ALAO Mentor Biographies

Cara Calabrese

Head, Acquisitions

IU-Bloomington

Areas of expertise: Collections, Technical Services/Metadata, Administration/Management, Accessibility, Service to the profession/Leadership (leading orgs like ALAO, NOTSL, ALA's NMRT & Core), quasi tenure process (achieved promotion) & currently working through Tenure at current job, licensing.

Professional background: I have worked in libraries since 2009 and as a librarian with an MLIS since 2015. I have always worked in Tech Services with a primary focus in Acquisitions and Electronic Resources. I have worked in medium and large academic libraries and within several consortia/systems (FLVC, BTAA, OhioLINK, UW System). In the last 4-6 years I have also focused on building/improving the environment in which we work through team building, supporting staff needs, caring for the wellness not just the work a person does. I my career I've moved from staff to librarian and gained progressively more responsibility. ( supervising 1 to leading a department). Research wise I have been working on a qualitative research project regarding MLIS education and interviewing Librarians about their management styles. I have been involved in over 85 presentations and can share/give advise on collaborating with others and writing proposals/presenting at various venues.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience?: Increased connection to the field and support. Knowing where they can look to for their professional needs, maybe interest in a leadership role within ALAO or another organization.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations). ALAO, ALA, Core, NMRT, GameRT, NOTSL- Board games, video games (playing stardew, watching streamers, etc)

Heather Crozier

Electronic Resource Librarian

Ohio Northern University

Areas of expertise: Accessibility, Electronic Resources

Professional background: I have worked in public, community college, and university libraries. I also work at a small university which allows me to wear a lot of different hats. In addition to e-resources, I do collection development, co-administer Alma, manage Primo and the library's website, serve as a liaison to different academic (business, criminal justice, nursing, psychology, theatre, and music) and service departments, teach, handle the library's social media, create videos, and am part of our marketing committee. I believe I can be most helpful for someone who needs to balance multiple responsibilities.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience? I would hope that my mentee would gain confidence and grow as a professional, in addition to gaining a supportive colleague from a different institution.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations). I've been very involved with ALAO. I have volunteered as an adult literacy tutor for the last 13 years. My research interest is chronic illness/nonapparent disabilities in librarianship, as I have a chronic illness.

Jenny Donley

Cataloging and Knowledge Architect Librarian

Ohio Northern University

Areas of expertise: Technical Services/Metadata, Our library is small, so I do a little bit of everything, but my expertise is Tech Services.

Professional background: I am the sole cataloger at a smaller private university, which means I get to do a little bit of everything. My primary responsibilities are copy/original cataloging and catalog maintenance, and my secondary responsibilities are systems and some e-resource loading. I also take part in our reference and instruction services, collection development and liaison program, and outreach/marketing. My experience with juggling very different types of responsibilities would make me a good mentor for someone who finds themselves in a similar scenario with a very diverse set of responsibilities. I am also involved in university governance and have gone through the faculty tenure and post-tenure processes.

What do you hope your mentee gains form the mentoring experience? I hope they would gain ideas about workload balance and how to approach very different types of work/situations throughout the day. Because every day for me varies so much, I've worked hard over the years to find the best way to stay on top of my different deadlines, as well as to stay current with on-going processes that do not have deadlines.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): I am a reader, an animal lover (especially big dogs), and I am attempting to become an official native plant gardener. I'm involved with our local public library's Friends of the Library group, and I am a big fan of long walks or bicycle rides around our village.

Kathryn (Kathy) Fisher

Health Professions Librarian

Cleveland State University

Areas of expertise: Public Services, Instruction and Research Support, Health Sciences Librarianship

Professional background: I began my library career in an academic law library while attending library school, coinciding with the formation of OhioLINK. I gained valuable experience working in Government Documents and Bindery there for five years. I then spent fourteen years at a busy inner-ring suburban public library in the Cleveland area, where I served as Teen Librarian, Local History Librarian, and Adult Services Librarian (not all at the same time!). In my next position, I became the Nursing Librarian at a small private college. While in that role, I was promoted to unit manager and then Assistant Director. In 2022, I was hired into my current position as Health Professions Librarian at CSU. I can offer a mentee a lot of empathy, a listening ear, and a variety of insights gained from a rewarding career in librarianship that includes experience in special libraries, public libraries, academic libraries, technical services, public services, reference and instruction, and management.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience? I started my career with one path in mind, but ended up going in a very different direction. My goals evolved as I embraced opportunities that were available to me, and I hope my mentee will benefit from the perspective I’ve cultivated. I am a responsive and open person, committed to fostering a relationship with my mentee based on mutual curiosity, acceptance, and respect. I can provide insight on professional goals, serve as a sounding board, and offer feedback as needed.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): I enjoy reading (of course), and I watch and re-watch a lot of rom-coms (edgy rather than sappy). I also like going for walks, particularly in the woods or by Lake Erie. I love being near the water. I have 2 cats, but I also love dogs (especially greyhounds, but also other medium- to large-sized breeds). My volunteer experiences include Cleveland Food Bank, Mobilize the Vote, and the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. My favorite professional activity is one-on-one research appointments with students – I enjoy learning about the topics they are interested in and I find it very rewarding to see them engage in more thoughtful research practices.

