This week’s profile came from the Charleston Conference 2010 First Time Attendee Profiles.
Jennifer Castaldo
Job Title: Distance Education Librarian
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Email: jcastaldo@jhu.edu
Born and Lived: I grew up in Commack, NY, which is on Long Island and now I live in Baltimore, MD. I have also lived in Geneseo, NY, where I attended undergrad and Chapel Hill, NC, where I attended graduate school.
Professional Career and Activities: I started my library career by working as an intern in the Duke University Libraries from 2006-2008, first in electronic resources and then in reference. These two diverse experiences left me unable to choose between public and technical services because I loved them both! I started my job at Johns Hopkins in the summer of 2008 and my position is a dream because it beautifully combines the two. Through a partnership with Excelsior College, I work as a distance education librarian providing virtual reference services to students, faculty and staff. In addition, I am in charge of collection development, database management, including acquisitions and licensing, and am the lead for assessment. For the past two years I have also been the chair of the Sheridan Libraries’ Diversity Committee. I recently presented my first poster at the OFFCAMP conference this year entitled “Collaboration leads to integration: A model for embedding resources into online learning,” and I hope to have many more!
In My Spare Time: I enjoy traveling, reading, trying new restaurants (and writing reviews about them online), and beer/wine tasting,
Favorite Books: The Hunger Games, The Time Traveler’s Wife, A Tale of Two Cities, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Most Memorable Career Achievement: Co-leading an entire library website redesign. What a learning experience!
How/Where Do I See the Industry in Five Years?: I hope to see library content become easier to access by further combining information across vendors/publishers into one-stop interfaces to make research more convenient for our users. I look forward to watching these products advance. I also see the role of librarians continuing to evolve to meet our changing users’ needs. For example, I currently work with an entirely online college. I do not believe that print materials will ever not be needed at all, but I think it is also important to note the convenience of anytime, anywhere libraries for a nontraditional student population, such as adult learners and people serving in the military. These non-traditional populations could become the majority at some point, so these are considerations that we may need to watch out for.
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