Kelly Getz is a STEM librarian at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Kelly has been a member of ACRL for 5 years and is your ACRL Member of the Week for May 15, 2023.
Describe yourself in three words: Curious, genuine, persistent.
What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? I recently finished Thistlefoot: A Novel by GennaRose Nethercott and The Body in the Garden: A Lily Adler Mystery by Katharine Schellman. I’m currently reading Lost and Found and There’s a Ghost in this House, both by Oliver Jeffers, over and over and over to my 3-year old daughter.
Describe ACRL in three words: Informative, supportive, community.
What do you value about ACRL? Over the past 10 years, the supportive network of ACRL helped me develop in my career as an academic librarian. Through ACRL, we share, learn, and grow from each others’ experiences and innovations. I’m also a member of ACRL-STS; this group allows me to connect, collaborate, and even occasionally commiserate with librarians whose roles are similar to my own.
What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? As a STEM Librarian, I work directly with students and faculty in the natural sciences, math, and technology fields. I am privileged to help foster curiosity while also helping students navigate an information- and misinformation-heavy world. As they become contributors to the scientific scholarly conversation, it’s important that students build upon reliable information. I teach about the peer-review process, differentiating primary and secondary sources in the sciences, identifying bias in information, and how to find specialized information. I teach students that research can be messy and, like the scientific method, an iterative process.
In your own words: My path to academic librarianship was a winding one. My undergraduate education was in Chemistry. I was a high school science teacher before going to grad school to study human-computer interaction. A mentor introduced me to academic librarianship and I found it to be a delightful blend of science, education, and the study of the user experience. My scholarship currently focuses on inclusive design for neurodiversity. I believe that through studying and advocating for systems and lessons mindful of the user experience, we can help remove barriers and gatekeeping often found in higher education and the sciences.
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