LIBERTY SMITH

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY

Reference and Research Professional – proven effectiveness in library and freelance reference situations in English and Spanish, for academic projects in humanities and fine arts, social sciences, and physical sciences.

Instructor and Public Speaker – extensive instruction experience, having offered library instruction sessions and 35 stand-alone courses for approximately 1,060 instruction hours on library research methods, composition, literature, and English as a Second Language and presented more than 20 conference presentations and lectures.

Project Manager and Supervisor – demonstrated abilities in setting deadlines, monitoring workflow, streamlining business processes, and motivating and supervising staff. Excellent communication, team-building, and conflict management skills.

RELATED EXPERIENCE

Program Manager/Special Library Manager , National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, Scotts Valley, California, September, 2006 – present.

• Provide direct reference service, training, and technical assistance to patrons.
• Manage budget and fulfill or supervise other fiscal accountability duties.
• Plan and coordinate national training, publicity, and resource creation initiatives and provide guidance to webmaster in electronic presence of Clearinghouse.
• Responsible for daily operations including staff supervision and development, communicate with government funder, and collaborate with other organizations.

Library Assistant III , Center for Library & Instructional Computing Services (CLICS), University of California, San Diego, March, 2006 – August, 2006.

• Presented library instruction sessions.
• Provided reference guidance on print and electronic collections.
• Managed operations on weekends, including supervision of student employees, circulation, patron problem resolution, stack maintenance, and security problems.
• Assisted in training employees and providing feedback on their performance.

Library Technician , Access Services, San Diego County Public Law Library, San Diego, CA, March, 2005 – February, 2006.

• Conducted reference interviews for Spanish-speaking patrons in person and over the phone. Answered ready reference questions and provided reference desk assistance as needed.
• Managed all aspects of Access Services department including creating and implementing policies and procedures; resolving conflicts with patrons; providing circulation, ILL, and extended services to patrons; coordinating membership and circulation activities; creating department procedures manual; implementing patron database quality control program; and generating department statistical reports.
• Responsible for training and staff development of four part-time and two full-time employees including: chairing search committees, training new employees, ensuring quality control of department tasks, and conducting evaluations.

University Instructor , Various Departments, University of California, San Diego, Southern Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University, September, 1999 – June, 2004.

• Instructed students in library and online research methods for composition, research methods, literature, and English as a Second Language courses.
• Designed syllabi, provided instruction, wrote lectures and course materials for students of different ages and abilities, performed evaluation, and advised students.

Freelance Reference and Bibliography Assistant , Various, San Diego and Boulder, CO September, 1997 – March, 2005.

• Conducted reference interviews and provided reference guidance on print and electronic sources appropriate to projects in various disciplines.
• Teamed with principal investigator to design national survey, organize and participate in focus groups, and conduct research on goals in ethics education for the Scientific Research Ethics Program, UCSD.
• Conducted grant research for artists Minda Martin and Mark Logan and for the Midge Costanza Institute.
• Researched topics and produced reports for CU, Boulder and UCSD faculty in psychology, sociology, theater, and literature.

Diversity Programs Coordinator , Housing/Dining, CU, Boulder, CO, 1997-98.

• Met with various constituencies on campus to assess student needs.
• Designed and coordinated multicultural awareness programming for 6, 000 resident students.
• Hired and managed 14 diversity advocates.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

“Citation Analysis Methods for Researching and Supporting Interdisciplinary Areas,” L&I Sci 550 class presentation, Spring 2006 (coauthored with Robin Jensen and Brian Schmidt).

“What’s Your GLBT IQ?: Providing Library Services to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersex, and Queer Patrons,” L&I Sci 751 class presentation, Fall, 2005.

“Readers Advisory Services in the ‘Problem Memoir,’” L&I Sci 751 class presentation, Fall, 2005.

“Conducting Primary Research with Archival Material,” L&I Sci 504 class presentation, Spring, 2005.

“New Technologies for the Humanities,” Survival Skills for Graduate School Series, UCSD, Spring, 2003.

PUBLICATIONS

“1903: Gertrude Stein Writes Q.E.D.” GLBT History Database. Salem Press/EBSCO (2005).

“The ‘Perverse Effects’ of Feminism and Globalization: (Trans)Gender and (Trans) Nationalism in Honduras’s First Novelist.” Michigan Feminist Studies 18 (2004) 35-58.

“Listening to the ‘Wives’ of the ‘Female Husbands’: A Project of Femme Historiography in Eighteenth-Century Britain.” Journal of Lesbian Studies 6.2 (2002): 105-20.

RELEVANT SKILLS

Computer skills : Integrated Library Management Systems (especially III), Anzio, Dreamweaver, MS Office, WordPerfect, FileMakerPro, Paradox, Access, Procite, Endnote, RefWorks, web-based instructional environments (Blackboard, Desire2Learn, WebCT), and online research.

Language skills: Spanish – near fluency.

EDUCATION University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee , Masters of Library and Information Science, 2006.

University of California, San Diego , Ph.D. in Literature, 2003. M.A. in Literatures in English, 2001.

Kenyon College , Gambier, OH, B.A. in Spanish Area Studies and English, 1994.

Centro de Estudios Unidos Colombo-Americano , Bogotá, Colombia, Study Abroad, 1992 – 1993.

PRINTER-FRIENDLY RESUME (PDF)