Elana Karshmer is the Head of Information & Research Services at FIU. She completed her M.A. (L.I.S.) and PhD in English at USF. In 2009 Elana was named an American Library Association Emerging Leader, and in 2014, she and won the ALA Library Instruction Roundtable’s Innovation in Instruction award for her work with first-year students. Elana served as president of the Florida Library Association from 2016-2017. Elana’s dissertation focuses on postcolonial literature, analyzing the work of South African women writers and their use of the farm as space for change. Elana believes that her work as a literary scholar complements her work as a librarian, helping her teach critical thinking in a more efficient manner. The intersection of her two fields enhances her ability to teach research skills and gives her a unique perspective on the literary research process; in short, both fields contribute to one another and help her develop new ways of reaching her students.
