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Amy Eklund
Daniel J. Kaufman Library at Georgia Gwinnett College
Bio
Amy Eklund is head of collections and assistant professor at the Daniel J. Kaufman Library at Georgia Gwinnett College, where she guides and participates in acquisitions, cataloging, resource management, and systems work. She received a B.M. in flute performance at Southern Methodist University (SMU) and an M.S. in library science at the University of North Texas. Prior to graduate work, in a part-time position at SMU’s DeGolyer Library, she arranged and cataloged archival and digitized materials. In a previous role as Director of Library Technical Services at Georgia Perimeter College (now Georgia State University), she arranged and processed college archive materials. She is active in the Georgia Library Association and statewide committees, and has presented on collections and technical services topics at state and national conferences.
Angela Stanley
Georgia Public Library Service
Bio
Angela Stanley is assistant state librarian for innovation and collaboration for Georgia Public Library Service, where she supports shared resources for Georgia's 60 public library systems, including tools and services like access to electronic databases, ebooks, and primary source material. From 2016-2022 she served as director of archival services and digital initiatives. Prior to joining the state library team, she served as head of archives and special collections at the Athens Regional Library System, and senior librarian for the New York Public Library. She is past president of the Society of Georgia Archivists, is a Certified Archivist and digital archives specialist, and holds her Master of Library and Information Science and certificate in archives, preservation, and records management from Queens College, City University of New York.
Ashley Rockwell
Georgia State University Library
Bio
Ashley Rockwell (she/her) is the data literacy and learning specialist in the Research Data Services Department at Georgia State University Library. Ashley is leading the development, implementation, and assessment of the Get Data Ready! Initiative and the Public Interest Data Literacy (PIDLit) Learning Lab. Her work focus on building data literacy curriculum and programming for undergraduates. She believes expanding data literacy will not only make students more hirable, bettering their individual futures, but can empower students with the tools to understand social issues and implement social change.
Ashley Shull
Athens Regional Library System
Bio
Ashley Shull currently serves as the archives and special collections coordinator at the Athens Regional Library System. She manages the Heritage Room at the Athens-Clarke County Library and serves on the leadership team for the 11 branch Athens Regional Library System. A great believer in storytelling via original records, she strives to bring vivid, accurate historical context to instructional genealogy and history programming. Shull earned her MLIS from Valdosta State University, Master in Arts in secondary education from Georgia College & State University and attended the Georgia Archives Institute.
Catherine Jannik Downey
Daniel J. Kaufman Library at Georgia Gwinnett College
Bio
Catherine Jannik Downey is the department head of access services and information commons and associate professor in the Daniel J. Kaufman Library at Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, Ga. Her responsibilities include the archives and institutional repository, and she is on the advisory group for the Digital Humanities Lab. She received her A.B. in History and Government from Sweet Briar College. She received her MLIS and M.A. in history from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is one of the founding organizers of the Access Services Conference. She has served on statewide committees, ALA-LITA committees, and as a reviewer for the Southeastern Library Association journal. She has authored a book chapter, co-authored two articles, and has given numerous presentations on topics including institutional repositories, electronic theses and dissertations, RFID, and civil rights.
Cruz Pardo
Mango Languages
Bio
Cruz Paniagua Pardo is a Senior Customer Success Manager at Mango Languages. She has been working at Mango Languages for over 2 years and has over 10 years of experience working at a community library in Northern Michigan. She is very passionate about libraries and the value that libraries bring to the community. Her favorite part of the job as a Customer Success Manager is working with librarians across the country and helping them promote the importance of language learning. Cruz is also bilingual in English and Spanish, and is currently learning French.
Deborah George
Gwinnett Technical College
Bio
Deborah George is the director of library services at Gwinnett Technical College. She has worked in public and academic libraries for many years in various roles. Georgia earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the University of Texas at Austin and master's degree in library and information science from Florida State University.
GALILEO Staff
Bio
To view a list of all GALILEO staff, click here.
Joshua Kitchens
Georgia Public Library Service
Bio
Joshua Kitchens is currently the director of archival services and digital initiatives for the Georgia Public Library Service. Josh previously served as the director of archives and information studies programs at Clayton State University. He was responsible for managing the program and teaching various courses, including Law and Records, Digital Preservation, and many others. Before working at Clayton State, Josh was an archivist for special collections at the Georgia College Ina Dillard Russell Library. He was responsible for digital collections, the library’s institutional repository known as the Knowledge Box, and university archives.
He holds a bachelor's degree in history from Georgia College, a master's degree in applied history from George Mason University, and a master of archival studies from Clayton State University. Joshua is also a Certified Archivist.
