Assistant Professor and MS/LIS Program Director Nicole A. Cooke will be a keynote speaker at two upcoming conferences: the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) Annual Conference, which will be held May 30-June 1 in Atlantic City, and Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) 2018, which will be held June 13-15 at the University of Zadar in Croatia.
At the NJLA Annual Conference, Cooke will give the keynote, "Speak Freely: Reflective, Equitable, and Inclusive Conversations for All." Her talk will explore some of the barriers and enablers of open and critically reflective conversations and offer strategies for working toward equitable and inclusive dialogue.
In her LIDA 2018 presentation, "Actions Speak Louder than Words: Centering Social Justice in LIS Practice," she will discuss how librarians can move beyond their role as social justice advocates and develop a socially just information practice.
Cooke holds a PhD in communication, information, and library studies from Rutgers University. She is an expert in human information behavior, particularly in the online context; critical cultural information studies; and diversity and social justice in librarianship with an emphasis on LIS education and pedagogy. Cooke is the 2017 recipient of the American Library Association (ALA) Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award as well as 2016 recipient of the ALA Equality Award. She is the author of Information Services to Diverse Populations: Developing Culturally Competent Library Professionals (Libraries Unlimited, 2016) and co-editor with Miriam E. Sweeney (PhD '13) of Teaching for Justice: Implementing Social Justice in the LIS Classroom (Litwin Books/Library Juice Press, 2017).