About Our Speakers (A-K)
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Emily Asch Emily is vice-chair of TSS and head of technical services at St. Catherine University.
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Eric Austin As Northern Cluster Manager for Dakota County Library, Eric oversees the operations of three Dakota County Library branches located in West Saint Paul, Inver Grove Heights, and the Wescott Library in Eagan. During a varied career in libraries and archives, he has been part of several building and remodeling projects, including helping to pound nails and pour concrete for a new branch building in Centennial, Wyoming. Eric will be providing the library service perspective during the session.
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Nick Banitt Nick is responsible for MnLINK Gateway’s system administration, which includes managing day-to-day operations.
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Susan Bard, PLA/ALSC
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Ken Behringer
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Anne Beschnett Anne is the outreach librarian at the Bio-Medical Library at the University of Minnesota. She has made contributions to the My Health Minnesota -> Go Local project and has worked to promote the service and other consumer health resources to information specialists, health care consumers, and health care providers in Minnesota.
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Dale Blyth Dale has been a researcher, evaluator, writer, and university professor studying adolescent development as affected by school and community context. His time now is devoted to enhancing policy and practice around youth development through research.
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Robert Bothmann Robert is the electronic access/catalog librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He has an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and an MS in cross-disciplinary studies from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He can be reached at robert.bothmann@mnsu.edu.
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Jennifer Brannen Jennifer works as a library associate at St. Paul Public Library’s Central Library. She graduated from the College of Saint Catherine with an MLIS in 2007. Readers’ advisory—in all of its forms and for all ages—is the favorite part of her job, which also includes fiction displays, book chats, booklists, reference, teaching, and programming. She is a member of MLA’s Readers’ Advisory Roundtable Committee and an affiliate member of the Romance Writers of America. She presented on Romance Readers’ Advisory and booktalked at the 50 in 75 Book Blast at MLA’s 2008 conference.
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Michelle B. Brasure Michelle is currently completing a fellowship funded by National Library of Medicine. The fellowship is allowing her to complement her education and experience in public health with education and experience in library and information science. Michelle is completing this fellowship with sponsors at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul and the Health Sciences Libraries at the University of Minnesota. As part of her fellowship, Michelle conducts health information outreach activities.
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Melissa J. Brechon
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Barbara Brooks
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Susan Carr Brown Susan selects teen print and audio and adult small press items for Hennepin County Library. She worked for Minneapolis Public for 25 years before the recent merger of the two library systems.
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Carrie Brunsberg Carrie has worked for five years in the business, science, and government documents department of Minneapolis Central Library. She strives to promote the use of government information resources in research projects, especially by National History Day students.
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Helen Burke Helen is the government documents coordinator at Minneapolis Central Library in the Hennepin County Library System. Minneapolis Central Library is Minnesota’s oldest Federal Depository Library, and Helen has been lucky enough to work with government documents for more than twenty years.
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Karla K. Businaro Karla is an adult services librarian with the Carver County Libraries. She works primarily in the Western libraries. She has served on the Minnesota Book Awards committee and has presented at area booktalking events.
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Barbi Mills Byers
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Roseanne Byrne Roseanne has been in the library business for more than 35 years and has performed about every job in the public library sector. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Catherine and an MLS from Northern Illinois University. She began her career as a children’s librarian in suburban Chicago, was a branch assistant for St. Paul Public Library, spent 26 years with Hennepin County in a variety of positions, and joined Dakota County Library in 2000 as deputy director.
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Deborah Caldwell-Stone Deborah is acting director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, where she works on projects dealing with censorship and privacy in libraries. An attorney by training, she practiced appellate law before the state and federal courts in Chicago before joining ALA in 2000. She now works closely with librarians to address various intellectual freedom issues affecting libraries, including the removal of books and materials from library shelves, the use of Internet filtering, and the impact of new technologies and the US Patriot Act on user privacy.
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Jodi L. Carlson
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Nancy Carlson Nancy has written and illustrated more than 50 children’s books, bringing her lovable characters to life with comical moral lessons. Some of her most popular titles include Think Big!, It’s Not My Fault!, Smile a Lot!, I Like Me!, Harriet’s Recital, Harriet and George’s Christmas Treat, and Think Happy!. Nancy knew in kindergarten that she wanted to “make pictures and tell stories.” Many of her stories come from her childhood experiences, and all contain universal and timeless situations. Nancy lives and works in Bloomington, Minnesota, where she enjoys sports, playing in the snow, eating her favorite food (cookies!), and spending time with her husband, three children, a rather chubby guinea pig, and her dog, Lily.
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Kirsten J. Clark Kirsten has been the government information and regional depository librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries since 2007. Before then, she worked with government documents at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University, New Mexico State University, and the University of Colorado.
