Brittany Baum is a current PhD candidate at FSU studying the role information professionals play in promoting community well-being, particularly public librarians and adolescent mental health.
She currently works as an RA for FSU studying social services provision in public libraries and has also worked as a TA for various courses, such as Management of Information Professionals, Information Needs of Children, and Storytelling for Information Professionals.
Prior to enrolling at FSU, she worked as an RA for the University of South Florida (USF) on an LSTA-funded grant that involved a unique collaboration with a representative from USF’s School of Social Work to provide responsive librarianship reading sessions and mental health literacy instruction to three public libraries across Hillsborough and Pasco counties. In addition to her RA duties, she also served as a Graduate Assistant and Instructor teaching Information Literacy at USF for the School of Information.
Brittany received her Masters in Library and Information Science from USF and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University in Kentucky as well as a Bachelors in English with a minor in Creative Writing from Rollins College. She has over five years of public library experience where she last worked as a Circulation Coordinator and has also had the opportunity to work for a special library inside a pediatric behavioral facility in the greater Tampa area through a grant provided by the NNLM, which is where her research interests first began to bloom.
Outside of academia, she enjoys yoga and creative writing.
Education
Florida State University: Current PhD Candidate in Information
University of South Florida: MA in Library and Information Science
Spalding University, Louisville, KY: MFA in Creative Writing
Rollins College, Winter Park, FL: BA in English. Minor: Creative Writing
Research Interests
Information seeking behavior of young adults; Mental Health Information Behaviors of young adults; Mental Health Literacy; Information Needs of Young Adults; Information Resources for Young Adults; Youth Library Program and Service Evaluation; e-Health; mHealth, Graphic Medicine
Publications & Research
Articles in Refereed Journals:
Gross, M., Latham, D., Baum, B., Crabtree, L., & Randolph, K. (2023). “I didn’t know it would be like this:” Professional preparation for social service information work in public libraries. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis-2022-0067
Crabtree, L., Latham, D., Gross, M., Baum, B., & Randolph, K. (2023). Social workers in the stacks: Public librarians’ perceptions and experiences. Public Library Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2023.2188873
Baum, B., Gross, M., Latham, D., Crabtree, L., & Randolph, K. (2022). Bridging the service gap: Branch managers talk about social workers in public libraries. Public Library Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2022.2113696
Taylor, N.G., Shereff, D., Baum, B, Chan, J., & Cannon, P. (2022). Moving beyond the book list: Building a pediatric responsive librarianship program. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 22, 40-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/15323269.2021.2019521
Refereed Conference Proceedings:
Gross, M., Latham, D., Baum, B. (2024). Drawing the line between social work and librarianship: Public library administrators talk. Association for Library and Information Science Education 2024 Conference.
Gross, M., Latham, D., Baum, B., & Crabtree, L. (2022). No one told me: A dialog on preparing public librarians to provide social services in public libraries. Association for Library and Information Science Education 2022 Conference, 1-8. https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/aliseacp/issue/view/98
Refereed Presentations:
Williams, R., Gross, M., Latham, D., Baum, B., Dudak, L., Freeburg, D., Johnson, S., and Crooks, S. (2024). Navigating the modern libraryscape: The changing roles, labor, and education of public librarians. [Conference presentation]. 2024 Association for Library and Information Science Education Conference.
Julien, H., Vanscoy, A., Gross, M., Latham, D., Baum, B., Crabtree, L., and Colon-Aguirre, M. (2024). Preparing students for the workplace: The good, the bad, and the ugly. [Conference presentation]. 2024 Association for Library and Information Science Education Conference.
Taylor, N.G., Cannon, P., Shereff, D., Baum, B., Scanlon, K., Jacobs, E., Pettus, K., Taylor, E., & Segers, C. (2021). “New Ways to Foster Public Library-Social Work Collaborations.” Presented at the hybrid 2021 Florida Library Association annual conference.
Taylor, N.G., Cannon, P., Shereff, D., Baum, B., & Chan, J. (2020). “Incorporating Responsive Librarianship in Youth Programming.” Workshop presented at the virtual 2020 Florida Library Association annual conference.
Invited Presentations:
Taylor, N.G., Cannon, P., Shereff, D., Baum, B., Pettus, K., & Schellhaas, N. (2021). “Story Strong: Mind. Soul. Comics.” Webinar conducted for the American Library Association’s Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table. Available online at: Story Strong: Mind. Soul. Comics. - Zoom
Refereed Conference Posters:
Chan, J. & Baum, B. (2020) Leading forward to recovery: How librarians aid adolescent mental health literacy. Poster presented at the 2020 virtual Florida Library Association annual conference.
Shereff, D., Chan, J., Cannon, P., Taylor, N.G., & Baum, B. (2020). Graphic medicine for emotional wellness: Therapeutic library programming in a pediatric behavioral health setting. Poster prepared for the 2020 virtual Medical Library Association annual conference.
Conference Posters:
Baum, B. (2024). Public youth services librarians’ perceptions towards and experiences in promoting teens’ positive mental health: A mixed methods study. [Poster session]. 2024 Association for Library and Information Science Education Conference.
Baum, B. (2023). Bridging the support gap: An exploration into public youth services librarians' perceptions and experiences promoting teens' mental health in the library. [Poster session]. 2023 Association for Library and Information Science Education Conference.
Grants & Awards
Grants/Scholarships
- Doctoral Candidate, Esther Maglathlin Doctoral Research Scholarship, Funded by Florida State University’s School of Information, August 2024-May 2025, $2,000
- Doctoral Candidate, Dissertation Research Grant, Funded by Florida State University’s Graduate School, March 2024, $1,000
- Research Assistant, "Social Services in Public Libraries," Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Funding Period: August 2023 to July 2023, $266,702.
Awards:
2024 Outstanding Doctoral Student, School of Information, Florida State University
2023 Outstanding Doctoral Teaching Assistant, School of Information, Florida State University