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Research Projects

Current Projects
Third party sexual harassment in libraries (with Dr. Danielle Allard and Angela Lieu)

Exploring women's information behaviour and preferences for heart disease information (with Dr. Tanya Berry (PI) and Dr. Colleen Norris (Co-I))

Post-truth, knowledge production, dissemination, and reception

Previous Projects
Nature of user queries posed to a large public library (with Dr. Ali Shiri)
Working with search query data from the Edmonton Public Library (EPL), this research explores the nature of search queries posed to EPL's catalogue. We are analyzing these data to look for temporal patterns of search, the nature and formats of information and materials sought, types of search queries, and to derive insights into user behaviour.

Everyday Albertans' perceptions of public libraries
Each year researchers at the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta conduct a public opinion survey of Albertans on behalf of university and policy researchers. In the 2011 Alberta Survey, the School of Library and Information Studies and the Alberta Public Library Service Branch co-sponsored survey questions about Albertans' perceptions of public libraries and library services. This unique public opinion survey garnered responses from people living in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary and from citizens living in rural Alberta as well as library users and non-users.

Doctoral Work
In my doctoral work, I focused on how people with depression invoked personal experience or lay knowledge to supplement or supplant biomedical treatments and biomedical knowledge. I examined how people with depression conceptualize CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) therapies, mainstream medicine, and depression and how these conceptualizations are represented in the discursive constructions of individuals as competent information-seekers and users; how people discursively build up or undermine information sources; and I examined the information practices (e.g., information-seeking, sharing, and use) of people with depression as they work up positions justifying CAM use or non-use.