Biography
Paulette A Kerr is Campus Librarian at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Jamaica. Prior to her appointment in 2015, she was Head of the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS). She joined the Department as a lecturer (Associate Professor) in 2010 after pursuing a PhD in the School of Information and Communication, Rutgers University where she was advised by Dr Ross J Todd.
Her dissertation entitled “Conceptions and Practice of Information Literacy in Academic Libraries: Espoused Theories and Theories-in-Use” explored teaching and learning in information literacy in academic libraries.
Dr Kerr received an MA (History) and a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies from the UWI. Her research interests coalesce around theory and practice of information literacy, teaching and learning in academic libraries, international LIS education and aspects of Caribbean social history. She has published and presented within the Caribbean and internationally in these areas. Her publications include book chapters, articles in peer reviewed journals, refereed conference proceedings, and scholarly reports. She has also edited two volumes of the Media and In formation Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) Yearbook –(2014, 2016).
Paulette currently serves as the representative for UWI to the UNESCO-UNAOC, UNITWIN Chair on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID), a member of the Standing Committee of and reviewer of submissions to the European Conference on Information Literacy(ECIL), and was between 2012 and 2015, a member of the Board of the National Information Literacy Forum (NFIL), an international consortium of scholars and practitioners of information literacy. She has coordinated MILID initiatives both locally and internationally and has also conducted UNESCO MIL workshops for information professionals in the Caribbean.
An active member of the Library and Information Association of Jamaica (LIAJA), she served as President, and Chair of Education and Training, and Advocacy working groups. She is also a member of Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) and has served as member of a number of its Working Groups. She has also conducted UNESCO MIL workshops for information professionals in the Caribbean.
Dr Kerr has championed the twin causes of Information Literacy education and training for Information professionals as well as the provision of IL education to service users of Academic Libraries, holding the conviction that the intrinsic value of the library in higher education will be brought to the fore through evidence-based practice and “deep collaboration”.
Paulette has received awards including the ACURIL (Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Librarians) Award for excellence in Information Literacy, a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to Rutgers University, and the UWI Mona Principal’s Award for outstanding research publication in information literacy in 2013.
Her dissertation entitled “Conceptions and Practice of Information Literacy in Academic Libraries: Espoused Theories and Theories-in-Use” explored teaching and learning in information literacy in academic libraries.
Dr Kerr received an MA (History) and a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies from the UWI. Her research interests coalesce around theory and practice of information literacy, teaching and learning in academic libraries, international LIS education and aspects of Caribbean social history. She has published and presented within the Caribbean and internationally in these areas. Her publications include book chapters, articles in peer reviewed journals, refereed conference proceedings, and scholarly reports. She has also edited two volumes of the Media and In formation Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) Yearbook –(2014, 2016).
Paulette currently serves as the representative for UWI to the UNESCO-UNAOC, UNITWIN Chair on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID), a member of the Standing Committee of and reviewer of submissions to the European Conference on Information Literacy(ECIL), and was between 2012 and 2015, a member of the Board of the National Information Literacy Forum (NFIL), an international consortium of scholars and practitioners of information literacy. She has coordinated MILID initiatives both locally and internationally and has also conducted UNESCO MIL workshops for information professionals in the Caribbean.
An active member of the Library and Information Association of Jamaica (LIAJA), she served as President, and Chair of Education and Training, and Advocacy working groups. She is also a member of Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) and has served as member of a number of its Working Groups. She has also conducted UNESCO MIL workshops for information professionals in the Caribbean.
Dr Kerr has championed the twin causes of Information Literacy education and training for Information professionals as well as the provision of IL education to service users of Academic Libraries, holding the conviction that the intrinsic value of the library in higher education will be brought to the fore through evidence-based practice and “deep collaboration”.
Paulette has received awards including the ACURIL (Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Librarians) Award for excellence in Information Literacy, a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to Rutgers University, and the UWI Mona Principal’s Award for outstanding research publication in information literacy in 2013.
