Professional Organization Affiliations

Indexing and Abstracting Society of Canada / Société canadienne pour l'analyse de documents (IASC / SCAD)

Member, 2003-2007

American Society of Indexers (ASI)

Co-author of the ASI Web Site, 1995

Webmaster, 1995 - 1997

Web Committee member, 1995 - 1998

Pacific Northwest Chapter, American Society of Indexers (PNW/ASI)

Chair, May 1998 - May 1999

Vice-Chair / Program Chair, May 1997 - May 1998

Webmaster, 1996 - present

Directory Coordinator, 1998-2000

Newsletter Coordinator, 1996-1998

Author of the Pacific Northwest ASI Web Site, 1996

Founding member, 1996

Education

Master of Science, Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994.

Fields of Concentration: information organization and access

Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993.

Field of Concentration: sociological and cultural differences in literature

Library and Faculty Positions

Deb Gilchrist, Pierce College's Dean of Library and Media Services, was interviewed for an article about my book Inside Indexing. She is quoted as saying the following about my work as a librarian: "Her ability to dissect a work and make a highly useful index is not only a gift for the authors she works with, but also for Pierce students since that same skill set works to make her an incredible reference librarian... Because she thinks so analytically, she can easily help students envision all of the ways they can approach a problem or a topic." Update (the Pierce College employee newsletter), Volume 28 Number 03.

Director of Technical Services, Highline Community College Library (Des Moines, WA), July 2007 - February 2008.
Random Acts of Recognition Award recipient for “above-and-beyond performance”

Primary responsibilities as Library Management Team member:

Assisting in formulation of goals and objectives for the library

Participating collaboratively in the planning and development of library services

Co-authoring library-wide policies and procedures

Assisting in oversight of web site development and maintenance

Assuming lead responsibility for major library-wide projects as needed

Member of the Exhibits Committee and Celebration Committee

Primary responsibilities in Technical Services department:

Serving as Highline’s liaison to OCLC

Serving as backup System Administrator

Hiring, supervising, and evaluating departmental staff

Overseeing cataloging, authority control, physical processing, serials management, and acquisitions activity

Determine and implement best practices for technical services workflow and procedures

Co-authoring and approving departmental policies, procedures, and standards

Establishing routines and documentation for administering the bibliographic database and related areas of the library’s online catalog

Primary responsibilities as Reference Department member:

Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members

Participating in weekly Reference Department meetings

Providing course-integrated instruction

Acting as Library liaison to Music department

Assuming lead responsibility for collection development in Music

Assisting with web site maintenence of subject guides

Library Faculty, Pierce College Library (Tacoma, WA), Jan 1999 - June 2007. Our library won the 2005 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).

Primary responsibilities:

Performing variety of technical Services activities, primiarliy cataloging.

Assuming sole responsibility for authority control

Collaborating with other librarians for collection development

Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members

Providing course-integrated instruction

Assuming lead responsibility for writing and maintaining handouts

Assisting with web site development and maintenance

Adjunct Faculty, School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University, Spring 2003.

Primary responsibility: teaching Indexing and Abstracting (LI 842XO) at their Portland, OR site.

Faculty, Library Technician Program, Highline Community College (Des Moines, WA), Sept 1998 - March 1999.

Primary responsibility: Instructor for LIBR 105: Information Literacy

Library Faculty, Highline Community College Library (Des Moines, WA), Sept 1997 - Dec 1998.

Primary responsibilities:

Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members

Providing course-integrated instruction

Assuming lead responsibility for collection development in areas of Chiropractic, Computer Science, and Languages and Literature

Faculty, University of Washington's Department of Technical Communication (Seattle, WA), 1998 - present (occasionally).

Primary responsibility: Teaching Basic Indexing

Faculty, Graduate School USDA's Correspondence Program (Washington, DC), 1998 - present.

Primary responsibility: Teaching Basic Indexing

Library Faculty, Pierce College Library (Tacoma, WA), Nov 1995 - June 1997.

Primary responsibilities:

Providing internet training for faculty and staff. Assuming primary responsibility for developing, scheduling, creating handouts for, and teaching classes on Internet basics (including: e-mail, telnet, gopher, FTP), advanced email (.signature files, encoding formatted files, configuring PINE, UNIX commands), web surfing, and web site design.

Assuming primary responsibility for creating and maintaining web site

Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members

Providing course-integrated instruction

Librarian, Reference and Research Services, University of Washington Libraries (Seattle, WA), Sept 1994 - July 1995 (temporary)

Primary responsibilities:

Assuming primary responsibility for developing, planning, scheduling, recruiting librarians for instruction, and teaching workshops for specific databases; course-integrated instruction; mediated searches; individual consultation requests; and tours of the Suzzallo Library

Developing and teaching classes for returning and transfer students

Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members

Acting as liaison with Undergraduate Library

Library staff, Undergraduate Library, University of Illinois (Urbana, IL), Aug 1993 - Aug 1994 (temporary)

Primary responsibilities:

Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members

Participating in written anonymous reference ("Question Board")

Participating in volunteered for individual research consultations ("Term Paper Research Counseling")

Providing course-integrated instruction

Supervising library assistants

Library staff, Applied Life Studies Library, University of Illinois (Urbana, IL), Oct 1990 - May 1993

Primary responsibility: Circulation, paraprofessional reference service, various special projects.

Instruction

I've taught a variety of workshops, seminars, and classes since 1994.

See my Presentations and Publications web page for a comprehensive look at those experiences.

Please see my Classes, Workshops, and Seminars web page for the most up-to-date information about my instruction.

Publications

I've written articles for several professional publications since 1996. See my Presentations and Publications web page for a comprehensive look at those writings.

Contact Kari

Copyright ©, Kari Kells.