Kate Marek

Karen Brown and Kate Marek, Graduate School of Library and Information Science Associate Professors, have been named Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) Outstanding Researchers for 2005 by the LAMA Research Interest Group.  Professors Brown and Marek are being honored for their article in Library Administration and Management, entitled "Librarianship and Change: A Consideration of Weick’s ‘Drop Your Tools’ Metaphor."  The article was chosen by a panel of reviewers for its furtherance of research and publication on topics related to administration and management issues within libraries.

Professors Brown and Marek will be recognized for their achievement at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans in June 2006.

In December, Kate Marek, assistant professor, participated in a Suburban Library System panel presentation on the USA Patriot Act and libraries. Her presentation focused on that act within the context of libraries’ core values and its impact on library services and programs. Marek also attended the ALA Information Commons Committee meeting at the January ALA midwinter meeting in San Diego. The Information Commons Committee, a subcommittee of ALA’s Office of Information Technology Policy (OITP), is working to investigate the role of libraries in ensuring the availability of open, equitable and sustained access to ideas in an information society. Marek was appointed to the committee last fall.

Has co-authored "Web Logs as Indices of Electronic Journal Use: Tools for Identifying a ’C lassic’ Article" with adjunct professor Ed Valuaskas. The article will appear in the upcoming issue of Libri, The International Journal of Libraries and Information Services (Volume 52, number 4). Marek conducted a series of discussion workshops for the North Suburban Library District titled "Food for Thought;" she led a workshop for the St. Paul, MN Public Library on emerging issues in reference services; and she worked with several schools on Internet literacy. She also contributed material to a North Suburban Library System youth services training manual.