Executive Council Bios
PRESIDENT
Katie Newman is the Biotechnology Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) since Fall 2001, where she holds the rank of Assoc. Professor of Library Administration. Previously she was the Assistant Life Sciences Librarian at Purdue University for eight years. She has a PhD in Biology from the University of Kansas, MS in Agronomy and BS in Biology both from the University of Nebraska, and an MLS from the University of Illinois.
Katie has been active in USAIN and has served in the following positions: Director, 2004-2006; Communications Committee, 1998-present; Chair, 2005-present; Program Planning Chair for the 2003 USAIN national meeting, 2001-2003. The meeting was successfully held in Champaign from April 25-27, 2003; Member, Nominations Committee, 2000 and Member, Contributed Papers Committee, 1998-1999. She also served the SLA, Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Division in the following positions: Nominations Committee, 2004-2005; Nominations Committee Chair, 2000-2001; Secretary (two terms), 1997-1999 and as a Director, 1996-1997.
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Sheila Merrigan has been a USAIN member since 1997. She has served as USAIN Director from 2004-present; USAIN Contributed Paper & Poster Sessions Committee, 2006-present; USAIN Pre-conference Committee, Chair; 2003-2005; USAIN Native American Scholarship Committee, 2004-2005; USAIN Contributed Paper & Poster Sessions Committee; 2002-2003; USAIN Awards and Honors Committee, 2000-2001; and AZ SLA Student Liaison/Advisor; 2000-2004. She is a Member of the Special Libraries Association, 1997-present; and IAALD, member, 1997-present.
Sheila grew on a farm and has been around agriculture her whole life. She has worked in Cooperative Extension for 14 years, the last 8 years of which have been as an information specialist in the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension State Office. She works with approximately 180 faculty, staff, and administrators. In addition to Extension experience, she has worked in the profession as a web designer and as a librarian in an academic library and a special library. The skills she used most often in the latter two positions are similar to those she will use as an information specialist for Cooperative Extension. Thus, her current position integrates a lifetime of personal and professional experiences in a rewarding and interesting manner
PAST-PRESIDENT
Norma Kobzina is Head, Information Services, Marian Koshland Bioscience and Natural Resources Library, University of California, Berkeley. She holds a B.A. in Spanish from City College of New York; a Ph.D. in Spanish from Cornell University; and an MLS from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been a USAIN Member since 1992 and has served in the following capacities: President-Elect, 2006-2007; Secretary/Treasurer 2000-2002; Director 2004-2005; Co- Convener, Agricola Interest Group, 2005; Convener, Collection Development Interest Group, 2000. She was Chair of the Nominating Committee, 1996 and 1999; a Member of the Nominating Committee, 1993; a Member of the 2006 Conference Sponsors and Exhibits Committee; and a Member of the 2001 Conference Publicity Committee and Exhibits Committee.
Norma is also a Member of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Information Editorial Board; was Secretary of the STS Council (ACRL) in 1993; was Publicity Director in 1999 and in 2000, STS Discussion Group Co-Chair, Issues in Science and Technology; and from July 2003-June 2005 was a Member of the STS Assessment Committee. In 2003, Norma served on the Oberly Award Committee; as a Member, July 1997-June 1999 Book Review Editor; and Member, Editorial Board of ISTL (Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship) in 1996. She has been a CHOICE Reviewer since 1970; CHOICE Editorial Board 1990-1996, (Chair, 1994-1996); and Editor for Agriculture and Conservation, Resources for College Libraries (RCL), to be published Fall 2006.
Norma was Recipient, Distinguished Librarian Award 2001, Librarians Association of the University of California, Berkeley; and Recipient, NEH/USAIN Grant-Preserving the History of United States; Agriculture and Rural Life, Phase 1 and 2; and Participant, Western Rangelands Partnership.
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Sharon Fujitani is the Librarian for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at California Polytechnic State University. San Luis Obispo, California. She received her MA in Education from Pepperdine University, her MLS from the University of Hawaii-Manoa, and her BA in Anthropology from University of California, Santa Barbara.
Sharon has been a member of USAIN since 1990 and served on several USAIN committees. These include the Networking Committee (1995-1997), Nominations Committee (1997/1998), 1999 Conference Program Planning Committee, Budget Committee (2003/2004), Conference Contributed Papers/Sessions Committees (1997, 2001, 2003, and 2006). She also served as moderator for Conference sessions (1997 USAIN/IAALD Joint Conference, 2001, 2003, 2005 IAALD XITH World Congress/USAIN Biennial Conference, 2006), Secretary of the Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition Division of SLA (2001/2002), Secretary of the California Library Association, (2004/2005), and Secretary of the Reference Services Section, California Library Association (2004/2005).
NAL REPRESENTATIVE
Mike Esman is Head of Cataloging at the National Agricultural Library He has held that position since 1995. He received a B.A. from Eisenhower College, an M.L.S. from the State University of New York at Albany and an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from George Washington University. His past positions at NAL have been Head, Special Materials Section, Cataloging Branch (1991-1995) and serials cataloger (1986-1991). He also was a non-print cataloger at George Washington University (1977-1986). He was President of the On-Line Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc. (1998-1999) and Vice-President/President-Elect (1997-1998). He served as chair of the ALCTS Audiovisual Committee (1988-1990) and as a member (1986-1988).
