Featured alum: Valerie Aucoin (’19) just graduated from SIS and is currently interviewing for youth librarian positions across the country. She will be attending the American Library Association conference this week in Washington, D.C. as a volunteer, after she helped lead the student ALA chapter at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Why UTK? I had […]
October is National Archives Month, and we’ll be running a series of articles celebrating the importance of this area of information sciences. “National Archives Month is an opportunity for us all to think about the importance of archives and archival collecting in our world of information. Archivists collect, arrange, describe, and preserve documents that reflect every aspect of our lives, from our work time to our recreation time, our families, friends, and neighborhoods. For me, being an archivist means looking deeply into the experience of human life and finding what stories need to be kept, nurtured, and shared with future generations. When I teach Introduction to Archives and Records Management, I have a chance to share that passion with the next generation of archivists, and am delighted to find the same passion for keeping and sharing stories in others!”- Emil Hoelter, information sciences lecturer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Alumni Q&A’s introduce us to School of Information Sciences graduates and lets them describe, in their own words, why they went into Information Sciences, and what they’re doing with their degree.
Alumni: Taylor Hixson (’14)
Position: Librarian for Geospatial Services at New York University Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates
What does your current job entail? As the Librarian for Geospatial Services at NYUAD, my primary focus is to make sure library patrons and the campus community are able to access and use the geospatial software, data, and resources they need to do coursework or research. I work with faculty to incorporate geographic information–from desktop and web GIS (geographic information system) to physical maps and spatial datasets–into courses. I assist students who are using GIS in courses and capstone research. I also do a lot of drop-in workshops that introduce attendees to geospatial data, tools, and research. I work in a small library, so I have shared library responsibilities, too, such as reference shifts and general library programs.
