The Wayne State University School of Library and Information Science is pleased to welcome three assistant professors who will join the School in August 2011. 

Xiangmin Zhang, who teaches human-computer interaction and information technology courses, returns to Wayne State from the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS) at Rutgers University.  Before leaving for Rutgers in 2002, Dr. Zhang was on the faculty at WSU after receiving his Ph.D. in information science from the University of Toronto in 1998.  His research interests include information retrieval, hci, digital libraries, personalization; and user experience/interactions of information systems. He is currently a co-Principal Investigator of an IMLS funded, multiple year research project:  Personalization of the Digital Library Experience, at Rutgers University.

Stephanie Maatta Smith, who teaches in the area of reference and user services, comes to Wayne State from the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida, where she was an assistant professor since 2003.  Dr. Maatta Smith received her MLS and PhD degrees from Florida State University.  Her research interests center on creating libraries and information agencies that are accessible to all, and educating professionals to reduce the barriers and limitations impairing universal access to information.  Dr. Maatta Smith is the co-Principal Investigator, with Dr. Laurie Bonnici at the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies, of an IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant. Dr. Maatta Smith is also the author of the Library Journal’s annual “Placements and Salaries Surveys.” 

Dr. Deborah Charbonneau, who received her Ph.D. in sociology from Wayne State in 2010  joins the School’s faculty from the Vera P. Shiffman Medical Library at WSU.  Dr. Charbonneau, who has been a public services librarian at the Shiffman Medical Library since 2002, rising through the ranks to Librarian IV, has also served as an adjunct faculty member for the School since 2007.  Charbonneau received her MLS and BA from the University of Pittsburgh.  Charbonneau’s future research and teaching interests are varied and include reference, academic libraries, research methods, scholarly communication issues, and special libraries.