Julie Walker
Georgia Public Library Service
Bio
Julie Walker is Georgia’s state librarian and vice chancellor for libraries and archives for the University System of Georgia. She has held professional positions in library systems in Athens, Georgia, and Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Asheboro, North Carolina. She is a past president of the Georgia Library Association, and associate editor of the Georgia Library Quarterly. Walker holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and the Master of Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a graduate of the University System of Georgia’s Accelerated Leadership Academy, USG’s Executive Leadership Institute and Leadership Athens. She serves as vice president/president-elect of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) and as chair of COSLA's Public Policy Committee. She is a member of the ALA Committee on Advocacy and a coach with the Public Library Association’s Leadership Institute. Walker is a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, the advisory boards of Valdosta State University’s School of Library and Information Science, and the University of Georgia’s Certified Public Manager program. She serves on the Georgia state board for the certification of librarians, OCLC's Global Council, and the Georgia 4-H board.
Kassie McLaughlin
EBSCO Information Services
Bio
Kassie McLaughlin, MLIS is a Library Services Engineer at EBSCO, where she works as a technical and product expert for FOLIO. Her passion lies in helping libraries utilize technology to make their collections discoverable and accessible. Before joining EBSCO, she worked at Rockhurst University as an Electronic Resources Librarian and at the University of Notre Dame as the Head of Resource Acquisition and Access. She also has experience in public libraries and special libraires in Indiana and Iowa.
Kate Hill
EBSCO Information Services
Bio
No Bio available at this time.Ken Henslee
GALILEO
Bio
Ken Henslee has been with GALILEO support for 14 years and has been responsible for maintaining central GALILEO resources and GALILEO statistics. He has a degree in music performance from the University of Georgia.
Kendall Bartsch
Third Iron
Bio
Kendall Bartsch is the co-founder and CEO of Third Iron who works with an amazing team to deliver BrowZine and LibKey to over 1,000 libraries around the world. Third Iron services deliver next-generation solutions that simplify and improve access to content, all while keeping the library at the heart of the research process.
Kevin Cottrell
GIL/GALILEO
Bio
No Bio available at this time.Kiawana Kennedy
Georgia Public Broadcasting
Bio
Kiawana Kennedy is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and has proudly served the students, families, and communities of metro Atlanta and surrounding areas for more than 30 years. Her educational accomplishments include a Bachelor of Science Degree in middle grades education from West Georgia College and a master's degree, as well as a specialist degree in administration and supervision from State University of West Georgia. In 2000, Kennedy graduated from the University of Georgia where she earned a doctoral degree in educational leadership.
The roles in which she has honed her craft by ensuring quality learning for all include serving as an elementary and middle school teacher, an assistant principal at the middle school level, principal of multiple levels, and district level positions including director of curriculum and instruction, chief operating officer, assistant superintendent as well as deputy superintendent. She currently serves as an education outreach specialist for Georgia Public Broadcasting, where she continues to support education across the state of Georgia.
Kristin Johnson
Clarivate
Bio
Kristin Johnson is one of the training and consulting Partners for ProQuest - Part of Clarivate. She joined ProQuest in 2022 after about 15 years in the library world. The majority of her time was spent in academic libraries, but she also enjoyed her time in youth services. She holds an MS in Library and Information Science from Dominican University. She is from Chicago, but now lives in Texas.
Leigh Hall
Chattahoochee Technical College
Bio
Leigh Hall is director of libraries at Chattahoochee Technical College. Leigh has worked in academic libraries for over 25 years in reference, instruction, archives, interlibrary loan, systems, and administration. She received her MSLS from Clark Atlanta University in 1993.
Lucy Harrison
GALILEO
Bio
Lucy Harrison is assistant vice chancellor for academic library services at the University System of Georgia, as well as the executive director of GALILEO. She has served in her position since 2016. Before that, Harrison was the director of library services for the Florida Virtual Campus, and she also served in various roles at the College Center for Library Automation in Florida. She received her master's degree in library and information sciences from Florida State University.
Mandy Mastrovita
Digital Library of Georgia
Bio
Mandy Mastrovita is a digital projects librarian, certified digital marketing professional, and creative professional who develops and or/remediates digital resources and their metadata in support of initiatives including but not limited to the Digital Library of Georgia's Georgia-related content, its subgranting program, and the federally-supported Civil Rights Digital Library.
Meredith Evans
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
Bio
Meredith Evans was appointed director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in November 2015. She is the first African American woman to direct a presidential library. As director she focuses on civic engagement, the role of the presidency and public policy, and making accessible the records of President Carter, his Cabinet and the White House administration. Evans has expertise in selection, acquisition and preservation of print, audio, visual and digital collections, management, library-wide staff development, fundraising, and community engagement. She has written on the role and value of museums, libraries and archives and has presented at various international and national conferences. Evans earned a master's degree in library science from Clark Atlanta University and master’s degree in public history at North Carolina State University and her doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Miguel Figueroa
Amigos Library Services
Bio
Miguel Figueroa is president and CEO of Amigos Library Services, a nonprofit membership-based organization dedicated to serving libraries. He has previously held positions with the American Library Association (Center for the Future of Libraries, Office for Diversity & Spectrum Scholarship Program, Office for Literacy and Outreach Services), the American Theological Library Association, New York University Medical Center, and Neal-Schuman Publishers. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Knowledge River Program, an initiative that examines library issues from Hispanic and Native American perspectives.