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Lori F. Crocker Lori has worked in libraries since high school, but played librarian for the kids in her neighborhood for years before that. She has been doing children and teen services at the Redwood Falls Public Library since 2007. Using her great talent of thriftiness, she has created many successful and unique programs with the spare change she found in the library’s couch cushions (and a little help from some friends).
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Betsy Dadabo Betsy has been the library technology specialist at Bethel University Library since 2006. She coordinates the technology students at the Information Commons and enjoys exploring new technologies and trends for use in the library setting.
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Paul Elliott Dahl Paul has been employed as the library director of the Barr Library of the Minnesota Department of Health since December 2005. Prior employment experience in libraries included being a librarian in the Colonial Library of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine from 2000-2005, working as a part-time reference librarian at the University Center Rochester/Rochester Community and Technical College for 10 months in 2000-2001, and serving as the coordinator of library and media services at Allen College and Allen Memorial Hospital (Waterloo, Iowa) from 1997-2000. Paul graduated from the University of Iowa with a master of arts in library and information science in 1996. He has also received a master of divinity degree in Parish Ministry in 1993 from The Iliff School of Theology (Denver, Colorado). His undergraduate degree in general social science teaching with minors in library science and coaching was garnered from the University of Northern Iowa in 1987. Paul has been a frequent user of the public library in every community where he has resided. He presently facilitates a Social Science Book Club of adults at the Cannon Falls Public Library.
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Jane Dedering, IIDA, LEED AP Jane is a senior interior designer with more than 25 years of experience specializing in library design and planning. She has expertise in library planning, master planning, automation, material handling, and integration of new service models. She designs libraries from the inside out, streamlining staff workflow while creating interior environments that welcome and delight customers. Jane immerses herself in each project, builds relationships with the client, and meets with the library board, staff librarians, and community members to outline their values and objectives.
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Todd Digby
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Nicholas Dimassis
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Ryan Spaeth Dolan Ryan is the coordinator of the Census 2010 Campaign for the State of Minnesota. In this position, he is responsible for developing and nurturing partnerships and leading education efforts throughout the state. Previously, Ryan held the position of field director at 2020 Vision, a national, nonprofit energy security organization based in Washington, DC. Other positions of note include serving as director of the Campaign to Repeal Article XII in Cincinnati, OH; Safe Schools Coordinator at PFLAG National; and Democracy Project consultant for both Astro Data Services in Portland, OR and the Gill Foundation in Colorado Springs, CO. Ryan holds a BA in history from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and an MA in management from the College of Saint Scholastica in Duluth, MN.
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Kimberly Edson Kim is the head of Readers Services at the Rochester Public Library and chair of PLD.
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Stephen F. Elfstrand Stephen has more than twenty years of experience with many different library systems in corporate, nonprofit, and academic libraries. Previous positions include nine years at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, where he was a tenured associate professor and served as head of systems and circulation, and three years as automated systems librarian at UW–River Falls, where NOTIS was in use. During his time in Wisconsin, Stephen earned a reputation as a leader. He also served on several statewide library systems planning committees, helping to write and evaluate the RFPs and implementing the Voyager LMS, SFX OpenURL Linking, and Metalib federated searching. Other previous positions include technical services manager at the James J. Hill Library and information analyst at UNISYS Corporation, technical library, both of which used PALS. Stephen has an MLIS from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA from Mankato State University, as it was then called. He has continued to earn both graduate and undergraduate credits in MIS, computer science, and music and has written peer reviewed articles and presented at various local, regional, and national conferences.
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Miguel A. Figueroa Miguel is the director of the Office for Diversity at the American Library Association. He has previously held positions with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region at NYU Medical Center and Neal-Schuman Publishers. Miguel is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s School of Information Resources and Library Science and was part of the first Knowledge River cohort. He is co-editor with Georgie Donovan of the book Staff Development Strategies that Work: Stories and Strategies from New Librarians (Neal-Schuman, 2008).
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Lyndi Finifrock Lyndi has an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been a reference and instruction librarian at Bethel University since 2004. She is currently serving as chair of the MLA Intellectual Freedom Roundtable.
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Michael Fox Michael oversees the MN Historical Society’s public programs, including library and archives, the MHS Press, museums and historic sites, exhibition development, education, State Historic Preservation Office, archaeology, enterprise technology, and business services. He holds an MLS from the University of Wisconsin Madison SLIS and was named its Distinguished Alumnus in 2004.
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Mary Freyberg Mary started at the Scott County Law Library in 2002, working while she got her MLIS degree from UNT. She became the Scott County Law Library manager in 2007.
