Joyce Gabiola, archivist for the Contemporary Literature Research Collection and the LGBT History Research Collection at University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, was selected to be a Memory Workers fellow as part of the Autistic Voices Oral History Project (tAVOHP). 

Last year, tAVOHP received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support the fellowship program, which “aims to expand understanding of neurodiversity, foster collective and accessible community documentation of the Autistic lived experience and advocacy movement, and enhance the fields of archives and oral history.” 

The Memory Workers track provides an opportunity for allistic and Autistic archivists, librarians, oral historians, and Library and Information Science students to study neuro-affirming practices, cross-neurotype communication, and Autistic culture. 

Over the next few months, Gabiola will take part in a series of Expanding Knowledge sessions intended as a guide in conducting oral histories. Topics include workflow and tool training, Autistic mental health, and understanding sensory processing. As part of the fellowship, Gabiola will select two narrators as oral history subjects, and engage them in a conversation to learn about any aspect(s) of their life they would like to share with the world. “This might include the factors and situational context surrounding the time of their diagnosis, their education and career, romantic relationships, growing up in the American South or other region in the U.S., navigating high school, family vacations, and/or all the things that bring them joy,” Gabiola said. “The possibilities are endless.”

Gabiola’s research interests involve how archives and special collections can provide an accessible environment for everyone to support teaching, learning, student success, and public engagement. Their participation in the fellowship is a way of contributing to the practice of centering and preserving first-person narratives while gaining knowledge about neurodiversity and documenting unique perspectives as primary source materials. Significantly, an oral history can impart emotional context, an aspect that might go unseen in an archival photo or document. 

“A person’s oral history is the only one like it in the world,” Gabiola said. “Oral histories provide a fuller understanding of the person and their community based on their experiences, and can be empowering because each narrator has control and the interviewer will be guided by what the narrator wants to share.”

Interviews will eventually be preserved and made accessible through the University of Kentucky Nunn Center for Oral History. 

University of Houston librarians and staff are actively engaged in scholarship and service to the profession, demonstrated through presenting, publishing, and community engagement; and recognized through fellowships, honors, and leadership roles. Below is a summary of recent activities.

Kate McNally Carter accepted an appointment to co-chair the Texas Library Association (TLA) 2026 Conference Planning Committee for the TLA Annual Conference to be hosted in Houston; and was invited to join the editorial staff of the Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education (JOERHE) as an associate editor.

Carter will present “Inclusive or Equitable? OER Advocacy and Automatic Textbook Billing” at Texas Library Association Annual Conference 2025 in Dallas; and co-present “Enhancing Discoverability of OER: Promoting Collaborative Repository Workflows” with Xiao Zeng (lead author) and Ariana Santiago at the Library Publishing Forum (virtual).

Catherine Essinger authored a conference paper, “Teaching Information Literacy in a Post-Truth Society,” for AMPS Research Conference, a joint conference of California State University, Los Angeles, Universidad de los Andes, Chile, and Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, Indonesia.

Essinger is a member of the Association of Architecture School Librarians Annual Conference Planning Committee and co-chair of the Membership Committee.

Wenli Gao and Xiao Zeng will present “Assessing Open Access Publishing Activities to Inform Open Publishing Services at a Large R1 Institution” at All Things Open Week 2025 (virtual).

Lauren Gottlieb-Miller presented “Crisis and Care: Rewriting Disaster Response for the People Behind Recovery” at the Joint Conference for the Association for Architecture School Librarians and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) in New Orleans.

Gottlieb-Miller will co-present “Transformación Juntos: History and Future Engagement Between the ARLIS/NA Community and Mexico” with J. Evans and M. Pompelia; and co-present “The State of Art Museum Libraries: Evolving Practices Since 2016 and Shaping the Next Decade Together” with C. Clavell, S. Osborne Bender, J. Reistenberg Pepin, and K. Alleman at Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) Annual Conference (virtual). 

Gottlieb-Miller began her term as vice president/president elect for the ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico chapter in January.

Jennifer Holland was appointed to the 2026 TLA Annual Conference Planning Committee; and to the role of incoming vice chair for the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instructional Section Membership Committee for the 2025-2026 term (chair for the 2026-2027 term).

Holland, Mea Warren, and Veronica Arellano Douglas co-wrote a chapter for the forthcoming book Leading in Libraries (published by American Library Association (ALA), “Asking for Help in a Helping Profession: Encouraging and Modeling Help-Seeking Behaviors in the Library Workplace.”

