Education

Master of Science, Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994.

Fields of Concentration: information organization and access

Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993.

Field of Concentration: sociological and cultural differences in literature

Professional Organization Affiliations

Indexing and Abstracting Society of Canada / Société canadienne pour l'analyse de documents (IASC / SCAD)

Member, 2003-2007

American Society of Indexers (ASI)

Co-author of the ASI Web Site, 1995

Webmaster, 1995 - 1997

Web Committee member, 1995 - 1998

Pacific Northwest Chapter, American Society of Indexers (PNW/ASI)

Chair, May 1998 - May 1999

Vice-Chair / Program Chair, May 1997 - May 1998

Webmaster, 1996 - present

Directory Coordinator, 1998-2000

Newsletter Coordinator, 1996-1998

Author of the Pacific Northwest ASI Web Site, 1996

Founding member, 1996

Traditional Employment

Deb Gilchrist, Pierce College's Dean of Library and Media Services, was interviewed for an article about my book Inside Indexing. She is quoted as saying the following about my work as a librarian: "Her ability to dissect a work and make a highly useful index is not only a gift for the authors she works with, but also for Pierce students since that same skill set works to make her an incredible reference librarian... Because she thinks so analytically, she can easily help students envision all of the ways they can approach a problem or a topic." Update (the Pierce College employee newsletter), Volume 28 Number 03.

Research and Knowledge Manager, Mud Bay, Inc (Olympia, WA), August 2008 - present.

Primary responsibilities:

• Research, write and edit documents on a wide variety of topics within the fields of dog and cat nutrition, health, behavior and care as well as about dog and cat food and the dog and cat food industry.
• Develop and refine effective ways to put Mud Bay’s dog and cat knowledge resources to work for Mud Bay’s customers and staff.
• Contribute to the training of store managers and staff and to the creation of training materials.
• Respond to non-veterinary dog and cat questions from staff, customers and other members of the community. Ensure that recommendations, solutions, and answers are factually correct, intellectually honest, scientifically valid, and reflect current scientific and cultural trends.
• Cultivate and support knowledge-relationships with outside experts and advisors.
• Assist marketing, inventory selection and merchandising efforts with research, writing and editing.
• Collaborate with the rest of the Knowledge and Research group and other Mud Bay staff in analyzing organizational performance, setting goals and in making and executing plans to achieve them.

Owner and service provider, Kari Kells, Pawfessional Pet Sitter (Olympia, WA), February 2008 - present.

Primary responsibility: Provide professional-quality pet nanny services to dogs and cats. Including:

• Monitoring general health of animals,
• Administering medications,
• Handling emergencies if they arise,
• And providing play-time and grooming.

Faculty, Graduate School Correspondence Program (Washington, DC), 1998 - present.

Primary responsibility: Teaching Basic Indexing, self-paced distance-learning course

Director of Technical Services, Highline Community College Library (Des Moines, WA), July 2007 - February 2008.

Random Acts of Recognition Award recipient for “above-and-beyond performance”
Primary responsibilities as Library Management Team member:

• Assisting in formulation of goals and objectives for the library
• Participating collaboratively in planning and development of library services
• Co-authoring library-wide policies and procedures
• Assisting in oversight of web site development and maintenance
• Assuming lead responsibility for library-wide projects as needed
• Member of the Exhibits Committee and Celebration Committee

Primary responsibilities in Technical Services department:

• Serving as backup System Administrator
• Serving as liaison to OCLC
• Hiring, supervising, and evaluating departmental staff
• Overseeing cataloging, authority control, physical processing, serials management, and acquisitions activity
• Determining and implementing best practices for technical services workflow and procedures
• Co-authoring and approving departmental policies, procedures, and standards
• Establishing routines and documentation for administering the bibliographic database and related areas of the library’s online catalog

Primary responsibilities as Reference Department member:

• Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members
• Participating in weekly Reference Department meetings
• Providing course-integrated instruction
• Acting as Library liaison to Music department
• Assuming lead responsibility for collection development in Music
• Assisting with web site maintenence of subject guides

Library Faculty, Pierce College Library (Tacoma, WA), Jan 1999 - June 2007. Our library won the 2005 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).

Primary responsibilities:

• Performing variety of technical Services activities, primiarliy cataloging.
• Assuming sole responsibility for authority control
• Collaborating with other librarians for collection development
• Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members
• Providing course-integrated instruction
• Assuming lead responsibility for writing and maintaining handouts
• Assisting with web site development and maintenance

Adjunct Faculty, School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University, Spring 2003.

Primary responsibility: teaching Indexing and Abstracting (LI 842XO) at their Portland, OR site.

Faculty, Library Technician Program, Highline Community College (Des Moines, WA), Sept 1998 - March 1999.

Primary responsibility: Instructor for LIBR 105: Information Literacy

Library Faculty, Highline Community College Library (Des Moines, WA), Sept 1997 - Dec 1998.

Primary responsibilities:

• Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members
• Providing course-integrated instruction
• Assuming lead responsibility for collection development in areas of Chiropractic, Computer Science, and Languages and Literature

Faculty, University of Washington's Department of Technical Communication (Seattle, WA), 1998 - present (occasionally).

Primary responsibility: Teaching Basic Indexing

Library Faculty, Pierce College Library (Tacoma, WA), Nov 1995 - June 1997.

Primary responsibilities:

• Providing internet training for faculty and staff. Assuming primary responsibility for developing, scheduling, creating handouts for, and teaching classes on Internet basics (including: e-mail, telnet, gopher, FTP), advanced email (.signature files, encoding formatted files, configuring PINE, UNIX commands), web surfing, and web site design.
• Assuming primary responsibility for creating and maintaining web site
• Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members
• Providing course-integrated instruction

Librarian, Reference and Research Services, University of Washington Libraries (Seattle, WA), Sept 1994 - July 1995 (temporary)

Primary responsibilities:

• Assuming primary responsibility for developing, planning, scheduling, recruiting librarians for instruction, and teaching workshops for specific databases; course-integrated instruction; mediated searches; individual consultation requests; and tours of the Suzzallo Library
• Developing and teaching classes for returning and transfer students
• Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members
• Acting as liaison with Undergraduate Library

Library staff, Undergraduate Library, University of Illinois (Urbana, IL), Aug 1993 - Aug 1994 (temporary)

Primary responsibilities:

• Providing traditional reference service for students, faculty, and community members
• Participating in written anonymous reference ("Question Board")
• Participating in volunteered for individual research consultations ("Term Paper Research Counseling")
• Providing course-integrated instruction
• Supervising library assistants

Instruction

I've taught a variety of workshops, seminars, and classes since 1994.

See my Presentations and Publications web page for a comprehensive look at those experiences.

Please see my Classes, Workshops, and Seminars web page for the most up-to-date information about my instruction.

Publications

I've written articles for several professional publications since 1996. See my Presentations and Publications web page for a comprehensive look at those writings.

Contact Kari

Copyright ©, Kari Kells.