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Sara Galligan, J.D. Sara is the director for the Ramsey County Law Library. She is the former manager of the Dakota County Law Library and former head of technical services for the Minnesota State Law Library. Sara has a JD from William Mitchell College of Law, which she pursued to enhance her skills as a law librarian. She has worked on many programs to strengthen the connection between self-represented litigants and access to the courts. She is active in the American Association of Law Libraries, the Minnesota Association of Law Libraries, and the MSBA Pro Se Committee.
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Susan D. Gangl Susan served as project director for the Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature Book discussion series in 2007 and 2008. These two series of five-week book discussion series were held at Saint Paul Public Library Highland Park branch on the topics Your Heart’s Desire and Modern Marvels: Graphic Fiction. She coordinated a poetry reading event outside the University of Minnesota’s Wilson Library for fall Welcome Week. Susan was the Wilson Library liaison for History Day until very recently. She has a background in art and has designed many user guides as well as many displays at Wilson, and is the librarian for Jewish studies, philosophy, and religious studies at the University of Minnesota.
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Christopher E. Getz Chris is a technical services specialist at Great River Regional Library and oversees all technical services functions at GRRL. He has an MLS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He can be contacted at chrisg@grrl.lib.mn.us.
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Sarah Gewirtz
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Susan Glimsdale Susan has worked for Dakota County Library for 25 years. She started as a Clerk II and was promoted to circulation supervisor. She participated in the County’s Management Academy and has completed classes and workshops on a variety of management topics.
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Mic Golden
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Maureen Gormley
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Mary Ann Greenwald Mary Ann has been with PALS for 10 years as a support and training specialist for the PalsTac software, and now the Aleph software in the areas of cataloging, indexing, authorities, holding and item records. During this time, she served on the cataloging vendor evaluation group as they examined RFPs, implemented and trained on the Aleph software for 63 MnPALS libraries, worked with a variety of MnPALS planning committees on such areas as virtual reference library, OPAC access, indexing, authorities, and MARC records. Recently, she served as the PALS office marketing chair, and is currently a member of the PALS office innovation teams. Previous positions include six years as the college library director for the four technical college libraries of Minnesota West, which are MnPALS members. As a MnPALS member, Mary Ann served on their User Council and Executive Committee, along with serving a term as president of the technical college librarians. Prior to this, she served as coordinator of the SW Area Minnesota Multitype Interlibrary Exchange (SAMMIE) housed at SW Minnesota State University in Marshall, MN. The broad spectrum of libraries in a multitype system allowed for a wide variety of experiences ranging from supplying interlibrary loan, providing an 18-county delivery system, coordinating continuing education opportunities, performing electronic information retrieval, and writing grants. While in this location, she also served as part-time reference librarian at SW Minnesota State University. Mary Ann has a Master of Science degree in information media from St. Cloud State University and a BS in business administration and accounting from SW Minnesota State University. She has presented at various local, regional, and national library meetings and conferences.
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Tina Gross Tina is the catalog librarian at St. Cloud State University. Previously, she worked as a Hispanic/Latin American languages cataloger at the University of Pittsburgh. She is volunteer indexer for HAPI (Hispanic American Periodicals Index) and a contributor to the books Radical Cataloging and SALSA de Tópicos=Subjects in SALSA: Spanish and Latin American Subject Access.
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Heidi Hammond, Ph.D. Heidi has experience as an elementary, middle school, and high school media specialist. She has also taught children’s and young adult literature courses as adjunct faculty in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the College of St. Catherine and the University of Minnesota. She presented her research on graphic novels at the first Graphica in Education Conference held at Fordham University in New York City in 2009.
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Cody Hanson Cody is technology librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries.
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Martha Hardy Martha is an assistant professor at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, MN, where she serves as a reference and instruction librarian for Library and Information Services and teaches information literacy courses. Previously, Martha worked in reference and instruction services at the Bio-Medical Library at the University of Minnesota, in technical services at Wilson Library at the University of Minnesota, and at the Greenawalt Library at Northwestern Health Sciences University. Martha is particularly interested in empowering people by teaching them to access and critically evaluate information and in creative technology applications that help people connect with the information they seek. She completed her MLIS from Dominican University in 2008.
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JoEllen Haugo Working with Central Library’s extensive history collection, being part of a team for History Day events, class visits committee, and the HCL History Day Subject Guide give JoEllen an opportunity to interact with many History Day students and school groups. When the History Day season starts, JoEllen stays focused on the year’s theme!
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Tim Hayes Tim is the director of the Blue Earth County Library and member at large on the PLD Executive Committee.
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Gail Supernois Hedstrom Gail has served as the director of the Elbow Lake Public Library for 14 years. During this time, she has also served on the Core Planning Committee of The Child & Youth Council.
