Dr. Bradley Custer is a higher education policy expert in Washington, D.C. He was most recently an analyst at the U.S. Department of Education, where he resolved complex complaints from student loan borrowers. He was previously a researcher at the Center for American Progress and a student services administrator on public college and university campuses. He holds a Ph.D. in higher, adult, and lifelong education from Michigan State University.
SHOW NOTES:
Nora Wiltse has been a school librarian with Chicago Public Schools since 2003. After 20 years in K to 8th grade elementary schools, she now works at King College Prep High School in the Kenwood neighborhood. Since 2012, Nora has advocated against the rapid loss of librarians in the Chicago Public Schools district. She is the chair of the Chicago Teachers Union Librarian Committee and a member of the 2024 contract bargaining team. Nora hopes to gain more job security for all librarians, as well as more librarian positions, in the next union contract. You can email her at norawiltse@gmail.com. You can follow CTU’s Librarian Committee on Instagram or X @ctulibrarians.
Troy A. Swanson is Teaching & Learning Librarian and Library Department Chair at Moraine Valley Community College. Troy is the author or editor of several books and articles including his book Knowledge as a Feeling: How Neuroscience and Psychology Impact Human Information Behavior was published by Rowman & Littlefield. His Ph.D. research focused on the management of technology policy in higher education. He served on ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education Task Force which issued the Framework for Information Literacy in 2016. Over his tenure as a librarian and educator, Troy has won his campus’ Master Teacher and Innovation of the Year awards, as well as the Proquest Innovation in College Librarianship award from ACRL. Additionally, he serves as Legislative Chair for Cook County College Teachers Union which serves 5,000 community college employees.
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Tim Smyth, MS Reading Specialist, has been teaching social studies at Wissahickon High School in Pennsylvania since 2001 and travels the United States giving professional development on the use of comics in education. His presentations and workshops have been given at numerous comic book conventions (including San Diego Comic Con), museums, universities, schools, and educational conferences on both state and national levels. His teacher guides and articles, which focus on the integration of comics and the classroom, have been published by many notable organizations including MacMillan and PBS. Smyth maintains a comprehensive website at historycomics.net that shares many resources for educators around the world.
Thomas Maluck is a teen services librarian at Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina with an MLIS from the University of South Carolina. He served on YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels For Teens committee for its 2014 and 2015 lists and has presented about teen programming and collections at various library and pop culture conventions. When he’s not reading as a juror for book awards, he reviews and promotes for No Flying, No Tights, reviews and edits for Do You Even Comic Book, and co-hosts a podcast about comics and libraries, The Secret Stacks. A member of the library’s anime club gave him a Star Build Strike Gundam, the most prestigious award in teen librarianship.
SHOW NOTES:
Tim’s PBS columns:
How I Use Comic Books As A Learning Tool In My Social Studies Classroom
How Bringing Comics Into The Classroom Made Me Love Teaching Again
“Comics” vs “Graphic Novels”
Comics, education, and literacy
Padlet: online collaboration tool
Cross-curriculum applications of comics
ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table
Issues vs Collected Editions vs Digital
Comics Discussed In This Episode
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This is part two of the conversation. Part one is here.
R. David Lankes is a professor and Dean’s Scholar for the New Librarianship at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and director of the Information Institute of Syracuse. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference. Past projects include the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, the Gateway to Education Materials, AskERIC and the Virtual Reference Desk. Lankes’ more recent work involves how participatory concepts can reshape libraries and credibility. You can hear earlier Circulating Ideas interviews with Dr. Lankes here and here.
Jill Hurst-Wahl, MLS, is a digitization consultant and owner of Hurst Associates, Ltd. She also an Associate Professor of Practice in Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and the director of the iSchool’s Library and Information Science Program. She is a member of the SLA Board of Directors (2011-2013). Jill’s interests include digitization, digital libraries, copyright, web 2.0 and social media.
Cori Dickerson is an absentee MLS student and a part-time librarian in the great state of Texas. Her art and English degrees keep her in the lap of luxury, and the high school students keep her from making any progress on her To Read list. Cori’s trying very hard not to be a responsible adult, and spends far too much time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. (Star Trek is her one true love, however!) She can generally be spotted on Twitter and Pinterest, scavenging ideas from much cooler people.
This is part one of the conversation. Part two is here.
R. David Lankes is a professor and Dean’s Scholar for the New Librarianship at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and director of the Information Institute of Syracuse. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference. Past projects include the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, the Gateway to Education Materials, AskERIC and the Virtual Reference Desk. Lankes’ more recent work involves how participatory concepts can reshape libraries and credibility. You can hear earlier Circulating Ideas interviews with Dr. Lankes here and here.
Jill Hurst-Wahl, MLS, is a digitization consultant and owner of Hurst Associates, Ltd. She also an Associate Professor of Practice in Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and the director of the iSchool’s Library and Information Science Program. She is a member of the SLA Board of Directors (2011-2013). Jill’s interests include digitization, digital libraries, copyright, web 2.0 and social media.
Cori Dickerson is an absentee MLS student and a part-time librarian in the great state of Texas. Her art and English degrees keep her in the lap of luxury, and the high school students keep her from making any progress on her To Read list. Cori’s trying very hard not to be a responsible adult, and spends far too much time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. (Star Trek is her one true love, however!) She can generally be spotted on Twitter and Pinterest, scavenging ideas from much cooler people.
Circulating Ideas 