Genevieve WilliamsAssistant Professor / Research Librarian
Some
people are set on making the world more complex, more difficult to find
order and balance. Other people are called to create order &
harmony. Genevieve Williams is definitely among the latter -- a
natural born wreaker of order out of chaos!
“The challenge is no
longer to find sufficient information on most things,” says our
Undergraduate Research Librarian. “It’s to find reliable and
appropriate information. And that’s the driving force in librarianship
these days – coping with the transition from information scarcity to
information glut.”
Genevieve recently celebrated her first
anniversary at PLU. She works extensively with the science, business,
nursing, and music programs helping them with information access needs
and providing instruction in finding appropriate research material.
She brings to her position considerable insight into the problem of
information-seeking gained from work with Amazon.com, a national leader
in matching customer interests with information and entertainment
products. Add to this more recent
experience as a freelance writer
and a two-year program in information science at the University of
Washington, and we have outstanding preparation for a career in meeting
the challenges of information chaos in an academic setting.
Genevieve
also finds balance and harmony in her personal interests of writing and
music. She graduated from Smith College with a degree in music, has
been a percussionist with a local band, and now is learning to play a
Norwegian-style fiddle. And she hones her reference skills by managing
an information booth at the Bumbershoot festival every year!
Music,
writing, and the practice of librarianship entail confronting a
veritable sea of information and possibilities, making choices, and
finding satisfying combinations. We are happy Genevieve chose us; we
can only hope the match is satisfying enough for her to remain with us
a good long time.