Brittany Baum is a current PhD student at FSU studying the role information professionals play in addressing adolescent mental health needs, particularly librarians, by studying the information behavior of teens.
Prior to enrolling at FSU, she worked as a Research Assistant (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 writing and is currently working on a short story collection.
Education
Florida State University: Current PhD Student 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
Refereed Presentations:
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.