Hi, there. I’m Rebecca Cooper.

I currently work in the library of The Society of the Cincinnati, America’s oldest hereditary patriotic society. My title is “Manager of Reader Services”, but in practical terms I get to do a little bit of everything. We’re a staff of three working with a large collection of both modern and rare materials related to the American Revolution, so at any given moment I could be working with patrons, scoping out new acquisitions, digitizing an 18th century print, or working with a museum curator to find information for an upcoming exhibit. When I find a spare moment, I like to play with the ways that emerging technologies can benefit a small special collections library like mine.

Before joining the Society’s staff, I worked at George Mason University, where I gained my passion for information literacy and instruction. This is where I first learned to work with blogs, RSS, wikis, etc. in a library environment and to watch how they could transform services and procedures.

I hold an M.S.L.S. from Catholic University and an M.A. in Art History from Southern Methodist University. I consider myself to be a life-long learner, and am always looking for new tools to play with and new ideas to discuss.

The guiding principal in my approach to libraries is Ranganathan’s fifth law — “The Library is a Growing Organism”. I think that today, perhaps more than ever, the library is in a time of flux. As a librarian, I find myself in the unique position to both act as an agent of change and a protector of the ideals that have guided libraries for centuries.