Laura Saunders Profile - Simmons College

Laura SaundersASSISTANT PROFESSORB.A., Boston UniversityM.S., Simmons CollegePh.D., Simmons CollegeTeaching/Research AreasInformation literacy; learning outcomes assessment;accreditation; reference; academic librariesGraduate School of Libraryand Information Science

Laura Saunders: Reference at HeartAt first, Laura Saunders figured she’d teach high school English.Then one day, she had a conversation with a friend who wasthinking about library school. “The more she talked,” Saunderssays, “the more I thought, that sounds interesting!” After someinvestigation, she realized that a position at an academic librarycould allow her to teach, as well as enjoy the continuous learningthat comes from working with patrons on a wide variety of queries.“Today, I am reference and instruction at heart,” she says. “Thatwas mainly what I was doing when I was working as a librarian,and those are the classes I focus on at Simmons now.”Since enrolling in library school, Saunders has concentrated onlibrarianship’s version of teaching information literacy. The firststudent to graduate from the GSLIS Ph.D. program, her awardwinningdissertation was developed into a book: InformationLiteracy As A Student-Learning Outcome: The Perspective ofInstitutional Accreditation. It was published in June 2011.When she isn’t teaching, researching, or writing, Saundersvolunteers at her sons’ elementary school in Somerville, reads, ofcourse, and cooks. “My father’s side is Italian,” she says, “so I grewup eating homemade pasta. In the last couple of years, I’ve beentrying to teach myself.” It turns out her students are surprisinglyhelpful in this area. “Cooking is something a lot of library studentsare into,” she says. “It comes up a lot in reference. When theyhave to do pathfinders, many will choose cooking, like baking, orvegetarianism. I like to cook, but I’m not at the level that some ofthese people are. They know everything! I often think, ‘I shouldkeep this pathfinder for my home.’”www.simmons.edu/gslis