of Pittsburgh. I also have a MA in English from the University of Louisville.

What are you reading? What is at home by your bedside or comfy chair? Right now I'm in the middle of reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, which I'm enjoying every much. I'm also working my way through bell hooks's Teaching to Transgress. Patiently waiting to be read in my Stack O'Books on the coffee table are Wikinomics, by Don Tapscott and The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore.

Is there any professional literature that has recently caught your interest? I've been very excited and inspired by recent works about critical pedagogy and its implications for information literacy instruction, such as James Elmborg's article "Critical Information Literacy: Implications for Instructional Practice." I'm also very interested in research being done on assessment, with particular reference to the research portfolio as an assessment tool. Having taught composition in a previous lifetime, I am also really interested the work that's been done on the pedagogical intersections between information literacy instruction and first year composition.

What music are you listening to? I am a huge Rufus Wainwright fan and I pretty much listen to his albums nonstop. I've also had the McGarrigle Christmas Hour album on repeat recently, as well as Sloan Wainwright's Christmas album.

What is the last movie you saw? Was it in a theater or on DVD? I hardly ever go to the movies in the theater anymore. I think the last movie I saw in the theater was the newest Harry Potter film.

Hobbies? Obsessions? Interests? I enjoy watching TV, reading, crocheting, and taking pictures of my cats. I'm excited about the return of Project Runway and you can find me watching it every week while working on a new afghan.

Tina Baich, Visiting Assistant Librarian (I split my time between Interlibrary Services and Bibliographic & Metadata Services), IUPUI University Library

When did you start? September 2006

Where did you go to library school? IUPUI

What are you reading? What is at home by your bedside or comfy chair? The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

What music are you listening to? Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, K.T. Tunstall, Madeleine Peyroux, Feist

What is the last movie you saw? Was it in a theater or on DVD? The Bourne Ultimatum in the theater

Hobbies? Obsessions? Interests? I love books (surprise, surprise) and am never without one. My tastes are eclectic, but I am building a sub-collection of books about books. I also love national parks/historic sites and try to hit one on every trip I take.

Jeff Bowman, Visiting Business Librarian, IUPUI University Library

When did you start? Sept. 1, 2007

Where did you go to library school? IU Bloomington

What are you reading? What is at home by your bedside or comfy chair? Never Let Me Go

Is there any professional literature that has recently caught your interest? American Libraries had a good article last month about the rebuilding efforts underway in Afghanistan.

What music are you listening to? Kill to Get Crimson by Mark Knopfler

What is the last movie you saw? Was it in a theater or on DVD? Elizabeth, online at peekvid.com

Keith Cochran, Music Collection Development Librarian and Associate Director, Cook Music Library, IU Bloomington

When did you start? I started in August of this year.

Where did you go to library school? I went to library school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

What are you reading? What is at home by your bedside or comfy chair? I'm currently reading A Terry Teachout Reader.

Is there any professional literature that has recently caught your interest? A recent article in the journal Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, has caught my attention: Virginia Danielson, "The Canon of Ethnomusicology: Is there one?" (Notes 64, no. 2 [December 2007]: 223-231)

What music are you listening to? I listen to a wide range of classical music (and some broadway). I'm currently listening to Gluck's opera Alceste.

What is the last movie you saw? Was it in a theater or on DVD? The last movie I saw on DVD was The Painted Veil. The last one I saw in the theater was The Lives of Others.

Hobbies? Obsessions? Interests? My main hobbies are classical music, and independent and foreign films.

Jennifer Laherty, Reference / Digital Services Librarian, Wells Library, IU Bloomington

When did you start? August 31 (2007)

Where did you go to library school? IUB SLIS (1995)

What are you reading? What is at home by your bedside or comfy chair? I just finished Murder in C Major -- local mystery writer Sara Hoskinson Frommer (her first novel). Then I started The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher -- a YA title from a storyteller (Bill Harley) I heard at the Storytelling Arts of Indiana Festival this fall.

Is there any professional literature that has recently caught your interest?

• "To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence," NEA, http://www.arts.gov/research/ToRead.pdf
• Baker, Nicholas C. "Plug your users into library resources with OpenSearch Plug-ins," Computers in Libraries, Oct. 2007 (in ABI/Inform)
• Grafton, Anthony "Future Reading: Digitization and its discontents," New Yorker (was free online; will be in Academic Search Premier)

What music are you listening to? Sweet Honey in the Rock, Annie Lennox, Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, lots of varying stuff from the 1980's and earlier, anything with a beat that I can toe tap to and/or anything that has a lot of bass, percussion, piano.

What is the last movie you saw? Was it in a theater or on DVD? I can't even remember, but I catch glimpses of what my 6 and 4 year olds bring home from the public library.

Hobbies? Obsessions? Interests? Cooking; being outside; we're building a house, so you could call that an obsession; I have 2 children, Katie (6) and George (4), and a husband, Matthew - so we explore lots of interests together.

Steven Sowell, Head, Business/SPEA Information Commons, IU Bloomington

When did you start? August 1. 2007

Where did you go to library school? University of Maryland

What are you reading? What is at home by your bedside or comfy chair? Team of Rivals, The Whistling Season, the latest Newsweek, National Geographic, and The Atlantic Monthly.

Is there any professional literature that has recently caught your interest? The Academic Library and the Net Gen Student, The World Café, Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software, and Creating the One-Shot Library Workshop.

What music are you listening to? At work I listen to KING-FM from Seattle (my son and daughter live there). At home, I usually listen to WFIU. I mostly enjoy classical music. Lately, I've been playing Aida over and over.

What is the last movie you saw? Was it in a theater or on DVD? Just before Thanksgiving I saw Gone Baby Gone at the theater.

Hobbies? Obsessions? Interests? Traveling (I'm going to France and Germany next summer), fiber arts (knitting, weaving, and spinning), snowboarding, movies, and reading. I also volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

Tony White, Head, Fine Arts Library, IU Bloomington

When did you start? Two days after the start of the Fall semester, 2007!

Where did you go to library school? IUB SLIS - with a concentration in Art Librarianship

What are you reading? What is at home by your bedside or comfy chair? The New Yorker

Is there any professional literature that has recently caught your interest? Anything on Mentoring within the Profession; recently I was invited to write an article on Mentoring in Academic Libraries

What music are you listening to? Dandy Warhols, John Coltrane, Magnetic Fields, John Zorn, honky tonk and outlaw country music

What is the last movie you saw? Was it in a theater or on DVD? In a theater: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Hobbies? artist's books, photography, cooking

Obsessions? Making ice cream

Interests? Researching and writing about Artist's Books, teaching, learning Bridge