Biographies

Liz Barksdale

I'm originally from Arlington, Texas. After getting my undergraduate degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin, I decided to apply to the School of Information. I've worked in quite a few different types of libraries and really enjoy the public service aspect of the profession.

My contributions to the Bridge are active learning exercises for Regional Business News and 20th Century American Poetry. I was also a member of the technology team and helped upload new content onto the site. I think the Bridge is really useful tool for librarians, and I'm glad I got a chance to help expand it!

Amelia Brunskill

I am from Seattle, Washington where I attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate and earned degrees in Psychology and Art. I moved to Austin two years ago to attend the School of Information at UT. I was drawn here by the sun, the excellent Tex-Mex and, of course, the School of Information itself.

For the TexShare Bridge project, I created the Online News and Science Fair pathfinders. I also revised the pathfinder for medical information and the database tutorial for the Health and Wellness Resource Center

Jennifer Coffey

I have lived in Austin most of my life and after earning a BA in English from St. Edward’s University I spent nearly a decade as a news researcher at the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. It was at the Statesman that I first became interested in becoming a professional librarian. The decision to attend The University of Texas School of Information was an easy one. It is ranked as one of the top iSchools in the country and it is right here in my home town.

Currently, I work as an Ask a Librarian Intern at the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas. My main duties involve answering reference questions via email, chat and in person. I was also given the opportunity to teach a library instruction class which was one of the highlights of the internship. My contributions to TexShare include the NetLibrary tutorial, the MasterFILE Premier Active Learning Exercise, and revisions to the Literature Resource Center and Academic Search Premier.

Ray James

After a career in journalism and a detour or two, I found my calling and decided to return to school to become a librarian, a profession with many iterations these days. If the Good Lord keeps blessing me, I'll be graduated in spring 2007 and begin my search for a small college in the West that needs a information resources person.

I helped revise the Art and Business pathfinders and created the database tutorial for 20th Century English Poetry and the active learning database activity for Business Source Premier.

Barbara Jorge

I am a native Texan from a small town in the Houston area. I came to Austin in 1999 to study English at the University of Texas, and after a short break I came back to attend the School of Information.

For this project I revised the Accessing Materials page and reviewed the History Pathfinder. I also created an active learning exercise for the Health and Wellness Resource Center and MEDLINE with MeSH. I have really enjoyed working on this project and learning so much about this very valuable program.

Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik

I grew up in Houston, and I graduated from UT Austin in 1989 with a degree in applied music performance. Like many other UT alumni, after graduation, I just never left. In 1997, I joined what was then Academic Computing and Instructional Technology Services as a documentation specialist, where I spent seven years creating Web tutorials and FAQs for computer users on campus. My desire to expand this work to include supporting both computer and information literacy in an academic environment led me to apply to the iSchool.

In addition to serving as a member of the technology team, which helped get all the new and revised content online, I have contributed the learning activities for the Literature Resource Center and the Student Resource Center.

Brent Lipinski

I came to Texas from the southwest suburbs of Chicago. I received my BS in Politics and Government from lovely Illinois State University. My interest in libraries began in high school when I took a circulation job because it didn't involve mopping. After I graduate I hope to work in a public library as a reference librarian. In my spare time I help send books to prisoners as a collective member of the Inside Books Project.

Sandy Littletree

My name is Sandy Littletree and I am from the Shoshone tribe of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming from my mom’s side and the Kinyaa aanii Clan (Navajo Towering House People) from my dad’s side. I relocated to Austin in May of 2005 to begin studies at the School of Information. I am originally from New Mexico and obtained my BS degree and an MA degree from New Mexico State University. I was well on my way to become a high school English/Reading teacher when I discovered a great opportunity to attend The University of Texas at Austin with the Honoring Generations Scholarship. With my MSIS degree from the University of Texas at Austin, I hope to combine my interests in teaching and technology to provide better library and information services for indigenous communities.

For this project, I created the education pathfinder and the information about ebooks. I was also a member of the technology team which means that I helped upload new content to the website.

I hope that our work on this rural bridge will continue to help Texans make the most out of the great TexShare resource.

Christy Loya

Born in the grand state of Chihuahua in the northern desert of Mexico and raised in the ‘ole “west Texas town of El Paso,” I came to the School of Information because I knew I wanted to continue higher education. I acquired one notch on my teaching belt last year and felt that library science was closely related to my teaching degree. No matter what sector of the library world I end up working in, I plan to find ways to serve and target today’s youth. It is clear that there exists a need for information literacy with today’s pushing technology.

This semester, a question the dean raised has led me to those around me to recall the moment they first got wind of the Internet. My first encounter occurred my freshmen year of high school. A clique of students were chatting online on a chocolate website and I asked them to slowly explain and repeat what they were so merrily doing. My mind could not grasp the innovative concept, yet.

Since I have been in Austin, I like all of the accents I have heard, the surge of music concerts, and people’s creativity in coming up with unique labels and names -whether it's for a shirt, a side dish, or the campus’ library café.

Miranda Murray

I grew up in Encino, California ("Encino Man"!) and completed my undergraduate degree at UC Santa Barbara. After joining AmeriCorps and working for the school district in Reno, Nevada, I decided I needed to figure out a next step. Becoming a librarian seemed like an ideal opportunity to combine my interests in books and emerging technologies with my desire to constantly learn new things and to help people. Over the last two years in Austin, I've met lots of great people and have learned so much, particularly through my invaluable work experience at the Center for Transportation Research Library and the UT Libraries "Ask a Librarian" internship program.

For the TexShare class project, I created the second database tutorial for Business Source Premier and the Texas Digital Sanbourn Maps Database active learning exercise.

