For the moment, the content for this site is provided solely by yours truly: Kathleen Houlihan (although I’d love an email from anyone who’d like to become a contributer… send it to my gmail account [librarynation]). I’m a recent graduate of the School of Information (iSchool) at The University of Texas at Austin (now that’s a mouthful!). In the spring of 2008, I completed my Masters of Science in Information Studies, with a portfolio in Nonprofit Studies.
I started this blog so that I could begin participating in the conversation about libraries and marketing, and also to work out some of the kinks in my own ideas in a public forum where feedback and criticism would be possible.
I am particularly interested in library management, especially as it relates to strategic planning, advocacy, marketing, branding, communication, and creating a sense of community ownership in libraries. I currently work as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Fine Arts Library at UT, and as a reference intern at the Austin Public Library. I also completed a portfolio in Nonprofit Studies at the RGK Center for Philanthropy where I learned about grantwriting, leadership and community engagement, strategic planning, and audience segmentation and assessment.
The more I am exposed to librarianship the more I am certain that I have found my calling. Not only that, but in the course of becoming a librarian, I’ve become a better person. I’ve tried new things, challenged myself professionally and personally, become a volunteer at two different nonprofits, and gotten involved in political advocacy for causes I believe in for the first time in my life. All this makes me want, more than ever, to give back to the community that’s served me so well. I want libraries world-wide to shake things up, not just remind people that we’re here, but rightfully claim the territory that should be our domain – the organization, management, and training in the navigation of information.
