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Mary K. Chelton, Professor

Rosenthal 243
Graduate School of Library and Information Studies
Queens College, City University of New York
Phone: (718) 997-3667
Fax: (718) 997-3797
E-mail: mchelton@optonline.net

Education

Ph.D. (1997) Rutgers University- New Brunswick, New Jersey Communication

M.P.H. (1985) University of Alabama at Birmingham Public Health Education

M.L.S. (1965) Rutgers University - New Brunswick, New Jersey Library Service

Work Experience

Libraries:

Coordinator/ Library Programs, Adult & Young Adult Services (1987-1992) Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries, Rockville, Maryland.

Program and Community Services Administrator (1985-1987) Virginia Beach Public Library, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Consultant, Young Adult Services (1974-1978) Westchester Library System, Hartsdale, New York.

Principal Librarian, Young Adult Services (1970-1973) Prince George’s County Memorial Library System, Hyattsville, Maryland.

Managing Librarian (1967-1968) Army Special Services Libraries, Korea.

Young Adult Services Librarian (1965-1967) Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Maryland.

Teaching & Administration:

Professor (2005 - Present) Queens College GSLIS

Associate Professor (1998 - 2005) Queens College GSLIS

Assistant Professor (1996-1998) Emporia State University SLIM, Kansas

Adjunct Instructor (1995-1996) Rutgers SCILS, MIS Program

Adjunct Instructor (1981-1982) University of Alabama, GSLS

Assistant Professor (1978-1980) Rutgers GSLS

Courses Taught in the Past Two Years:

GSLIS 702: Information Resources and Services
GSLIS 711: Collection Development
GSLIS 767: Reading Motivation for Children and Young Adults
GSLIS 777: Planning and Delivering Services to Young Adults in the Public Library
GSLIS 779: Readers Advisory Services for Adults in the Public Library

Research & Professional Interests

My primary research focus is on marginalized or stigmatized users, materials and services in library contexts, in particular, the information-seeking behavior of adolescents, and adoption searchers; adult-adolescent service encounters; library services for young adults, readers’ advisory services for adults; and popular culture genres in libraries, especially romances.

Selected Publications

With Colleen Cool, co-editors, Youth Information-Seeking Behaviors II: Contexts, Theories, Models, and Issues. Lanham , MD : Scarecrow Press. Lanham , MD : Scarecrow Press, 2007; Youth Information-Seeking: Theories, Models, and Approaches. Lanham , MD : Scarecrow Press. Lanham , MD : Scarecrow Press, 2004.

“Teaching Readers Advisory Services in an Academic Setting,” Readers' Advisor News (December, 2006). Retrieved from http://lu.com/ranews/ January 11, 2007.

“Young Adult Collections are More Than Just Young Adult Literature,” Young Adult Library Services 4, no. 2 (Winter, 2006): 10-11.

“Young Adults as Problems: How the Social Construction of a Marginalized User Category Occurs,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 42, no. 1, (Winter, 2001): 4-11.

With Roberta Brody and Donna Crosslin, “Adoption Searchers’ Use of Libraries: A Pilot Descriptive Study,” Reference and User Services Quarterly 40, no. 3 (Spring, 2001): 264-274.

“The ‘Overdue Kid’: A Face-to-Face Library Service Encounter as Ritual Interaction,” Library and Information Science Research 19, no. 4 (December, 1997): 387-400.

Selected Honors and Awards

Honoree for Intellectual Freedom, ALA (30th Anniversary OIF & FTRF), 1999.

Outstanding Dissertation, Association for Library & Information Science Education, 1998.

Librarian of the Year [First], Romance Writers of America, 1995.

Grolier Foundation Award, American Library Association, 1985.

Distinguished Alumna, Rutgers University, GSLIS, 1984.