Derek Nájera

My name is Derek Nájera, and I'm a second year student at the University of Texas, School of Information. I am originally from Texas, and I ended up here at UT, because I decided to become a public services librarian and work directly with people. I have been working on providing new content to the Bridge to TexShare website as well as revising and updating existing content. I think this is a great resource for the most amount of outreach to many people.

I am glad to be part of this.

Heather Nodler

I grew up in Houston and did my bachelor’s work in History and Art History at Rice University. In 2004, I moved to Austin to attend the School of Information and will graduate this spring, 2006. I have primarily focused my coursework on academic librarianship, usability, and information policy. I have also worked as a graduate research assistant at the UT Fine Arts Library.

I find Austin to be an enchanting and energizing place, whether swimming at Barton Springs, catching a band on Red River, or just relaxing in my backyard with the fireflies. Thus, I plan to settle down here with my husband Greg and our enormous cat, Mr. Tooth.

I contributed two pathfinders to the Bridge to TexShare–biography and demographics. I really enjoy teaching people about the possibilities of new technology and hope that the work we have done here will further that goal.

John Reid

I came to the University of Texas from beautiful Fort Worth, Texas, where I earned a degree in music theory from Texas Christian University. I'm attending the iSchool in the hopes of becoming an academic librarian, and perhaps specializing in music librarianship.

My contributions to the Bridge include subject pathfinders for music and homework help.

Loriene Roy

Dr. Roy worked as a medical radiologic technologist at the Yuma Regional Medical Center, Yuma, Arizona, as a reference librarian in adult services at the Yuma City-County Library, and as a research associate at the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana, prior to joining the School of Information faculty in January 1987. She has twice received the Excellence in Advising Award, as well as receiving the Texas Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr. Roy's research interests center on public libraries, measurement and evaluation of library services, reference services, public library services to children, services for Native Americans, collection management, and the history of public libraries and library education. She has published many articles and reports on reference evaluation and public-library use and services.

Keith Rutledge

I've been in Austin for a year now, and it just keeps getting better. I got my undergraduate in English from the University of Iowa and have worked in libraries for almost ten years. I was delighted to be accepted into the University of Texas School of Information.My contributions to the Rural Bridge to TexShare include a Literature Pathfinder and the Biographies page.

Danielle Skaggs

I grew up in southern California (so I thought I knew hot weather - until I met my nemesis, humidity, here in Austin) and earned a BS in Environmental Biology from the University of California, Davis. I spent the next eight years in Northern California, working at an environmental consulting firm and then as a technical writer for a software company.

I decided to become a librarian because I wanted to have more interaction with people in my career and because I like tracking down information. Since coming to the School of Information, I've decided to focus on reference and library instruction in academic libraries.

On this site, I created the tutorial on MasterFILE Premier and the sample question bank.

Henry Stokes

I'm Henry Stokes and I live in Austin with my wife Kelly and our two black cats Wyeth and Audrey. I moved here 11 years ago to pursue my undergraduate degree at UT. A part-time job at the Fine Arts Library shelving books while an undergrad led to various jobs throughout the libraries on campus, and eventually I secured a full-time position working with the management of electronic journals. I decided to pursue my Masters at the School of Information because I love finding obscure things, working in libraries, helping people, and making information more accessible and systems more usable.

In addition to revising the genealogy pathfinder and the search techniques page, I created original content for the digital art and painting pathfinders. Under the direction of the tech team, I also created a new icon for learning activities. I am excited to be part of a project that will help bring more useful information to people.

Adrian Whatley

I'm Adrian Whatley and I'm from Austin via El Paso, New Braunfels, and College Station. I'm a 5th generation Texan and a proud 2004 graduate of Texas A&M University. I came to the iSchool because I have always loved libraries and I'm excited about what the future holds for them. (Yes, Virginia, there is a librarian that is optimistic about the state of the field.) My contributions to the Bridge to TexShare Web site have been revising existing content and adding my own active learning activities.

David Wilson

I live in Austin, Texas with my wife Vanessa and two daughters, Fiona and Skye. I grew up in San Francisco, California, and still can’t get the ocean and fog out of my system. In my twenties, I gravitated first towards a career in film and television production. In fact, I originally moved to Austin to complete an MFA in Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas.

Now as a Master’s candidate at the School of Information, I’ve been able to merge several interests. My background in media has led very naturally to my work developing tutorials and other instructional materials that suit a variety of different learning styles. I’ve also pursued a related line of research here at the iSchool, evaluating different ways of delivering streaming video content over the web.

On the Rural Bridge site, I developed a database tutorial and an active-learning exercise for the Military and Government Collection. One last bit of trivia: my new baby daughter, Skye, arrived just two days after I completed my work on the site.

Rob Yazzie

Hello, my name is Rob Yazzie. I was born in Cortez, Colorado I am from the Dine (Navajo) tribe. My clans are born into the Slovenian people and born for Todachinii (bitter water). I received my undergraduate degree in Latin American History from Fort Lewis College. After completing my bachelor's degree I worked as a professional intern at the Delaney Library in the Center for Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College where I became interested in cataloging. I started School at the University of Texas in the Fall of 2004. I will graduate in August of 2006. I want to work in an academic setting in technical services, mainly cataloging. I would also like to serve as a mentor and encourage more Native American students to become librarians.

For this project I designed a site map and helped put together the biographies for this project. I will also be one of the four presenters at Duncanville.

Susan Zykorie

I am originally from the Houston area, came to UT Austin for undergrad in elementary education, got a teaching certificate and knew I wanted to go to grad school right away. I was interested in the Ischool and decided to come here. My contribution to TexShare was the Heritage Quest active learning activity and the Regional Business News Database Tutorial. Additionally, I reviewed the heritage quest database tutorial and the medline with MeSH database tutorial.