Kate+Hammond

=Katie Hammond= I am beginning my second year as Director of Library Services at Perkiomen School in Pennsburg. In 2008 I earned my MS in Library and Information Science from the iSchool at Drexel, which I completed mostly online. It was a new way of learning for me, and personally I found that I could be a much fuller participant in class discussions and group work across the asynchronous digital platform. I could acknowledge and articulate my own points of view much better than I could in a face-to-face classroom, which was not something I had previously realized about my own learning habits. Since then, I have been thrilled by chances to introduce new ways of engaging students through technology.

I decided to become a librarian when working as a research assistant on a project with pregnant and parenting teens. Originally I thought that a Masters in Public Health was going to be the way for me, but I soon realized that what I loved about my work was not the data I collected but the young people I worked with. I was struck by their need for knowledge and information about things that were crucial to their health and well-being. They clearly were not getting this information effectively from teachers, parents, or friends. I became interested in teens' information-seeking behaviors and thus, combined with a lifelong love of books and reading, found myself entering the library profession. As a school librarian, I get to work every day with teenage patrons - the ones I love serving most!

My first library job was in cataloging, and description and access remain some of my strongest interests. I would love to see more students contributing to the sharing of information through tagging, describing, and accessing information sources using natural language. To me, this is a key part of 21st century literacy.

I am really excited to work with everyone and to share our knowledge, expertise, and perspectives!

Here is my contact info:

Kate Hammond School phone: (215) 679-8255 Email: khammond@perkiomen.org Twitter: katerhammond Diigo: katehammond