I am an Undergraduate Education/GIS Librarian at the University of Connecticut Libraries. Information Literacy, Maps, GIS and faculty/librarian collaboration represent the primary aspects of my job and research interests with an emphasis on fostering the development of student research abilities in a tiered approach. A few of the key areas of interest related to information literacy include:

•Working with curriculum review committees to emphasize the importance of infusing information literacy within the curriculum in a multi-tiered approach.

•Fostering assignment and course integration of information literacy concepts through a faculty and librarian learning community experience.

•Collaborating with faculty and librarians from UConn and elsewhere to stress the importance of information literacy within Higher Education and the Academic Library environment.

•Explore and implement various interactive and hands-on approaches to library research instruction via in-person and virtual environments.

•Assessing information literacy skills pre and post library research instruction.

•Utilizing Instant Messaging (IM), email, and other virtual communication methods in addition to in-person services to provide research assistance and instruction regardless of geographic location.

•Developing video tutorials for research resources and instruction to provide multiple formats for assistance/instruction beyond print handouts.

•Utilize open-source and/or freely available coding and resources from Google and others to provide better reference and instructional support by implementing web calendars, customized search applications, and other possibilities to increase interactivity and functionality.

•Explore ways to integrate data and geographic literacy principles within the undergraduate experience to enable students to become proficient researchers within all aspects of research.