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Deb Hengel Deb has served as the administrator of the Grant County Child and Youth Council for eight years. She has been instrumental in assisting collaborative partners in writing grants and facilitating partner community events.
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Samanthi Hewakapuge Samanthi is the consumer health coordinator at the National Network of Libraries of Medicine - Greater Midwest Region (NN/LM GMR) office located in Chicago. She is responsible for coordinating the consumer health program within the GMR’s ten states, including developing instructional materials, training librarians to provide consumer health information services, and promoting NLM’s consumer health resources. She also oversees consumer health subcontracts awarded to libraries and community-based organizations. She is the state contact librarian for the North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Prior to joining GMR, Samanthi was a health sciences librarian at Ohio University and the outreach information specialist for the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arizona.
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Suzanne M. Hilgert
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Karen P. Hogan Karen is a College of St. Catherine’s MLIS student, academic library paraprofessional at Augsburg College, and the president of the Quatrefoil Library board of directors.
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Heidi Hoks Currently the branch manager of the three Western libraries of the Carver County Libraries and the CCL Youth Services Coordinator, Heidi has worked in libraries for more than 30 years.
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Heidi Holland
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Tim Hoogland
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Jennifer Hootman Jennifer, along with her colleagues in Minitex Reference Services, is responsible for providing training (online and in-person) for library staff of all library types, educators, and students throughout the state on the collection of resources included in the Electronic Library for Minnesota.
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Sharon Hoverson Sharon, library director since 2003, has been at Concordia in various library positions for 28 years.
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Mary Huismann Mary serves as music/media cataloging coordinator at the University of Minnesota Libraries. She earned both her MLIS and MM degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Mary is an active member of the Online Audiovisual Catalogers, Music OCLC Users Group, and the Music Library Association, where she currently serves as Technical Services Roundtable coordinator. She is also a contributor to the NACO Music Project.
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Anna Hulseberg Anna has been a reference librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College since 2002. She received her MA in technical communication from Minnesota State University, Mankato and her MS in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She can be reached at ahulsebe@gustavus.edu.
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Ann B. Hutton Ann is the executive director of Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (SELCO), one of Minnesota’s 12 regional library cooperatives, which serves 123 member libraries in 11 counties. She has expertise in organizational assessment, leadership development, project management, and grant writing. Ann specializes in advocacy and strategic planning and is regularly involved in presenting continuing education events for library staff and trustees within Minnesota and nationally. In 2005, she was inducted into the American Library Association/American Library Trustee and Advocates National Advocacy Honor Roll. Her most recent ALA involvement has been with the Office for Library Advocacy, in partnership with Library Strategies, showcasing local budgeting strategies in a time of financial crisis.
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Tracy Hvezda-Lehtola Tracy is the youth services librarian at the Westonka branch of Hennepin County Library and has worked in public libraries for more than six years. She earned a master of library and information science degree from the University of North Texas in 2007. She has been an active member of the Minnesota Library Association since 2006.
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Kathleen M. James
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Barbara Jauquet-Kalinoski
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Stacy Jensen Stacy has worked at the Brainerd Public Library for nine years and has been active with teen programming for seven years. She has completed the certification program and has recently received her MLS from the University of North Texas. Before working at the library, Stacy was a Boy Scout leader for ten years.
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Jeff A. Jenson Jeff has worked as an archivist and librarian since 2001 and has been at Gustavus Adolphus College since 2007. He earned his MA in history from Minnesota State University, Mankato and a master of library and information science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He can be reached at jjenson@gustavus.edu.
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Pam Jervis
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Carol P. Johnson Carol is director of library, media services and archives for St. Catherine University. She has been involved with the MN Certification Program from the beginning. Carol is currently on the ALA APA LSSCP Advisory Committee.
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Connie Jones Connie teaches a children’s literature course to elementary education majors in addition to her librarian duties.
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Betty Joyce
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Elaine Keefe
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Janice Kragness Janice is the associate director for research and instruction services at the University of St. Thomas Libraries. In this position, she champions the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students in a multi-campus and virtual environment. She holds a BA in history from St. Olaf College, an MLS from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and an MA in history from the University of Minnesota.
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Mary Kunesh-Podein Mary, a library media specialist in the Robbinsdale School District since 2002, holds a BA degree in elementary education from the College of St. Catherine. Mary began her teaching career in the classroom in inner-city Minneapolis and soon developed expertise as a media specialist. Bringing current, honest literature into the world of her students, Mary’s work is especially focused on providing literature that assists teachers and students in understanding the world of the Middle East, past and present. Mary currently resides in New Brighton, MN, traveling to Chicago as often as possible to visit her three children, whose father is from the Middle East.
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