Sarah Polkinghorne
Hello!
I'm a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Health, Arts, and Design
at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
I also work as a librarian at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
My CV is available via this link.
I'd be happy to hear from you. spolkinghorne@swin.edu.au
Research
A brief introduction
My research focuses on information practices, including information organization and searching practices, which are unexamined, tacit, or assumed to be mundane. My research illuminates how people's everyday information practices are not mundane at all; they are complex, meaningful, and co-constitutive with identity.
I also have an abiding interest in how language choices, such as those of information professionals, reflect power relations, norms, and ways of thinking. I'm moved to explore and document information experiences that are often taken for granted, and to question how such practices are predominantly or habitually discussed.
In my thesis research, I work with people to create video and other forms of data capturing everyday food activities and the information practices within them. I also have a track record as a researcher in library studies, particularly in the area of information literacy.
Teaching
Upcoming and recent
Publications
In progress and recent
Presentations
Recent
Practice
As an academic librarian
The core of my work as a librarian is leading several aspects of monograph collections at the University of Alberta, including ebooks, approval plans, demand-driven acquisition, and assessment.
Before becoming a collections librarian, I worked as a public services librarian for more than a decade. I helped people find and use information, manage research data, and work through processes such as making their publications openly available.
Service
Recent and ongoing commitments
Curriculum Vitae
The more complete chronicle
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Banner image by Kelly Tindall.