Emily King and Jason Casden are "Movers & Shakers"

This year's "Movers & Shakers" list, published in the March issue of the Library Journal, features two alumni of the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Emily King (MSLS '08) was selected as an "Innovator" and Jason Casden (MSLS '06) is in the category of "Tech Leader."

 

For ten years, LJ's annual list of "Movers & Shakers" has spotlighted librarians and others in the library field who are doing extraordinary work to serve their users and to move libraries of all types and library services forward. They hail from all corners of the library world and several nations. According to the Library Journal, these are the "Library Leaders Creating the Library of the Future."

 

King was selected as an "innovator" for the work she and her co-worker, Chad Haefele (who was also selected in this category) did on "Should Brandon and Nicole Get Engaged (ShBANGE)." The project was an alternate reality game that involved two-weeks of puzzle-solving beginning with a staged marriage proposal in the Pit on the UNC at Chapel Hill campus. The game continued with puzzles being placed in various places such as Facebook and blogs. 

 

"SILS really got me to think about information and access in new and creative ways, and I was excited about this project because it let me continue to work with innovators in SILS," said King, coordinator of e-learning services at the University Library at UNC at Chapel Hill. "This project was a true collaboration between SILS and the University Library at UNC. I feel lucky to be part of a team working with information access and learning in such a new and interesting way."

 

Other members of the ShBANGE project representing SILS included Laura Christopherson, SILS Ph.D. candidate and project leader; Brian Strum, associate professor; Elizabeth A. Evans, creator and manager, Games4Learning; Karen Crenshaw and John Weis, Master's students; and undergraduate students Kulpana Akpan, Justin Brinegar, Eric Helke, Christine Hellinger, Alani Nichols, in addition to Duke University student Harrison Lee who attends classes at SILS.   
 

Jason Casden (MSLS '06) was selected as a "Mover & Shaker" in the category of "Tech Leaders" as a "Digital Artisan" for work he has done at North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries on award winning projects, like the digital magazine NC Architects & Builders, and the service Library Course Views that makes available a subject guide for each course at NC State. The Library Course Views project included SILS alumni Kim Duckett (MSLS '01) and Andreas Orphanides (MSLS '08) who are both employed at NCSU.

 

Casden was also the lead on the popular and innovative mobile apps WolfWalk project.

 

"WolfWalk is a photographic guide to the history of North Carolina State University optimized for mobile devices. The application includes a location-aware campus map and a photo viewer for browsing historical photographs by decade or theme. WolfWalk features 1000 photographs of important people, places and events in NC State history. WolfWalk is a pilot project to explore new user interaction models with digital collections on mobile devices."*
 

"The WolfWalk project has been an exciting opportunity to think about using the mobile user context to help people discover our collections in new ways," said Casden.

 

Casden credits SILS and UNC at Chapel Hill Libraries with preparing him for the incredible work he is doing at NC State University Libraries.

 

"I had terrific mentors at UNC Libraries who had a big impact on my career," said Casden. "My work with them, as well as my experience at SILS, helped me prepare for this intensely creative job, where I get to work with amazing people while focusing on building new and useful library services."

 

Congratulations to both Emily and Jason and the other 48 members of the library and information science field selected as "Movers & Shakers" for the great work they're doing.

 

Note: Previous SILS students and alumni who've been "Movers & Shakers" include Ernie Cox, Kim Duckett, Jason Griffey, Pam Sessoms, Jill Stover, Jeannie Dilger-Hill and Tim Bucknall.