Natalia Kapacinskas and Veronica Arellano Douglas are presenting a research project, “The Role of Emotion in Access to Information on Reproductive Health, Illness, and Disability: Implications for Information Literacy Instruction,” at the LILAC Conference in Cardiff, Wales. Kapacinskas and Arellano Douglas are also presenting with Mea Warren and Erica Lopez “Reflection as a Means to Assess Information Literacy Instruction” at the LILAC Conference.

Christian Kelleher and Lauren Gottlieb-Miller hosted the board of The Diana Foundation for a tour of their archives.

Kelleher promoted the UH Libraries Energy and Sustainability Research Collection as an exhibitor during the Petroleum History Institute at the annual North American Prospect Expo (NAPE).

Andrea Malone is co-chair of the ALA International Relations Round Table Pre-Conference Committee; secretary of the Modern Language Association (MLA) Executive Committee of the Libraries and Research Forum; chair of the UH Libraries Grievance Committee; and member of the UH Libraries Organizational Learning Committee.

Malone presented “Creating Your Online Profile/Research Visibility” for UH Faculty Engagement and Development; and will present “Analytics of Research Visibility and Impact (RVI): Assessment of Faculty RVI Knowledge and Practices” at Research Analytics Summit.

Malone, F. Razzaghi, L. Chua, M. Harris, and P. Gunasekaran co-wrote “Reflections on the 2024 International Librarians’ Pre-Conference and a Look Ahead to 2025” which appeared in International Leads 39(1).

Malone completed the 3-year MLA Bibliography Fellowship and was recognized at the MLA Convention in January.

Mary Manning and assistant professor Elizabeth Coen published “Integrating Primary Source Research in Collective Syllabus Design: A Model for ‘Play’ in the Archives” which appeared in the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Collective.

Manning co-presented “Greening Archival Spaces and Practices” with Cody Levina and Erin Renee Wahl at the Society of Southwest Archivists virtual workshop series.

Leo Martin published a book review of “DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution” by Lance Scott Walker, which appeared in Association of Recorded Sound Collections Journal, 55 (2).

Linda Garcia Merchant and Taylor Davis-Van Atta presented “State of DH@UH” for the UH Division of Research. 

Ariana Santiago was elected to serve on the Library Publishing Coalition Board for a term starting July 1.

Santiago presented a webinar titled “Open Education 101” as part of Open Oregon’s Open Education Week webinar series; and will co-present a panel titled “Breaking Down Barriers, Building Equity: Librarians’ Journey with Open Pedagogy” with T. Schultz, E. Azadbakht, and M. Goodsett at ACRL Conference.

Santi Thompson was selected as a fellow in the Association of Research Libraries Intensive Learning Program.

Shawn Vaillancourt and Orolando Duffus presented “Filling the Gaps: Applying AI/LLM and Library Tools to Enhance Data-Driven Decisions in Collection Development” at Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L) 2025.

Vaillancourt will present “Accuracy of Basic LLM Recall of LC Classifications” at CALA Canada’s Annual Conference.

Ariana Santiago

Ariana Santiago, head of Open Education Services at University of Houston Libraries, was selected to the competitive 2024 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Leadership and Career Development Program. As one of 24 awardees, Santiago will participate in a 13-month fellowship designed to facilitate advancement of the fellows’ leadership goals within research libraries and archives.

“I am excited to be selected for the ARL Leadership and Career Development Program, as it is a unique and valuable experience for supporting leadership growth,” Santiago said. “I look forward to the learning opportunities I will have as a fellow and expanding my impact as a leader in research libraries.”

At UH Libraries, Santiago provides leadership and strategy for open education services, collaborating with Libraries and campus partners to advance open education and pedagogy, including the adoption and creation of open educational resources (OER). Santiago has published, presented, and contributed professional service in the areas of open educational resources, information literacy, and library outreach.

“I’m thrilled to support Ariana’s participation in this program,” said UH Libraries interim dean Christina H. Gola. “The Association of Research Libraries offers premier leadership development programming that elevates leadership capacity across the profession. UH Libraries has a long history of supporting librarian participation in ARL leadership programs, so I am confident that Ariana and the Libraries will both benefit greatly.”

Santiago earned a Master of Arts in Applied Learning and Instruction from the University of Central Florida, a Master of Arts in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida, and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida. Before coming to UH, she was the Residency Librarian for Undergraduate Services at the University of Iowa. She was a 2017 American Library Association Emerging Leader.