Michael Flierl

Associate Professor & Student Learning Librarian

The Ohio State University

Areas of expertise: Public Services, Instruction and Research Support, Administration/Management, Assessment and Strategy, Emerging Technologies (including Artificial Intelligence), Digital Humanities, Data Science

Professional background: I had 5 years of experience working at Purdue in a faculty development program, focusing on information literacy and programmatic assessment. The past 7 years I've worked at Ohio State managing reference services (called Ask Us) at the main library on the Columbus Campus--this involved heavy use of student staff as well as standing up a peer-coaching/tutoring program. Finally, I've developed expertise in AI in the past few years, serving as the inaugural Provost AI Fellow for Ohio State.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience? I hope to give practical advice but also to challenge any mentee to think of themselves in a different, more positive light. Academic librarians are capable of so much more if we only allow ourselves. Case in point--I believe we are extremely well-positioned to provide campus leadership on AI given our expertise in information literacy, navigating new technologies, and being a values-driven profession.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): I love board games, working out, and reading sci-fi.

Jane Hammons

Head of Teaching and Learning

The Ohio State University

Areas of expertise: Instruction and Research Support

Professional background: I have been a librarian for nearly 20 years, including in a staff role, a non-tenure track faculty role, and a tenured faculty role. I am now a department head. I can offer advice on transitioning between different roles and managing the requirements of being on the tenure-track. I also have significant publication and presentation experience, and I am now a journal editor, so I can also offer advice on navigating the publication process. I have a lot of experience teaching in different contexts as well, including one-shots and credit courses.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience?: I hope they feel supported in navigating challenges they might be facing, whether they be instructional or professional.

Michelle Henley

Discovery and User Experience Manager

Ohio State University Libraries

Areas of expertise: Digital/Technology Services

Professional background: I have managed library systems like Sierra, Alma, WorldCat Local and others for over 20 years.  Improving the user experience is a high priority for me, so I meet with stakeholders, identify user problems and recommend improvements based on usability testing, surveys and other methods of UX.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience?  I hope my mentee can see me as a sounding board for questions or concerns they are working through and would like to hear the perspective of others.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): I love to go to thrift stores, and search for treasure.

Kathy Ladell

Librarian

University of Cincinnati Clermont College

Areas of expertise: Public Services, Collections, Instruction and Research Support, Community Engagement/Programming, Scholarly Communication/Data

Professional background: I began my career as a public librarian in a library district where 50% of the households speak Spanish.  This is not where I wanted to be because I had always want to work in academic libraries managing materials in Spanish and using my second language.  It took me 7 years to finally get my first appointment at a four year institution.  I learned a lot about how academic libraries work and I can share that with a mentee.  

I also have a lot of experience in outreach and public services.  Many of my jobs before I became a librarian were working with members of the community.  I strongly believe in giving back to the community whether it be the library community, or the community where I live.  Because of this strong value, I am involved in professional library organizations which provide me with the added benefit of getting to know other librarians in the profession to build my network.  I feel that I could help a mentee who is interested in outreach and public services by these experiences.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience?  I hope that a mentee would gain more confidence in their work and in the profession from our mentoring relationship.  I have experience in navigating the job market, a new academic library and acquiring tenure that would be useful to a mentee.  I am able to give constructive feedback and provide ideas for possible bumps or detours in their career path.

Mentoring for me is part of service to the library profession.  Service is an aspect of my job that I really enjoy because it is giving back to the profession.  Besides the service part, it is exciting to watch someone change and evolve in their career.

Krista McDonald

Director

Rentschler Library, Miami University

Areas of expertise: Public Services, Collections, Instruction and Research Support, Administration/Management, Accessibility

Professional background: I began my career as a public librarian in a library district where 50% of the households speak Spanish.  This is not where I wanted to be because I had always want to work in academic libraries managing materials in Spanish and using my second language.  It took me 7 years to finally get my first appointment at a four year institution.  I learned a lot about how academic libraries work and I can share that with a mentee.

I also have a lot of experience in outreach and public services.  Many of my jobs before I became a librarian were working with members of the community.  I strongly believe in giving back to the community whether it be the library community, or the community where I live.  Because of this strong value, I am involved in professional library organizations which provide me with the added benefit of getting to know other librarians in the profession to build my network.  I feel that I could help a mentee who is interested in outreach and public services by these experiences. 

