Tutor in Providence, Rhode Island

A professional librarian and researcher, I am the author of How to Write Persuasively Today for Greenwood Press (which includes sections on business proposals, interviewing, and grant writing, as well as my experiences with access issues in travel, business, and government settings), and the creator of more than forty other publications and presentations, many in Library Science, I have worked in a variety of roles as a supervisor, a research and reference specialist, and a community advocate in public and academic libraries, as well as in government. Recently I was a Continuing Education leader for Section 504/Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and recommendations in libraries, sponsored by the Office of Library and Information Services of Rhode Island, as well as an on-call Reference Librarian for the Providence Community Library System. I have experience in Web design and many Web tools, having designed and loaded five Web pages, and have worked with SQL, PHP, and Dreamweaver programming, as well as Excel and EndNote. I have been a mediator; the last as an intern in Coleraine, NI, then professionally at various sites in the US. A former Staff Writing Tutor at Johnson and Wales University, a consultant to The Watersheds Project in Providence, RI, and, until recently, the Subscription Manager for the online newsletter, Endangered Species and Wetlands Report, based in Takoma Park, MD, (I also helped to manage its budget and Web page). Additionally, I led a Writers’ Workshop at The Weaver Library in East Providence, RI. I have been a speaker to groups and through a variety of media, as well as a disability advocate for many years, initially for The Easter Seal Society of RI in the 1970s regarding Public Law 94-142, and for a number of organizations since then regarding Section 504 and later, The Americans with Disabilities Act. I was one of a committee of grant writers for The Women’s Archive of Wales. Our efforts resulted in a £177,000.... award in 2007 from the Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales to staff and conduct educational road shows that encouraged people to contribute to our collections. As a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica from 1997-199..., I was Supervisor of The Peace Corps Resource Center, where I helped to guide budget planning regarding necessary library resources, and made recommendations to the Director of Peace Corps Jamaica about collection development and bibliographic instruction. Additionally, I installed Internet systems and taught classes about Internet use and computer programs in the office of The Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, where I was assigned. In my capacity as a resource person and Volunteer, I gave many presentations regarding physical access, road safety, and drug abuse in the public sector, as well as planning and helping to chair meetings of national agency directors. I conducted a national survey of agency directors whose organizations provided services to people with disabilities, and I was a facilitator of the legislative advocacy group, the Jamaica Coalition on Disability. I was a community and business mediator for the insurance company Kenneth Wells, Inc. in Fairfax, VA, prior to receiving my MSLIS degree from the Simmons College GSLIS in 1996. As a Research Associate in Cardiff, Wales, I supervised the linguistic instruction of ten students for whom English was a second language, and provided additional research, editing, and computer instruction for them. As an employee of former Ambassador T. Frank Crigler and later, a consultant to Simmons College, I coordinated and spoke at conferences on international issues and disability advocacy, respectively. In 1997 I was the first Internet Reference Librarian for the Providence Athenaeum, and developed and loaded its first Web page. I am a film aficionado and an environmental advocate. Additionally, I am a reviewer for the on-line site, The US Review of Books. In addition to proofreading Ph.D. dissertations, I have edited seven manuscripts for publication. Currently I am finishing my first YA novel, and developing two projects on “ableism” in the US.