Currently, Catherine Ross is active in the field of Information Studies. She is a professor and dean of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Although she spends much of her time teaching and presiding over the FIMS program, she has published various articles and books that are very influential in the professional and academic field, as well as in the public sphere. Her most popular work is on the pleasure of reading (Libraries Unlimited, 2006)

Catherine Ross has a long history with The University of Western Ontario. Not only is she a dean and professor there, she also received all but one of her degrees at the institution. In 1967, Catherine Ross received her first of four degree, an Honorary B.A. in English at The University of Western Ontario. A year later, she finished a graduate program in English, at which time she earned her M.A. at the University of Toronto. Nine years later Ross concluded her studies in English and received her Ph.D. in 1976. Switching from English to the Information Sciences, later Ross returned to the University of Western Ontario and earned an M.L.I.S in 1984. (The University of Western Ontario FIMA, 2006)

Ross’ work is focused on three areas: “reading and the reading experience; the reference transaction; information seeking and use” (The University of Western Ontario FIMA, 2006). Most prominently, her ethnographic work on what adult readers choose to read has gained her much notoriety in the field. Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Ross is interested in delving into the minds of readers in order to examine the role of pleasure when choosing what to read. Her objective is to bring the readers’ point of views into the scholarly discourse on reading. Throughout her research she used over 194 interviews in which she sought to answer these questions in her study: “what value do readers themselves place on reading for pleasure and what factors do readers remember as having fostered or discouraged reading during their childhood? What criteria do readers use to judge the benefits they get from reading and what satisfactions do readers look for in specific popular genres of fiction? What cues do readers use to choose books (and reject books) in libraries and bookstores? What relationship do readers perceive between their reading and their social worlds? Finally, what typology is needed to describe the range of readers who read for pleasure?” (The University of Western Ontario FIMA, 2006).

Recently in 2005 Ross co-authored a book titled Reading Matters: What the Research Tells Us about Reading, Libraries, and Community (Libraries Unlimited, 2006). Alongside her co-authors, Ross explores and even debunks popular narratives about reading and situates the public library in the lives of readers. She also advocates for librarians to play an active role in promoting pleasurable reading. She also published several books for children and a biography on Alice Munro entitled A Double Life: A Biography of Alice Munro. For further information on her work and activities, see http://www.fims.uwo.ca/people/faculty/ross/publications.html#book.aut.

The University of Western Ontario FIMA, (2006). Retrieved November 18, 2006

from http://www.fims.uwo.ca/whoswho/facultypage.htm?PeopleId=5

Libraries Unlimited, (2006). Reading Matters: What the Research Reveals About

Reading, Libraries, and Community. Retrieved November 18, 2006 from

http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591580669.

Erika Montenegro