The University Libraries will host Megan Oakleaf of Syracuse University, on Monday, September 16,  for a visit focused on library assessment. Dr. Oakleaf will help us learn more about assessing library services so that we can document the value that we provide to our users. More specific details of her visit will be forthcoming. Please save the date and consider participating in this exciting day.Oakleaf is an associate professor in the iSchool at Syracuse University where she teaches “Reference and Information Literacy Services” and “Planning, Marketing, and Assessing Library Services.” Her research interests include library value and impact, outcomes assessment, evidence-based decision making, information literacy instruction, information services, and digital librarianship. She is the author of “The Value of Academic Libraries Comprehensive Report and Review” and is on the faculty of the ACRL Immersion Program. Megan has presented at numerous conferences, including ALA, ACRL, AAC&U, and AALHE National Conferences, ARL Library Assessment Conferences, the IUPUI Assessment Institute, the NCSU Undergraduate Assessment Symposium, the Texas A&M Assessment Conference, and EDUCAUSE.

Oakleaf has published widely in scholarly journals and received the Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award in 2011. She serves on the editorial boards of Library and Information Science Research, Library Quarterly and Journal of Academic Librarianship.

Previously, Oakleaf was the librarian for Instruction and Undergraduate Research at North Carolina State University. In this role, she designed, implemented, coordinated, and assessed the library instruction program and trained fellow librarians in instructional theory and methods. She completed her dissertation, “Assessing Information Literacy Skills: A Rubric Approach,” at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her MLS from Kent State University and also holds a BA in English and Spanish and a BS in English Education and Spanish Education from Miami University. Prior to a career in librarianship, Oakleaf taught language arts and advanced composition in Ohio public schools, grades 8-12.