I am currently an Associate Professor and the Head of Research & Instructional Services at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Previously, I was the Head Librarian for Assessment & Outreach at the Boston College Libraries. In that position, I was responsible for leading the assessment and outreach activities for all of the Boston College Libraries other than the Law Library. This gave me an opportunity to redesign the BC Libraries' approach to marketing and outreach and to roll out new best practices and tools for collecting, evaluating, and applying library data. Prior to this, I was the Emerging Technologies and Research Librarian at the Harvard Law School Library, where I was responsible for identifying, evaluating, and deploying new tools and technologies as well as working on web design and development projects.
Outside of work, I am involved in a number of professional activities, including serving on LITA's Bylaws and Organization Committee. Previously, I served on the Advisory Committee for YALSA's The Hub blog and as the inaugural chair of LITA's Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which allowed me to oversee the creation of LITA's Statement on Diversity and LITA's Conference Buddy program. Earlier in my career, I served as the leader of the ASCLA Library Services to People with Visual or Physical Disabilities that Prevent Them from Reading Standard Print Interest Group from December of 2012 to December of 2015. I also teach professional development courses and workshops for librarians on a variety of topics, including teaching Introduction to Accessibility and Universal Design in Libraries and Introduction to Scholarly Communications.
I have presented and published on a wide variety of topics, including assessment, Universal Design, accessibility, copyright, mobile web design, computer programming, and emerging technology trends. I also have experience writing for a number of publications and blogs on topics related to accessibility, children's literature, young adult literature, and technology, including School Library Journal, The Hub, The Horn Book's Lolly's Classroom blog, the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange the YALSA Blog, and my own personal blog, Novel Technology. I have also done a number of freelance writing and presenting projects on a range of topics primarily related to education, technology, accessibility, and Universal Design, including writing case studies on K-12 education programs for use at Strengthening Impact: Public-Private Partnerships in Education, a workshop at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
I can be reached via Twitter @CarliSpina.
Gladys Marcus Library at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City, NY
Associate Professor and Head of Research & Instructional Services, August 2018 to present.
Boston College Libraries, Chestnut Hill, MA
Head Librarian, Assessment & Outreach, January 2016 to July 2018.
Harvard Law School Library, Cambridge, MA
Emerging Technologies and Research Librarian, January 2012 to January 2016.
Research Services Assistant, November 2010 to January 2012.
Intern in Collection Development and Historical & Special Collections, September 2011 to January 2012.
Harvard Library Lab, Library Analytics Toolkit, Cambridge, MA
Researcher, March 2011 to November 2011.
Dr. Arnold L. Segel Library Center, Temple Israel of Boston, Boston, MA
Intern, July 2010 to May 2011.
Boston Herald Library, Boston, MA
Intern, September 2010 to December 2010.
WGBH Creative Department, Boston, MA
Intern, July 2010 to September 2010.
Goodwin Procter LLP, Boston, MA
Associate Attorney, November 2006 to January 2010.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Fairbanks, AK
Law Clerk for the Honorable Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld, August 2005 to August 2006.
Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA
Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation, and Education, March 2015.
Simmons College – Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Boston, MA
MLIS, January 2012. Beta Phi Mu.
University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, IL
J.D., June 2005. Thomas R. Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy and Oral Argument.
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
A.B., magna cum laude, East Asian Studies, June 2002. Honors thesis.
Harvard Graduate School of Education
H810F Children's Literature - Served as a teaching fellow for Children's Literature in the Spring semester of the 2015-2016 academic year, the Fall semester of the 2016-2017 academic year, and the Fall semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. Assisted with grading, led class discussions, and responded to student questions.
Library Juice Academy
Designed online professional development courses entitled User Experience Research and Design, Web Accessibility: Techniques for Design and Testing, Introduction to Design Thinking, Introduction to Accessibility and Universal Design in Libraries and Introduction to Scholarly Communications. In the course of this work, I gained experience with a number of instruction techniques and activities, including:
Selected Other Online Courses & Webinars
“Going Mobile,” April 2012, NEASIS&T Going Mobile: Library Websites, Services, and Apps on Mobile Devices, Boston, MA.
“Getting Started with Mobile Websites if You Don’t Know Code,” June 2012, Amigos Library Services Access by Touch: Delivering Library Services Through Mobile Technologies, Virtual Conference.
“Whither Midwinter? Future Directions for PARS F2F and Virtual Conferencing” Emerging Leaders Poster presentation, June 2012, American Library Association Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA.
“Going Mobile: Building Mobile Applications” full-day, hands-on preconference workshop, July 2012, American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
“Scanning the Future: QR Codes in Law Libraries,” July 2012, American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
“Library Analytics Toolkit,” October 2012, LITA National Forum, Columbus, OH.
