Karen Elizabeth Downing

(734) 615-8610 Work
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kdown/karen.html

EDUCATION:

1987-89 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Master of Information and Library Studies. Specialization in Academic Libraries.

1979-82 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Bachelor of Arts - Major, History of Art with additional emphases on Communications, Geological and Archaeological Sciences

1978-79 EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY - General Studies

WORK EXPERIENCE:

7/95-Present UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, University of Michigan - Senior Associate Librarian. Assistant to the Dean for Cultural Diversity and Staff Development Officer.

8/91-7/95 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, University of Michigan - Associate Librarian. Coordinator of Academic Outreach Services.

8/89 - 8/91 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, University of Michigan - Assistant Librarian. Research Resident.

9/88 - 8/89 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, University of Michigan - Technical Library Assistant I, Assistant to the Head of the Undergraduate Library.

Coordinated national conference, assisted with signage project, related special projects. MIRLYN Implementation, Reserves Committee Liaison.

1986-88 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, University of Michigan - Technical Library Assistant I, On-Demand Services.

1985-86 CARSON PIRIE SCOTT - Executive Assistant.

Coordinated activities for cosmetics division within a large 20-chain Chicago-based retail department store. Responsible for all monthly divisional reports including advertising, budgets, and promotional/marketing schedules and programs. Assisted Divisional Merchandise Manager, Vice-President and eight Buyers.

1985 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, University of Michigan - Library Assistant III, On-Demand Services.

1979-85 ANN ARBOR PUBLIC LIBRARY - Circulation Assistant.

Worked with public in circulation capacity, assisted in training and scheduling hourly workers, coordinated special youth programs, produced and scheduled display exhibits on a monthly basis.

SERVICE:

School of Information and Library Studies

Homecoming Events Committee, 1990, 1991 Diversity Planning Committee, 1988/89

Martin Luther King Diversity Day Planning Committee, 1987/88

American Society for Information Science, Student Chapter Secretary, 1987-89

American Library Association

Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) - 1997 National Conference Planning Executive Committee 1995-97

Co-Chair, Contributed Papers Subcommittee, 1995-97

Council Committee on Minority Concerns, 1994-96

President's Committee on Cultural Diversity, 1991-93

ACRL/Bibliographic Instruction Section (BIS) - Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee 1991-93, Chair 1992-93

Junior Members Round Table (JMRT), 1988-90

Minorities Recruitment Committee, 1989/90

Grassroots Grant Committee, 1989/90

University Library

Librarians' Forum Continuing Education Committee, 1995-

Librarians' Research and Creative Projects Committee, 1993- (chair 1993-94)

Staff Recognition Awards, We Did It Celebration Committee, 1993-95

Library Diversity Committee, 1992-

MLK Convocation Committee, Chair, 1992/93

User Literacy Committee, 1992

NOTIS Circulation Training Committee, 1989

NOTIS Circulation Implementation Team, 1988/89

Amity Program Committee, 1987/88

University of Michigan

Search Committee - Associate Director of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, 1995

Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs,

Committee on a Multicultural University, 1993-94

Recreational Sports and Facilities Advisory Committee, 1995-97

MLK Day - Vice Provost for Academic and Multicultural Affairs,

Programming Committee, Co-chair, 1992/93

Association of Black Administrators & Professionals Salary Equity Committee, 1992

Women of Color Conference Resource Committee, 1991/92

MEMBERSHIPS:

PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS:

Downing, Karen and Lynn Westbrook. Freshman Year Experience Conference, Austin, TX, April 1990. "Multiple Needs, Multiple Solutions: Partnerships in the Electronic Information Age."

Downing, Karen and Joseph Diaz. American Library Association, Poster Session, Chicago, IL, June 1990. "Promoting Diversity: A Library's Leadership Role."

Downing, Karen and Joseph Diaz. Freshman Year Experience Conference, Long Beach, CA, February 1990. "Promoting Diversity: A Library's Campus Role."

Downing, Karen. Midwestern Conference on Ethnic Diversity, Champaign, IL, October 1991. "Forming Partnerships on Campus: The Multi-Racial/Multi-Cultural Group."

Downing, Karen and Miriam Willard. American Library Association, Poster Session, San Francisco, CA, June 1992. "The Rise in Research Interests Amongst Students on The Topic of 'Race Mixing'."

Downing, Karen. University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, October 1992. "Peer Information Counseling."

Downing, Karen. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, June 1993. "Diversifying Services to Undergraduate Students."

Downing Karen and Valarie Ashby. The Upside of Downsizing, Conference on Bibliographic Instruction, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, March 1994. "Peer Information Counselors: Experienced Students Assist Librarians in Extending Bibliographic Instruction Programs."

Downing, Karen and Charles Ransom. MLA Annual Conference, Grand Rapids, MI, October 1994. "Incorporation Diversity into Bibliographic Instruction Activities."

Downing, Karen. Information Anxiety Conference, SUNY-Buffalo, October 1994. "Information Anxiety Amongst Diverse Students."

Downing, Karen and Charles Ransom. School of Information and Library Studies Brown Bag Lunch Series, November, 1994. "Incorporating Diversity into Library Services."

PUBLICATIONS:

Downing, Karen. "Multicultural Services at the Undergraduate Library," chapter in Cultural Diversity In Libraries, edited by Donald Riggs. Neill Schuman Publishers: New York, 1995.

Downing, Karen, Barbara MacAdam and Darlene Nichols. Reaching a Diverse Student Community. Greenwood Press: Westport, CT, 1993.

Downing, Karen and Joseph Diaz. "Instruction In A Multicultural Environment," chapter in Learning To Teach. ALA Bibliographic Instruction Section, 1992.

Downing, Karen. "Affirm Multicultural Heritage." Michigan Daily (March 29, 1989) p 4.

AWARDS:

COMPUTER and OTHER SKILLS:

Experience with Macintosh, IBM compatible (Windows/DOS) and UNIX systems, online database searching on Wilsonline, Dialog, and BRS. Telecommunications (email, telnet, conferencing) Internet: Gopherspace, WWW. MIRLYN (NOTIS). GEAC, RLIN. Word processing, Spreadsheeting, Presentation software. Authoring: ProducerPro, HTML.

M-Quality: Concepts and Practices, Team Leader Training, Team Facilitator Training.

REFERENCES:

Present and past employers have indicated they would be delighted to provide references upon request.

(Rev.1/96)