Library Staff Directory

Debra Sampson

Bio:

Debra has been the Director of the Academy of Art Library since July 2007. Before pursuing a career in librarianship she worked in the nonprofit sector for many years while living in Point Reyes Station, California. She earned a B.A. from Sonoma State University in English Literature and received her Masters in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. Debra’s interests in the field of librarianship include collection development, reference services, and reading and writing about contemporary trends in librarianship. Debra completed a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate in January 2012 and began teaching English composition at the Academy. She also works as an ESL support instructor on campus and coordinates the Information Literacy instruction program in the library. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, cooking, knitting, and hiking, and is studying Japanese. Debra would be happy to help you with any research needs you may have, via email, phone, in person, or through her online office. Please email or phone her to set up an appointment.

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Heather Stenson

Bio:

Heather Stenson joined the staff at the Academy of Art University Library in 2007. She received her undergraduate degree in anthropology from Colorado State University and her master’s degree in library science from San Jose State University. Her professional interests include user experience, metadata, and indexing, and her personal interests include running, baking, knitting, and, of course, reading. Feel free to contact Heather if you have any questions about the library’s website or catalog; she can be reached at (415) 618-3858 or hstenson@academyart.edu.

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Joel Webb

Bio:

Joel started as the cataloging librarian at AAU library in September 2012. After multiple schools and majors, he eventually earned his B.A. in modern world history from CSU Sacramento, and his Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State.

He spends most of his free time thinking about, and occasionally participating in, the acts of traveling, camping, running, reading, taking pictures, eating burritos, making lists, and visiting as many libraries and national parks as possible.

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Renee Lopez

Bio:

After many years in the animal care field, Renee decided to pursue her other career interest in library studies. She completed the two-year Library Information Technology program at CCSF in 1997. She started at the Academy that same year working in Circulation then moved to the Serials department. She is responsible for maintaining all aspects of the approximately 300-title collection, which includes acquisitions, bindery, claims, repairs and displaying current magazines.

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Rosita Burke

Bio:

Rosita Burke has been with Academy of Art University Library since 2005. She runs the Course Reserve section (Teachers: tell Rose what you require your students to read or view). She also purchases books and films for the Library, and welcomes acquisition suggestions from students and instructors.

Rose has a degree in History, with a solid background in the humanities and art history. An eternal student, she probably has enough post-graduate credits for several more degrees (she has been known to exaggerate, but charmingly), and she finally settled on librarianship as her road to fulfillment. Hobbies? Reading, of course.

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David Aponte

Bio:

David Aponte is presently employed as a Circulation Assistant for the Academy of Art University Library. He also works for the Oakland Public Library as a Library Assistant. Originally from the Bronx, N.Y., David received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The School of Visual Arts where he specialized in Film. After graduating, he worked as a freelance Videographer for ten years.

David continues to work as a Videographer/Consultant for non-profit organizations. The videos he produces are used to help procure grant funding for programs.

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Annemarie D.

Bio:

Annemarie joined the Academy of Art University Library in September 2011, after four years cataloging and databasing media at the venerable San Francisco location of Amoeba Music. She received her B.A. in Comparative Literature from San Francisco State University in 2009, as well as a minor in Japanese from that institution’s highly challenging and in-demand program, where she studied contemporary Japanese literature in the original language. She also served as an editor of the University’s journal of comparative literature, Portals.

Annemarie’s interest in literature and language lead her to the world of libraries from an early age, and she founded a youth library organization (P.L.O.T.S.: Public Library Organization Through Students) in her hometown while in grade school. Annemarie’s interests include collection building, publishing, and determining how libraries best adapt in the face of the continuing dematerialization of data.

Outside of the library, Annemarie enjoys baking, adventuring, riding on city buses for a hobby, her cat, and her record collection.

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Ellen Dario

Bio:

Ellen started working as a Circulation Assistant in March 2013. Before working at the Academy of Art Library, she worked at the Daly City Public Library for many years as a Library Aide. She is currently pursuing a degree in Accounting.

Her outside interests include 80’s & 90’s R&B, puppies, Star Trek, hitting the gym, and eating brunch.

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Jack Doran

Bio:

Jack joined the AAU library staff in February, 2011. After receiving a BA in English from UC Santa Barbara, he went right into the pertinent field of animal rescue, where he learned how to administer medication, express bladders, manage a shelter and even drive a tractor. He now divides most of his time between slinging books and pursuing a Masters in Library and Information Science at San Jose State with a specialization in archival studies.

Jack’s outside interests include: Detective and Noir fiction, “playing” guitar but ultimately just eliciting complaints from his neighbors, cycling, bird watching, 50’s and 60’s Country LP’s, animal welfare, baseball, oral and folk history and various bits of regional and/or historical minutiae.