“App Advisory 101,” April 2013, RUSA Webinar.
“Introductory Python Workshop” full-day preconference workshop, June 2013, American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
“What You Need to Know Before Gamifying Your Library,” June 2013, American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
Moderator of the “Copyright and Copyleft” panel hosted by Digital Arts & Humanities at Harvard University, April 2014, Cambridge, MA.
Panelist, “LITA Top Technology Trends,” February 2015, American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, Chicago, IL. (Covered in the Chicago Tribune, Library Journal, and American Libraries).
“Creative Commons Crash Course” Ignite Session, February 2015, American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, Chicago, IL.
“Creative Commons Crash Course,” April 2016, We Can Be Textbook Heroes Pre-Conference, Athens, GA.
"National Initiatives Working with OER – ALG Invited Speakers Panel," April 2016, USG Teaching and Learning Conference: Best Practices for Promoting Engaged Student Learning, Athens, GA.
"Inclusive Practices at Your Library: Creating a Welcoming Environment for Your Patrons with Disabilities," January 2017, American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
"Creative Commons Crash Course," April 2017, Digital Commonwealth Conference, Worcester, MA.
Universal Design Workshop, Invited Speaker, June 2017, Minnesota Theological Library Association, St. Paul, MN.
“Designing for Accessibility and Inclusion” Invited Speaker, September 2017, Designing Libraries 6: Designing Libraries for the 21st Century, Raleigh, NC.
“Creating Accessible Presentations” webinar, September 2017, Digital Library Federation.
“Creating Accessible PDFs” webinar, December 2017, Library Publishing Coalition.
“Defining Media Accessibility, Guidelines and Legal Standards” panel, Invited Speaker, April 2018, Boston Library Consortium, Boston, MA.
“Accessibility and Universal Design (SPEC Kit 358)” webinar, June 13, 2018, Association of Research Libraries.
Book Review, When Is Separate Unequal? A Disability Perspective by Ruth Colker, International Journal of Legal Information, vol. 38(3), Winter 2010, pp. 413-414.
Anna Russell & Carli Spina, “Law Libraries Linking Data to Mobile Devices: Save Patrons’ Time and Stay Hip,” AALL Spectrum, vol. 17(3), December 2012, pp. 16-18.
“Gamification: Is It Right For Your Library?,” AALL Spectrum, vol. 17(6), April 2013, pp. 7-9, 25.
“Learn Computer Programming and Web Design: Choosing the Best Resources,” College & Research Libraries News, vol. 74(10), November 2013, pp. 522-525.
“Gamification in Libraries,” in Games in Libraries: Essays on Using Play to Connect and Instruct, ed. Breanne A. Kirsch (Jefferson: McFarland, 2013).
“Keeping Up With…Augmented Reality,” Association of College and Research Libraries – Keeping Up with…, February 2014 available at: http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/ar.
“Accidental Technologist: Finding, Evaluating and Sharing New Technology,” Reference and User Services Quarterly, vol. 53(3), Spring 2014, pp. 217-220.
“Ello: What’s Up With The New Social Network That’s Suddenly Exploding In Popularity?,” LLNE News: Newsletter of the Law Librarians of New England, vol. 31(2), Fall 2014, pp. 8-9.
“Is Bestlaw the Best?,” LLNE News: Newsletter of the Law Librarians of New England, vol. 31(2), Fall 2014, p. 11.
“Building an Analytics Toolkit at the Harvard Library,” in Library Analytics and Metrics: Using Data to Drive Decisions and Services, ed. Ben Showers (Facet Publishing, 2015).
“And The Winner Is…: Highlighting YALSA Awards and Lists on The Hub,” Young Adult Library Services, Spring 2015.
"Bring International Games Day to Your Library on November 21," School Library Journal, October 2015.
"Pokémon GO: What Do Librarians Need To Know?" School Library Journal, July 2016.
“How Universal Design Will Make Your Library More Inclusive,” School Library Journal, May 2017.
“Why Kids Need Data Literacy, and How You Can Teach It,” School Library Journal, July 2017.
“How to Become a Copyright Expert,” School Library Journal, October 2017.
“Libraries and Universal Design,” Theological Librarianship, vol. 10(1), 2017.
Carli Spina & Margaret Cohen. “Accessibility and Universal Design,” SPEC Kit 358. Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, May 2018.
“Developing an Accessible and Inclusive Social Media Presence,” Marketing Libraries Journal, vol. 2(1), Summer 2018, p. 53-60.
In addition to my journal publications, I have contributed to a number of blogs: