AAASS National Convention 2009
AAASS Roundtable (jointly organized by ACRL SEES and AAASS members)
11-02 Librarianship as Career Path for Scholars in Slavic and Eurasian Studies - (Rountable) Saturday, 1:00 P.M. – 2:45 P.M. Rooms: St. Botolph
Sponsored by: AAASS Bibliography and Documentation CommitteeThe purpose of this roundtable is to inform graduate students and student advisors about career opportunities that combine Slavic and Eurasian Studies and librarianship. Librarianship means different things to different people. For some it is primarily bibliography and collection development; for others it may include instruction, cataloging, or administration; it may involve digital projects, exhibitions, and community outreach; and in some cases it includes means all of the above and more. Many of us have come to into librarianship via our interest and training in history, political science, literature, linguistics, art, etc., in combination with our passion for Slavic and Eurasian Studies. Everyone has his or her own unique story. This round table provides the opportunity to learn about the career paths of five specialists whose current positions span a wide range of responsibilities and duties related to Slavic and Eurasian Studies and librarianship. After a brief summary of their individual career trajectories into librarianship, panelists will discuss the following questions:
- Why consider a career in librarianship?
- What do librarians do, in their various capacities, on a day to day basis?
- What skills are needed to enter the field of librarianship and how to prepare?
- What kinds of opportunities currently exist within librarianship?
- How can I combine librarianship with my current skill set?
Jon Giullian, (U Kansas, SEES Chair 2009-2010), Chair of panel
Allan Urbanic (UC Berkeley), representing large Slavic collections
Patricia Thurston (Yale U), representing Slavic-related tech. services (cataloging, acqusitions,…)
Diana Greene (NYU), representing mid-sized Slavic collections
Kristen Regina (Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens), representing museums and exhibitions
Kelly Miller (U Virginia), representing a position as teaching faculty and library staffBios:
Jon Giullian is currently a librarian for Slavic and Eurasian Studies, International Areas Studies Department of KU Libraries, a position he has held since 2005. Prior to that he worked under Murlin Croucher at Indiana University, where he earned his MLS. Mr. Giullian studied Russian Literature at the University of Kansas’ Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, where he taught various levels of Russian language courses for five years. He also taught Russian at the Middlebury Summer Russian School. Mr. Giullian has authored several articles on Slavic librarianship, the most recent being a case-study in Slavic Information Literacy, which appeared in Slavic and East European Information Resources (SEEIR), volume 11, no. 1.
Allan Urbanic is currently the Head of Research and Collections, International and Area Studies, for the UC Berkeley Library, concurrently retaining his previous responsibilities as Librarian for Slavic and East European Collections, a position which he has held since 1986. Prior to that, from 1980 to 1986, he worked in various positions in the Slavic Department Harvard University’s Widener Library. He is the co-editor of the book, A Guide to Slavic Collections in the United States and Canada, published by the Haworth Press in 2004. He earned an MLIS degree from Simmons College in 1974 and a PhD in Russian Literature from Brown University in 1983.
Patricia Thurston is currently Leader of the Specialty Cataloging Team at Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University. In addition to managing expanded cataloging activities across the Yale Library system, Patricia also provides bibliographic instruction and reader consultation services for a wide range of research interests, through the library’s Collaborative Learning Center and Research Services programs. Patricia’s tenure at Yale dates back to 1999, when she began serving Team Leader of the Slavic & East European Cataloging Team, one of two Assistant Department Heads in the Catalog Department. Prior to working at Yale, she worked in the libraries at the University of Texas, Austin (1986-1994) and at The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1994-1999). She earned her MLIS at UT-Austin in 1994.
Diana Greene is the Slavic Studies Librarian and an original cataloger at NYU’s Bobst Library. She holds an MLIS degree from the University of Rhode Island, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. She has written articles on subjects ranging from Russian science fiction to 19th century domestic ideology, and has authored or co-authored three books on Russian literature: [1] Reinventing Romantic Poetry: Russian Women Poets of the Mid-Nineteenth Century (2004, Russian edition 2008), [2] Women Writers in Russian Literature (co-edited with Toby Clyman, 1994), and [3] Insidious Intent: An Interpretation of Fedor Sologub’s The Petty Demon (1986). She has also compiled a bibliography of Slavic women writers in translation, which can be found on the Association for Women in Slavic Studies webpage.
Kristen Regina is the Chief Art Librarian at Hillwood Museum & Gardens. She co-authored the 2008 New York Public Library Slavic, Baltic, and Eurasian Resource Series volume "Visual resources from Russia and Eastern Europe in the New York Public Library: a checklist". She is currently finalizing a web-exhibition with the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, on the art of imperial Russian illustrated books, and is guest editor for the forthcoming Slavic and East European Information Resources volume 11, no. 2/3, the topic of which is Hidden Slavic works of art on paper in Washington, DC collections.
Kelly Miller is the Head of Programs and Public Outreach at the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture at the University of Virginia Library. She earned her Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Michigan. In 2005, she received a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Scholarly Information Resources from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) sponsored by the University of Virginia. Remaining at U.Va., Kelly subsequently served as Special Assistant to the Deputy University Librarian and Research Associate for the Scholarly Communication Institute (SCI). She has taught courses on Russian language, literature, culture, and visual art at the University of Michigan, Dickinson College, and the University of Virginia.