DIRECTORS 2007-2009
Allison Level is the Natural Resources College Liaison Librarian at Colorado State University. She has a BS from the University of Arkansas, an MEd from Kent State, and an MLS from Emporia State University. Prior to joining CSU, Allison worked in science and technology reference at the Library of Congress and as Head of Reference at Southwest Missouri State University. She has been active in USAIN since 2000. She has been a USAIN Director since 2005. Other current activities include: Convener of the USAIN AgNIC Interest Group and member of the Communications Committee. Past USAIN activities include: Co-Convener of the USAIN Collection Management Interest Group, member of the USAIN Awards Committee, Chair of the USAIN 2003 Pre-Conference Planning Committee and was a member of the 2001 Pre-Conference Planning Committee. Allison has been active in state and national library organizations including ACRL-STS and IS. Some of her activities include: membership on the STS Oberly Award Committee, membership on the IS Research and Scholarship Committee, STS Conference Programming Committee, and as member then chair of the Legislation and Government Information Committee. During 1996-1998 she served as Vice-Chair then Chair of STS. Her research interests include information literacy and science education. Currently she is writing a book chapter on user education in natural resources and the agricultural sciences. She also continues to expand and update two AgNIC websites, one on Wildlife Damage Management in cooperation with the NWRC and one on Colorado Rangelands as part of the Western Rangelands Partnership. Additionally she is on the Editorial Board for the open-access refereed journal: Communications in Information Literacy.
Mohan Ramaswamy is an Assistant Librarian and Science Librarian at Kansas State University Libraries, Manhattan, Kansas. He has a BSc in Agriculture and an MSc in Agricultural Entomology from Annamalai University, India; PhD in Agricultural Entomology from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, MLIS from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge and is pursuing coursework for a PhD in Library Science from Emporia State University, Kansas.
He has served in USAIN Membership Committee (2004- present), Vice-President (2006) and President Elect (2007) of Kansas Library Association's Roundtable for Information and Access Technology, Awards Committee, Kansas Library Association-College and University Libraries Section (2006-2008). He is a member of ALA (2001-present), ACRL (2004-present), LAMA (2005-present) and Chair of the ALA Equality Award Committee (2005-2006).
Sarah C. Williams is a Science & Technology librarian at Illinois State University, where she is currently responsible for agriculture, information technology, and physics. Sarah earned a MS in Information Systems from Illinois State University, a MLS from Indiana University, and a BS in Soil and Crop Science from Purdue University, which included a semester studying Polish agriculture and culture at the Agricultural University of Cracow.
Sarah has been a member of USAIN since 2001. She was awarded a 2003 USAIN conference scholarship. She has been a member of the Awards and Honors Committee since 2004 and the Communications Committee since 2006. She is also on the Pre-Conference Planning Committee for the 2008 USAIN Conference.
DIRECTORS 2006-2008
Connie Britton is the librarian for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, the agricultural research arm of the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, a position she has held since 1981. She has a BA from Kalamazoo College, an MLS from Western Michigan University and an MS (Education) from Central Michigan University.
She has been a member of USAIN since 1988 and previously served as a Director from 1999 to 2001. Recently, she co-chaired the conference planning committee and chaired the local arrangements committee for the 2008 USAIN conference that was held in Wooster Ohio. She was the co-PI on the Ohio portion of the USAIN agricultural literature preservation project, phases 4 and 5. She is also involved in AgNIC, representing Ohio State University on the coordinating council, serving as a member of the Executive Board, 1999-2002 and as Chair, 2005/06. She manages the Bees and Pollination site for AgNIC. She was awarded the OARDC Outstanding Staff Award in 2005.
Eboni A. Francis is an assistant professor and librarian for Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University. She earned her BA degrees in English and African American Studies from Oberlin College in 1997, and her MLIS from Kent State University in 2003. She has been a USAIN member since 2005 and since then she has served on the Membership Committee, as co-chair of the USAIN 20th Anniversary Banquet Committee, and member of the Local Arrangements Committee for the 2008 USAIN Conference.
Her main research interests include Blacks in American Agriculture since 1974 and the theme of “the land” in Harlem Renaissance-era literature. She is a reviewer for CHOICE and Library Journal, and is also a member of ALA and AgNIC. She’s currently developing an AgNIC site on Ornamental Horticulture.
Patricia Neenan is the Business Development Manager for CABI in North America. Prior to moving to the US in 2000, Patricia worked for 16 years an editor in the Animal and Human Health Division of CABI. She earned her B.Sc (Hons) in Zoology and Botany from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 1981 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Science) in 1982. Patricia’s first experience of USAIN was at the 2003 conference in UIUC and she has been a firm supporter ever since. She was on the Pre-Conference Planning Committee for the 2006 meeting in Ithaca.