Copley Library 2023-2024 Annual Report

“I’m really fortunate to have the support of the university in my creative endeavors as well as my scholarship.” | Hugh Burkhart

Hugh Burkhart I am the library’s Coordinator of Instruction and Undergraduate Learning. I’ve served as the instruction coordinator since 2018 and been at USD since 2008 as a member of the Reference department. I’m the subject librarian for Communication, English, French, undergraduate and graduate Theatre, and the Film Studies interdisciplinary minor. My scholarship is grounded in my work as an educator, specifically as it relates to information literacy. This summer I was honored to receive the John Brubaker Memorial Award from the editorial committee of Catholic Library World for my article “College Bridge Program and the Academic Library: Creating and Sustaining the Pontem Partnership,” a case study detailing the library’s outreach to the Pontem Path, the university’s college readiness program. In 2020, I published a chapter entitled “Information Literacy and the Undergraduate Curriculum: Engaging Faculty and Enhancing Student Learning” in the book Library Collaborations and Community Partnerships (Taylor & Francis). I’m also a writer of short fiction and, in more recent years, novels. My graduate degree, other than my Master of Library and Information Science, is in English Literature and Creative Writing. As someone who has been a writer longer than I’ve been a librarian, I’m really fortunate to have the support of the university in my creative endeavors as well as my scholarship. My short stories have appeared in The Cortland Review , Glimmer Train , The Los Angeles Review , Valparaiso Fiction Review , and other venues. This year my unpublished detective novel All That is the Case was a finalist for the Killer Nashville Claymore Award in the best investigator category. It’s currently under consideration for publication with an independent press. I lead library instruction and information sessions in lower division classes focused on the basics of finding, evaluating, and citing sources as well as upper division courses where students are conducting more comprehensive literature reviews or searching for primary source material. As a former middle and high school teacher, I also enjoy engaging with the middle school students we see each spring through the Pontem Partnership program. Fun fact: A guitar player who’s been playing for more than thirty-five years, I’ve played in bands in the past and still like to get together with other musicians I know in San Diego whenever I can. If I hadn’t pursued a career in education, I’d probably be doing something related to music. In my mind, I’m a rock star!

10 | HELEN K. AND JAMES S. COPLEY LIBRARY