February 2024
The library is delighted and proud to see our long-time colleague Dana Mastroianni promoted to the position of Library Manager & Head of Public Services. Dana has done a wonderful job guiding the library through massive changes over the past few months. Dana joined the JKM Library team in 2003, back when the library was managed by Library Systems & Services (LSSI). Her first position at Chatham was Reference Librarian, which later became Reference & Electronic Resources Librarian. In ’22 she was promoted to Head of Public Services. With the elimination of the Library Director position in August, a new position was create to fill the leadership gap in the library. In August of ’23 Dana was promoted to Library Manager & Head of Public Services. Dana received her undergraduate degree in English from West Virginia Wesleyan College and her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the JKM Library she worked as the Social Work Librarian at the University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman Library. Prior to that, Dana worked as a student worker in Wesleyan’s library during her entire undergraduate career. At Chatham, she has led the way on such initiatives as electronic resources, instruction, and Open Educational Resources(OERs). “Advancing and advocating for OERs for student affordability is something I’m proud of,” Dana commented. “While the workshops Becky Borello and I have done over the past three years have been received well by faculty, working towards a wider institutional effort and acknowledgement of course text affordability for students would be useful.” Dana has also long served on UPC and was an adjunct instructor for IND175 Introduction to Library Resources for the nursing program for several years. Navigating the library through tumultuous times is nothing new for Dana. When she joined the JKM Library, Chatham was in a restructuring process that meant huge shifts for the library. Part of that was the immense task of rebuilding the library’s reputation among the greater campus as a place that could serve faculty and student’s information needs again. This demanded a huge amount of outreach and communication with faculty and other departments across the university. “From that work and those discussions, I was able to understand what faculty and students needed, was able to advocate for resources that met those needs, and also develop and refine library services that best leverage librarians’ skills while serving the Chatham community,” Dana commented. “I’m very proud of being a part of that rebuilding process and having a role in what the JKM[Library] is today.” Dana has been a constant source of thoughtful and pragmatic support for the library and the Chatham community at large. We are delighted to see her lead our team into this new phase. “Looking ahead, I believe there are other collaborative opportunities across campus where the librarians can bring value and insight. Becoming more intentional about those opportunities (which is already in progress) is important. Promoting an understanding of the library as a multifaceted space, the building, our collections, and our services is more important than ever as Chatham looks to move forward with furthering academic excellence and student success.”
Please join us in congratulating Dana in her new leadership role here at Chatham!
The library is excited to announce that Jocelyn Codner has been promoted from Reference & Outreach Librarian to Head of Library Instruction & Outreach. This new position was crafted to reflect both the work that Jocelyn has taken on over the years and the increased priority on information literacy instruction by the JKM Library.
“I’m very excited about taking on this new role and strengthening the library’s focus on instruction,” Jocelyn said. “It is my opinion that interacting directly with students, while already critical to their success, will becomes increasingly important in the years to come."
Jocelyn joined the JKM Library team in August of 2017 and jumped right into the Chatham community, serving on many varied committees and working groups. She has innovated library services and programs, such as the Personal Librarian Program, the library's social media presence, and it's involvement with the ENG105: First Year Writing course. She also increased the library's visibility and community engagement by creating a monthly eNewsletter (The Page Turner) and increasing library events.
She received her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh in 2016, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. She is also a member of Beta Phi Mu, the selective honor society for library and information science and information technology, and a member of the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta. She graduated from Ithaca College with a BS in film and screenwriting in 2010.
Prior to her career in librarianship, Jocelyn worked as a media producer and held roles in marketing and customer service. She was also a freelance writer and culture critic for publications such as The Ithaca Times and Famous Monsters of Filmland. These skills and experiences inform her work in libraries every day.
Jocelyn has particularly loved working closely with students in her role as Reference & Outreach Librarian. She prioritizes one-on-one research meetings and has regularly traveled to all Chatham locations and campuses to meet students where they are.
In 2023 she took over coordinating the library session in all ENG105: First Year Writing courses. She also became the sole librarian teaching those sessions, a task that once was split between three librarians. While instruction has been part of her duties from the beginning, it was during this time she discovered a real love for teaching. She redesigned the session's lesson plan to be more interactive, and she incorporated more opportunities for assessment.
From there, Jocelyn increased her professional development around information literacy instruction, taking courses through Library Juice Academy, completing the Ohio State University’s Teach Information Literacy certificate, and experimenting with different techniques in the classroom.
As Head of Library Instruction & Outreach, Jocelyn will look at ways to cohesively approach information literacy instruction throughout the curriculum and sustainably engage students with meaningful thinking and learning concerning their relationships to information and the technology used to create, communicate, and disseminate it.
“While I absolutely want to reevaluate how librarians collaborate with faculty and work with students in the classroom, I also want to find creative ways to reach students and teach information literacy through collaborations with other departments on campus,” Jocelyn said. She looks forward to collaborating with staff and faculty on these initiatives in the future.
Outside of Chatham, Jocelyn serves as the Chair of the Horror Writers Association’s Library Advisory Council and is very active in the horror literature world, connecting librarians and horror authors as well as promoting horror literature in libraries.
Please join us in congratulating Jocelyn in her new role here at the JKM Library!
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