Rachel Evans
UGA Alexander Campbell King Law Library
Bio
Rachel Evans serves as the University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library's metadata Services and special collections librarian. Previously, she worked as UGA School of Law's web coordinator and has served various roles in three other libraries since 2008. She earned her bachelor's degrees in art and music from LaGrange College and her Master of Library and Information Science from Florida State University.
Reginald Gravely
Georgia State University
Bio
Reginald Gravely (he/they) is a graduate research assistant in the Research Data Services Department at Georgia State University Library, partnered with GALILEO. Reginald is a part of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies pursuing a Master of Public Policy with a focus on social policy. His work focuses on developing data literacy curriculum and tools to build data skills within social movements. He believes that supporting individuals in expanding data skills most relevant to their work and interests will best enable them to approach social movement and systems change in an impactful way.
Renee Hobbs
Media Education Lab & University of Rhode Island
Bio
Renee Hobbs is one of the world’s leading authorities on digital and media literacy education. As a teacher, researcher, activist, and media professional, she has offered programs for educators on four continents and produced some of the leading empirical research on the subject. She has published more than 200 scholarly and professional publications on digital and media literacy education, digital learning, contemporary propaganda, and copyright and fair use.
Renee Hobbs is the author of 12 books on media literacy education, including Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age, which won the 2021 PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Science from the American Association of Publishers. With Paul Mihailidis, she is the editor of The International Encyclopedia on Media Literacy, the two-volume edition that offers a state-of-the-art look at the interdisciplinary and global practice of digital and media literacy education. She is also the founding co-editor of the Journal of Media Literacy Education, the peer-reviewed, open access journal of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).
Renee Hobbs has spoken at the United Nations and consulted extensively with educators, school leaders, and government officials in Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, Greece, Lebanon, Netherlands, and many other countries. Hobbs is the Founder of the Media Education Lab, an online community that reached 20,000 users from 66 countries in 2023. At the University of Rhode Island, Hobbs serves as Professor of Communication and Education and the Co-Director of the Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy, a professional development program for educators and librarians. She earned an Ed.D. from Harvard University and an M.A. and B.A. from the University of Michigan. https://www.reneehobbs.com/
Rita King
Infobase
Bio
Rita King is a senior sales specialist at Infobase, supporting early academic researchers and faculty members. Rita has worked in libraries for more than 15 years in various roles before moving to a library vendor role. She worked at Baker & Taylor as a cataloging workflow specialist for six years and has recently joined the team at Infobase. She is an active member of the American Library Associate and received her MLIS from Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., in 2003.
Russell Palmer
GALILEO
Bio
Russell Palmer is an assistant director at GALILEO, where he is in charge of the support services team. He and his team work on the development of GALILEO, new intergrations (such as OpenAthens), sand ystem report requests. Prior to GALILEO, Palmer worked at LYRASIS for 14 years in various positions. He received his master's degree in library and information science from Florida State University.
Scott Coning
Baker & Taylor
Bio
Scott Coning has been in the book industry for more than 30 years, in the United Kingdom, Europe and now in the U.S. He has contributed at all organizational levels from store cashier to leading the board and chairing industry committees. Today he is excited to be working with Baker & Taylor to find new ways to advance and strengthen the impact of libraries in our communities.
Sean Purcell
GIL/GALILEO
Bio
No Bio available at this time.Sheila McAlister
Digital Library of Georgia
Bio
Sheila McAlister is the director of the Digital Library of Georgia, an initiative of GALILEO and the University System of Georgia. She has worked at the Digital Library of Georgia for the past 20 years, including positions as associate director, assistant director and project manager. She received her master’s degree in library and information science from University of South Carolina and a master’s degree from The Catholic University of America, where she studied medieval and byzantine studies.
Tamika Strong
Georgia Archives
Bio
Tamika Strong is a collection/reference archivist at the Georgia Archives, who has a love for sharing information. A professionally trained librarian, she spent 15 years serving Georgia’s citizens as a librarian in the DeKalb County Public Library System and the Georgia Public Library Service. Since becoming an archivist several years ago, she assists researchers by connecting them to the vast resources available at the Georgia Archives.
Whitney Payne
Georgia Public Library Service
Bio
Whitney Payne is the director of research and statistics at Georgia’s state library agency. In her role as state data coordinator (SDC) for Georgia’s 60 public libraries, she is responsible for coordinating the annual report and other surveys. She focuses on training library staff involved with statistics and collaborates with them concerning library statistics needs. She provides Georgia library statistics at the local, state, and national levels. As an SDC mentor, she is a member of the national Library Statistics Working Group (LSWG) and serves on several subcommittees. Previously, she worked for 16 years at three public library systems in Kentucky and Georgia and held varied positions including branch manager, business services director, and programming coordinator. She has a bachelor's degree in accounting and an MLIS from the University of Kentucky.