Connecticut Information Literacy Meeting
Friday, April 8, 2011
Hartford University
Harry Jack Gray Center
Speakers’ Biographies
Doris Cassiday – Charter Oak College, Distance Learning Information Literacy Curriculum
Charter Oak State College Assistant Director, Academic Programs and Academic Counselor guiding students in
28 of the 52 baccalaureate concentrations; library liaison; voting member, Academic Council; representative to Standing
Advisory Committee to Connecticut Board of Governors; founding member and former executive director, Charter Oak
State College Foundation, Inc.
Library involvement: Connecticut Council Academic Library Directors; member, Connecticut Board of
Governors Committee on Libraries; member, Connecticut Board of Governors Committee to Investigate State Virtual
Library; president, Southwestern Connecticut Library Council; vice chair, chair, Interagency Library Planning Committee
for State Library Board.
Education: University of Vermont, Bachelor of Arts, Biology major, Chemistry, minor; University of
Connecticut, post-graduate teacher certification; University of Chicago, University of New Hampshire, professional
development.
Susanna Cowan – University of Connecticut, Information Literacy: The Long View
Susanna leads the newish Undergraduate Education Team in the UConn Libraries, a team charged with
supporting "all things undergraduate" in the Libraries. Most of the team's work falls under two umbrellas:
instruction/information literacy and library-as-place.
Coming into librarianship with a PhD in English, Susanna has overseen the transition of the traditional Freshman
English information literacy program from a library-based program to one that combines modeling instruction for new
instructors and supporting them as they take on the mandatory information literacy component themselves. "Instruction"
has become a broad term that acknowledges the educational aspect of all of our interactions with undergraduates,
including face-to-face or virtual research help and our online guides and other materials.
Additionally, the team is very involved in the consideration of spaces in the library, both in the Learning
Commons and beyond. We work closely with library IT, facilities, and subject-based staff in our continued work to
improve services and spaces for undergraduates across both the library's physical-virtual landscape and the university at
large.
Lisa Kenyon – Mitchell College, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy program
Lisa Kenyon, MSLIS and Curriculum Support Librarian at Mitchell College, will share information about the
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy program which is currently embedded in the first year
program. Mitchell College is moving its curriculum towards an Ability Based Education model which will incorporate
ICT literacy throughout each program of study. Library instruction is being developed with each department to support
the advancement of the ICT literacy ability and to increase the level of proficiency throughout the four year experience.
Martha Kruy (Meeting Coordinator) – Norwalk Community College, Dual Standards Information Literacy
Competency Rubric
Martha received her M.L.S. degree from Southern Connecticut State University in 2005. She is currently working on a
second master’s degree in creative writing at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. She has held several professional
positions as Adjunct Reference Librarian and Instructor at the College of Mt. St. Vincent in the Bronx, as the Academic
Librarian at St Vincent’s College in Bridgeport, and an adjunct reference librarian at Fairfield University where she
continues to substitute. Similarly she has worked as an Adjunct I.L.S. Professor teaching Bibliographic Instruction at
Manhattanville College where she has taught a required credit-bearing information literacy course for three and half
years. Her role as librarian at Norwalk Community College is as an information literacy specialist as well as reference
librarian.
Susan Slaga – Central Connecticut State University, The Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Course
Susan Slaga is a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Central Connecticut State University Elihu Burritt Library. She is
also Vice Chair of the Connecticut Library Association College and University Libraries Section. Susan has presented on
podcasting and information literacy at several conferences. She is also a graduate of Simmons College.