Melody Condron, resource description and management coordinator at UH Libraries, is the first recipient of the Rooks Early Career Librarian Fellowship. The fellowship endowment was established by former UH Libraries dean Dana Rooks and spouse Charles W. (Mickey) Rooks, PhD to support professional development and research opportunities for librarians early in their careers.

Condron is the author of Managing the Digital You: Where and How to Keep and Organize Your Digital Life (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017). Her research interests involve personal digital archiving and information organization theory. As part of her fellowship project, Condron will survey a national sample, including partners at public libraries, librarians in rural and urban areas, and faculty and students, to gather data on behaviors associated with the organization and accessing of personal digital files.

Following the survey, Condron will conduct one-on-one research sessions in which subjects will describe and demonstrate their methods for managing files on their own devices. This will provide granular insights on how individuals make decisions concerning the saving and labeling of digital information, and the effects thereof.