Please join us in congratulating Charlotte Price, Vani Natarajan, and Meredith Wisner, who will be taking on new roles within Teaching, Learning and Digital Scholarship (TLDS), effective July 2021. These positions signal our intention to build on existing relationships with students and faculty while shifting to developing curriculum and services centered on research methods across disciplines. They also serve to recognize the many years of innovation, collaboration, and equity-oriented practice each of these librarians have brought to their work.
Charlotte Price has been promoted to Research and Instruction Librarian for History and Humanities - designing and coordinating instruction, collections, and research support and instruction for historical methods and primary sources, and collaborating closely with the Archives to support use and engagement with archives and special collections at Barnard and elsewhere. Charlotte joined BLAIS in 2015, providing instruction and research consultation in the Performing Arts and Film Studies. In addition to taking on several other subject areas, Charlotte has provided critical interim support to researchers in the History department for the past two years, and has partnered with Jenna Freedman to support American Studies. In History alone, Charlotte has consulted over 50 students producing theses each year. This promotion recognizes Charlotte’s leadership in developing library pedagogy, as well as creating innovative web-based solutions to better meet student needs in accessing research services. Charlotte has created synergies between her librarianship and her current graduate work as an EdD candidate in Instructional and Media, at Teachers College, where Charlotte is a fellow in the Media and Social Change Lab (MASCLab).
Charlotte’s department and subject area affiliations now include: American Studies (in collaboration with Research and Instruction Librarian for Cultural Studies, Literary Analysis and Writing Vani Natarajan), Classics & Ancient Studies, Education, German, History, Jewish Studies, Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Philosophy, Religion, and Slavic Studies.
Vani Natarajan has been promoted to Research and Instruction Librarian for Cultural Studies, Literary Analysis and Writing, designing and coordinating a program of research and instruction services for researchers whose methods include critical cultural theory, literary analysis, the writing process, and translation. Vani joined BLAIS in 2011, and has designed and implemented instruction and offered consultations to students and faculty on research strategies and approaches across the Humanities, Spanish and Latin American Cultures and Latinx Studies, Africana Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, and several language and literature programs. They coordinated library support for First Year Writing for 4 years and have developed vibrant collections in Literature, including the Barnard BIPOC Alum collection, and the QTBIPOC Writing Collection. From their first year working at Barnard, Vani began curating several public programs bringing queer and trans writers and performers to campus. As part of the 2 year Shange Magic project, Vani has collaborated on producing events honoring the life and legacy of Barnard alum Ntozake Shange and most recently advised and supported students on a digital zine publication of Shange’s poems in translation. A current MFA Candidate in Poetry at Queens College, Vani has developed creative pedagogical practices to support research methods that center critical cultural theory and composition.
Vani’s department and subject area affiliations now include: Africana Studies, American Studies (in collaboration with Research and Instruction Librarian for History and Humanities Charlotte Price), Anthropology, Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, BIPOC Alum Collection, Comparative Literature & Translation Studies, Creative Writing, English, French, Italian, QTBIPOC Collection, Palestine Studies, Spanish, Latin American Cultures and Latinx Studies.
Meredith Wisner has been promoted to Research and Instruction Librarian for the Arts, designing and coordinating programs for researchers in the disciplines of Art, Architecture, Art History and the Performing Arts. Meredith came to BLAIS in 2015, bringing expertise in creative practice as research, visual literacy, as well as copyright, fair use, and intellectual property that has been critical to support for courses in which students are content producers. Meredith will continue to support researchers whose scholarship requires re-purposing, publishing or performing works incorporating or consisting of original creative material. This promotion recognizes Meredith’s leadership in developing creative initiatives across the curriculum - including her efforts to develop more inclusive art, architecture, and art history collections, curation and installation of dynamic library exhibits that highlight diverse voices and experiences at Barnard, and her work with colleagues across Barnard and Columbia to support special collections research in art and architecture.
Meredith’s department and subject area affiliations now include: Architecture, Art, Art History, Dance, Film Studies, Music, and Theatre.
We also want to congratulate Jennie Correia on her recent transition from interim to permanent Associate Director for Teaching, Learning, and Digital Scholarship, and also share kudos for Alicia Peaker, whose title changed to Associate Director for the Digital Humanities Center in January 2021. Since coming on as Digital Scholarship Librarian a little over a year ago, Alicia has led a team to grow the center’s ability to support courses and mentor new DH scholars, while implementing a vision of inclusion, sustainability, collaboration, and exploration.