KIRSTI NILSEN

Academic History

After earning an MLIS degree from Simmons College in Boston, Kirsti Nilsen completed her doctoral work in Library and Information Science at the University of Toronto in 1997. Presently, she is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, from where she recently retired. Her Library and Information Science teaching experience has covered a wide range of courses, including Management of Special Libraries, Information Policy and Advanced Information Services. Nilsen and Catherine S. Ross, professor of Media and Information Studies at the University of Western Ontario, co-authored the article “Has the Internet Changed Anything in Reference? The Library Visit Study, Phase 2” for which they received the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) for 2002.

Contributions to Reference

Nilsen’s research focus covers three major areas:

1) Information policy, with an emphasis on government information policy. This research focus formed the topic of her dissertation “Social Science Research in Canada and Federal Government Information Policy: The Case of Statistics,” and has continued to influence Nilsen’s interest in examining “the extent to which government information policy has an effect on the use and the users of government information, ” especially as it relates to government-wide policies of cost-recovery and restraint on government information production and dissemination (Nilsen, 1997).

2) User perception of reference service. Nilsen’s research in this area includes research on methodologies for conducting successful reference interviews. Along with Catherine Sheldick Ross Catherine S. Ross Catherine S. Ross and Patricia Dewdney, she authored a standard manual Conducting the Reference Interview. Using research studies conducted by Dewdney, (known as her Mental Models Study) and Nilsen’s Library Visit Study done at the University of Western Ontario, the reference manual “incorporates … research in library and information science from the past fifteen years to create a single source about the reference interview” (Millet, 2003). Nilsen’s current research on user perception of reference service focuses on comparison studies to measure user satisfaction in face-to-face and virtual reference service. Her article “Virtual versus Face-to-Face Reference” identifies how problems causing dissatisfaction in physical librarian-user reference encounters are also found in virtual reference user interface, specifically in reference interviews lacking full investigation and lack of follow-up inquiry closing. Nilsen argues for the use of RUSA criteria in measuring both face-to-face and virtual reference service, underscoring the importance of “interpersonal communication in the reference process” (Nilsen, 2005).

3) Multiculturalism in library services. Nilsen is also active in researching how Library Information Studies curriculum programs in Canada are working to prepare library students for working with multicultural communities. Her work includes studies that look at how “infused multiculturalism” in LIS courses works in comparison to individual courses on multiculturalism. Nilsen argues that LIS courses incorporating multiculturalism within the larger context of the course are essential because of the opportunity they offer LIS students for gaining a “broader understanding of the international and cultural dimensions of information exchange” (Nilsen, 2004). She points to the growth of multilingual information on the Internet as well as the globalization of information exchange and communication as factors to influence consideration in the shaping of LIS programs that at once meet ALA accreditation and graduate studies requirements while ensuring that courses in multiculturalism and diversity issues are provided on a consistent basis to ensure the training of “global librarians” (Nilsen, 2004).

For more infomation on Nisen, see University of Western Ontario's FIMS program faculty pages at http://www.fims.uwo.ca/whoswho/facultypage.htm?PeopleId=3705

Works by Kirsti Nilsen

Nilsen, K. (1974). Bibliography of bibliographies prepared by U.S. Government agencies of interest to community planners. Council of Planning Librarians. Exchange Bibliography 527.

Nilsen, K. (1980).Commonwealth Caribbean government publications: biographies and acquisition aids. Government Publications Review, 7A, 6, 489-503.

England, C. (Ed.) [with Fleming, P., Henderson D. & Nilsen, K.]. (1984). Guide to basic reference materials for Canadian libraries. Toronto: Published for the Faculty of Library and Information Science.

Nilsen, K. (2001). LIS education for multiculturalism and diversity. Feliciter; 47, 4, 2001, 17-18.

Nilsen, K. (2001). The impact of information policy: Measuring the effects of the commercialization of Canadian Government statistics. Connecticut: Ablex Publishing.

Nilsen, K. and Ross, C.S. Ross. (2002). Conducting the Reference Interview: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians. New York:Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Nilsen, K. & Trosow, S.E.(Sept 2003). GATS and public library services (Abstract only). Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science', 27 3, 143-145.

Nilsen, K. (Jan 2004). The Library Visit Study: user experiences at the virtual reference desk.Information Research, 9, 2.

Nilsen, K. (Dec 2004). LIS education for multiculturalism and diversity. Library Times International 21, 2, 43-44.

Nilsen, K. (Autumn 2005). Virtual versus Face-to-Face reference. Refer, 21, 3, 12-15,18,19.

Nilsen, K. and Trosow, S.E. (2006). Constraining public libraries: The World Trade Organization's general agreement on trade in services. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press.

Nilsen, K. (Dec 2004). LIS education for multiculturalism and diversity. Library Times International, 21, 2, 43-44.

Nilsen, K. (Autumn 2005). Virtual versus Face-to-Face reference. Refer; 21, 3, 12-15,18,19.

Nilsen,D. (1997). Social Science Research in Canada and Federal Government Information Policy: The Case of Statistics. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, 1997).

Millet, M.S. (May 2003). (Book review) Conducting the reference interview. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 29, 3, 190-191.

The University of Western Ontario. (2006). Faculty of Information & Media Studies''. Retrieved November 13, 2006, http://www.fims.uwo.ca/whoswho/facultypage.htm?PeopleId=3705

Lettycia Terrones

November 2006