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Audrey Ferrie

Bio:

Audrey started at the Academy of Art University Library in the Fall of 2010. She received her BA in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing in 2005 from Marylhurst University, and her Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington in June of 2010. Audrey can be found leading tours and workshops, helping students with research at the Reference Desk, and holding down the circulation desk. Prior to working at the Academy of Art University Library, Audrey worked in public, academic, corporate and law libraries. Information behavior and literacy, digital archiving, and rural libraries are where Audrey's nerdy passions lay.

Outside of the library world, Audrey spends her time exploring the Bay area, taking clandestine photos of herself with vintage cars and trucks, baking pies and cakes, gardening, urban gleaning, and taking long walks in Mountain View cemetery.

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Abby Dansiger

Bio:

Abby Dansiger is the Visual Resources Librarian at the Academy of Art University Library, where she manages the digitization, cataloging, and development of the library’s digital image collection available through LUNA. Abby also serves as a reference librarian and the Photography subject specialist. If you have any questions about LUNA or would like assistance searching for images, please contact Abby at 415.618.3761 or adansiger@academyart.edu.

Abby has been a part of the library staff since 2007. Her prior experience includes performing image indexing for the Bettmann Archive at Corbis, and cataloging an artists’ ephemera collection for the SFMOMA Research Library. Abby holds a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts and received her MLIS from San Jose State University. Her professional interests include information organization and access, visual literacy, digital asset management, and preservation. In her free time, she enjoys beading, knitting, and looking for the hidden stairways of San Francisco.

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Daniel Kaufman

Bio:

Daniel joined the AAU Library in September, 2011. After receiving his B.A. in New Media/Sound Design from Bowling Green State University, he acquired his M.L.I.S. from The University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Daniel’s outside interests include: drawing, making music, volunteering at Creative Growth in Oakland, and Norwegian black metal.

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Lillian Hetherington

Bio:

Lillian’s background is in art, as a fine artist and as an art history major, with a specialization in the art of Africa, the Americas and Oceania, in which she was a museum docent for 20 years. She has worked at the Academy for many years in different capacities. As a slide librarian, she has seen a change in media with the digitization of images. She now catalogs these images for the Luna data base, and will be helping to digitize the slide collection. Though there is a lot of stock photography on the internet, the picture file is still in use and she works to keep it maintained and correctly organized. Graduate students have the privilege of perusing theses of past students, so they may gain insight into what makes a successful project and how to present it. The circulation of these and the fashion files are part of her responsibility.

Lillian enjoys working with instructors and students in the employ of the school and those that use the media she works with. Her after hours are filled with projects involving art, music, and family.

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Anders Lyon

Bio:

Anders started working at the library in June 2010. He moved to the Bay Area from Bloomington, Indiana where he attended and worked for Indiana University. Throughout his undergraduate years at IU, he was employed as a student worker in the stacks of the Herman B. Wells Library. In 2007 he received a B.A. in Art History, focusing on Northern Renaissance painting. Upon graduating, he was hired on as a library staff member in the stacks department where he worked until moving west. Outside of the Academy of Art University, Anders volunteers at the San Francisco Center for the Book and practices amateur bookbinding and design. In his free time he enjoys biking around the city, looking for junk, and making mixtapes. Recently, his interest in the styles of the Northern Renaissance were reinvigorated, so he's been revisiting the old research haunts.

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Ally Hack

Bio:

Ally started working at the library in September 2011. She holds a Masters in English/Writing from UC Davis, and is now working towards her MLIS at San Jose State University. She also works as a library assistant for the Oakland Public Library.

Ally enjoys reading literary fiction and graphic novels. In her life beyond books, she likes beach walks, coffee shops, and trips to the farmers market.

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Kalvin Van Gaasbeck

Bio:

Kalvin started working at the library in September 2012. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley graduating in 2010 with a B.A. in Japanese Language and Culture and a minor in Asian Studies. During his studies, Kalvin worked at the main campus library in the ever busy reshelving unit. After graduation, he took a position in the business library as a library assistant assigned with the grim task of withdrawing and sending volumes to be destroyed.

In his free time, Kalvin loves playing video games, watching musicals, and singing loudly while driving.

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Molly Rose

Bio:

Molly joined the AAU library staff in 2013 after moving to the Bay Area in 2012 from Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from The Ohio State University with a B.A. in Anthropology, she joined the OSU library staff, spending several years working in both the Thompson Library and the Architecture Library.

When not at work, Molly spends her free time vising farmer's markets, hiking with her dog, or cycling around the East Bay.

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