Get to Know the ULS 2018 ALA Emerging Leader, Ashleigh Coren!

Congratulations to the ULS 2018 ALA Emerging Leader Ashleigh Coren!

1. Tell us about your current position. What do you enjoy the most about it?

I am the Special Collections Librarian for Teaching and Learning at the University of Maryland, College Park. My job is split up into five different areas: outreach, instructional design, assessment, research, and of course teaching. I’ve really enjoyed working with our curators and graduate assistants to help them develop or refine their instructional materials. It’s always a blast to help someone take an idea and turn it into an active learning activity or lesson plan. My favorite part of my job is that I get to be completely immersed in teaching and learning, and nothing else! SAA just developed their Guidelines for Primary Resource Literacy and it’s been an exciting challenge to create learning objects that both reflect the guidelines and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy.

2. Why did you decide to apply for the Emerging Leaders program?

I thought the program would be a great introduction to the infrastructure of the American Library Association, and also a way to connect with librarians outside of academia. It’s an opportunity to network and spend concentrated time and attention to one of the pressing concerns of our profession, like access or inclusion. There were other benefits, like acquiring new peer mentors and gaining a better understanding of ALA’s role in defining the skills and proficiencies necessary for leadership.

3. How has your Emerging Leaders experience been so far? What project are you working on?

I still have yet to meet my cohort in person, but they seem like a lively and brilliant bunch of librarians! I am working with a great team of librarians on the project ‘Hearing Voices: Collecting Residents’ Oral Histories.’ This project is a perfect fit because I am both an archivist and former resident! There is a lot of quantitative data that we can get from these interviews, which will really help those developing or assessing their programs. This project is going to be a lot of fun and I’m excited to hear these stories.

4. Where do you see your career going from here?

That’s a really good question but I am not sure I can provide an adequate answer. I have no idea how the program will affect my career, but look forward to whatever comes next.

5. Tell us something interesting about yourself that not very many people know.

I took classical voice lessons in high school and college, and my final voice concert is in my college archives!