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience?  I want to help my mentee achieve whatever goals they set for themselves for during our time together. The mentoring relationship is driven by the mentee's goals and objectives and I hope I can play a role in helping them reach theirs.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): I have been very active with ALAO and OhioLINK throughout my career. I have served on a variety of DEI-related committees through those organizations, within Miami University, and in my community. One of my favorite things at my job is working with the Teachers Ed program and buying children's materials for the library. But I also love working with the epidemiology class and am known as "disease girl" because I read everything I can find about interesting infectious diseases. I have deep ties to my local queer community as I serve on the board of Hamilton Ohio Pride and help organize our city's annual Pride festival. I'm also a single parent to 3 teens and 3 cats. I was a history major in my undergrad, go to a lot of rock concerts and sports events, and am a Marvel nerd.

Gerald Natal

Associate Professor, Health and Human Services Librarian, AI Fellow, Chair 

The University of Toledo

Areas of expertise: Instruction and Research Support, Not "expert," but new to library administration position and an AI Fellow through the Provost's Office

Professional background: I started my professional career in a prison library before moving to academia. I am a tenured faculty member and former board member and president of ALAO. I just began my term as chair of the library faculty. I feel confident that I can help a mentee to achieve whatever goals they have in the areas of instruction, research, tenure and/or promotion, and leadership. I can speak to my experience with AI I, as I was on my institution's AI steering committee and currently co-chair the AI implementation team. I have been around long enough to experience the ups and downs of working in an academic library as both staff and librarian.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience? I would like to cultivate in my mentee enthusiasm for their work in an academic library setting, and I hope that they are able to obtain the required knowledge to achieve their goals in this program, plus that they are inspired to be mentors to others in the future.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): I am a musician who likes all types of music (I play in a cover band), a fan of popular culture (movies, books, comics, etc.), a Navy veteran, and active in my church as a council member musician (I am not limiting myself to non-churchgoers).

Allen Reichert

Electronic Access Librarian

Otterbein University

Areas of expertise: Digital/Technology Services, Instruction and Research support, intellectual property

Professional background: I have a lot of experience at a small institution. I can talk about reference, instruction, liaison work, collection development and other aspects of librarianship. I have been active with OhioLINK since the mid-2000s and I've been active with ALAO. I've had a leadership role with both of these organizations.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience?  More knowledge about statewide organizations. An opportunity to talk through different processes in the library.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): movies; mail art (atcs); haiku & other Japanese poetry forms

Mira Scarnecchia

OER Librarian

Columbus State Community College

Areas of expertise: Public Services, Instruction and Research Support, Community Engagement/Programming

Professional background: I am currently in my fourth year as a librarian at Columbus State Community College. I work with faculty on creating OER resources, co-manage the library's Instagram, create and run outreach programs for students, staff our reference desk and chat, and conduct library instruction sessions. I am also involved in ALAO and am currently Vice President. I have served as a mentor both formally and informally.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience?  I would be happy to be someone that an individual at another institution can turn to for perspective on their workplace wins and concerns that does not work at their institution, which is a valuable resource. I would also be happy to talk to them about being involved in ALAO and other professional development organizations. I got a lot out of this program, and would love the chance to connect with a mentee and assist them in their career development.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): Reading, The Mindy Project, Trying new restaurants in my city with friends : )

Kari Siders

Library Director

Wilmington College

Areas of expertise: Public Services, Instruction and Research Support, Administration/Management

Professional background: I have been in manager or director roles for 15 years at various libraries, including two-year and four-year institutions. With these roles, especially in smaller libraries, I have a wide breath of knowledge in libraries.

What motivates you to serve as a mentor? Mentees in any successful mentoring experience should grow in their knowledge or skills through a supportive and encouraging mentoring relationship.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): My side hobbies include playing board games and traveling. Within the library world though I serve as a board member for my local library and a local reading program collaboration with public libraries.

Andrew Walsh

Instruction and Assessment Librarian

Sinclair Community College

Areas of expertise: Public Services, Collections, Instruction and Research Support, Community Engagement/Programming, Assessment and Strategy, Emerging Technologies (including Artificial Intelligence), Digital Humanities, Data Science

Professional background: I've worked at Sinclair for 13 years, which has included coordinating our instruction program; leading assessment efforts; working across the college on committees and working teams dedicated to student success, OER, AI, and more; and serving as liaison to the Health Sciences division but also working closely with the English department. I can offer experiences and insight into reference, instruction, assessment, collection development, and outreach. I have also published research articles and given many presentations on these topics.

What do you hope your mentee gains from the mentoring experience? A new outlet to discuss challenges and ideas; new practical knowledge about relevant aspects of their role or roles; increased confidence and satisfaction for their role in the field.

Please describe any special interest that may be helpful in matching you and your mentee (i.e. hobbies, special skills, service, or volunteer organizations): Very interested in local history, urban planning/redevelopment (especially relevant being at Sinclair's downtown campus), Spanish language (although my skills are getting quite rusty)