Our Graduate Assistants: Billy Tringali

This interview is part of a new series introducing our graduate assistants to our online community. These are some of the people you will see when you visit our space, who will greet you with a smile and a willingness to help! Say hello to Billy Tringali!

 


What is your background education and work experience?

I graduated summa cum laude from Bridgewater State University with dual majors in Anthropology and English and dual minors in Gender Studies and U.S. Ethnic/Indigenous Studies. I was able to gain a lot of great research experience during my undergrad, completing over a half-dozen funded research projects and speaking at nearly a dozen regional, national, and international conferences, which really made me fall in love with research.

After I graduated, I started working for Ventress Memorial Library and the Osterville Village Library Reference and Children’s Departments.

What led you to your field?

I’ve been volunteering in libraries since I was in the 5th grade, starting with my hometown library back in my home state of Massachusetts. I actually co-founded my library’s first Teen Advisory Board.

As a Reference Assistant I was happy to serve the diverse populations of these different towns, and as a Children’s Assistant I was able to aid in managing and developing collections that met the needs of children from 1 to 17! They were amazing experiences, and why I moved out here to pursue my Master’s in Library and Information Science.

What are your research interests?

I adore instruction, especially working with undergrads! Teaching students from a wide variety of backgrounds and getting students engaged with library resources has been so rewarding. I love looking into how information is presented and taught. I’ve been lucky enough to teach in our Savvy Researcher Series, so I’ve been able to get a lot of great experience there.

I’m also very interested in scholarly communication and publishing, which I think ties in well with my interest in engagement! From open-access to copyright, libraries are on the front of line of getting students connected with research and making sure information is available to them. We have the opportunity to present information and make it accessible, which is such a powerful thing.

What are your favorite projects you’ve worked on?

Working with undergraduate research. Teaching classes on presentation and assisting with finding/pairing resources felt so rewarding. Part of my work includes helping undergraduates create and manage their own academic journals, which was such an incredible combination of working with undergraduates and publishing!

Libraries can and should be engaged spaces of connection across departments, and entire universities.

What are some of your favorite underutilized resources that you would recommend?

My work in the Scholarly Commons has also extended into collection development – so I’d say our reference collection! We keep a well-updated library of works about everything from qualitative research techniques to the digital humanities.

Stop by and check it out!

When you graduate, what would your ideal job position look like? 

I’d like to continue to work in an academic library. Working for both the Main Library’s reference and instruction service and the Scholarly Commons as a specialized library has taught me that I’m most interested in positions that allow for teaching and engagement.

What is the one thing you would want people to know about your field?

Libraries are for everyone. Libraries are doing so many things that there really is something here for everyone!

Our Graduate Assistants: Kayla Abner

This interview is part of a new series introducing our graduate assistants to our online community. These are some of the people you will see when you visit our space, who will greet you with a smile and a willingness to help! Say hello to Kayla Abner!

What is your background education and work experience?

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Humanities and French from Wright State University in Dayton (Go Raiders!). My original plan was to teach high school French or Latin, but after completing a student teaching practicum, I decided that wasn’t for me. During undergrad and after graduation, I always wound up in a job role that involved research or customer service in some capacity, which I really enjoyed.

What led you to your field?

Knowing that I enjoyed working on research, I considered going back to school for Library Science, but wanted to be sure before taking the jump. It was always interesting to see the results of the research I helped conduct, and I enjoyed helping people find answers, whether it was a coworker or a client. After a visit to an American Library Association conference in 2016,  I fell in love with the collaborative and share-alike nature of librarianship, and was accepted to this program the next year!

What are your research interests?

Library science has so many interesting topics, it’s hard to choose one. But, I like looking at how people seek information, and how libraries can use that knowledge to enhance their services and resources. I’m a browser when it comes to book shelves, and it’s interesting to see how libraries are succeeding/failing at bringing that experience to the digital realm.

What are your favorite projects you’ve worked on?

I have two positions here in the library, one in the Scholarly Commons, and one working with our (current) Digital Humanities librarian, Dan Tracy. In both roles, I’ve worn a lot of hats, so to speak. My favorites have been creating resources like library guides, and assisting with creating content for our Savvy Researcher workshop series. Maintaining our library guides requires some experience with the software, so I enjoy learning new cool things that our programs can do. I also do a lot of graphic design work, which is a lot of fun!

Completing some of these tasks let me use some Python knowledge from my coursework, which is sort of like a fun puzzle (how do I get this to work??). I’m really interested in using digital methods and tools in research, like text mining and data visualization. Coming from a humanities background, it is very exciting to see the cool things humanists can do beyond traditional scholarship. Digital humanities is a really interesting field that bridges the gap between computer science and the humanities.

What are some of your favorite underutilized resources that you would recommend?

Our people! They aren’t underutilized, but I love an opportunity to let campus know that we are an excellent point of contact between you and an expert. If you have a weird research question in one of our service areas, we can put in contact with the best person to help you.

When you graduate, what would your ideal job position look like?

I would love to work in an academic research library in a unit similar to the Scholarly Commons, where researchers can get the support they need to use digital methods and data in their research, especially in the humanities. There is a such a breadth of digital techniques that humanities researchers can utilize, that don’t necessarily replace traditional research methods. Distant reading a text puts forth different observations than traditional close reading, and both are equally useful.

What is the one thing you would want people to know about your field?

Librarians are happy to help you; don’t let a big desk intimidate you away from asking a question. That’s why we’re here!

Image of Research is Open for Submissions!

image-of-research-banner-1

In conjunction with the Graduate College, the Scholarly Commons is pleased to host the Image of Research competition for the 2016-2017 academic year!

The Image of Research is a celebration of the diversity and breadth of graduate student research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Graduate and professional students from all disciplines are invited to submit entries consisting of an image that represents their research (either concretely or abstractly) and a brief written narrative.

Submissions will be accepted through January 15, 2017, after which judges will select a list of semi-finalists. From the semi-finalists, the judges will award four prizes given as professional development travel funds:

  • First Prize: $500
  • Second Prize: $300
  • Third Prize: $200
  • Honorable Mention: $100

Awards will be presented at a reception on April 5, 2017 in conjunction with the Annual Graduate Student Appreciation Week. Attendees of the reception will have the opportunity to vote for a semi-finalist to receive the People’s Choice Award ($100).

For more information about this year’s competition, or to submit an entry, visit the Image of Research website. Past entries and winners can be viewed in the online gallery and in IDEALS.