Prior to her joining the University Libraries at the University at Albany, she received her M.L.I.S. from the University of California at Berkeley and served as reference librarian at the Doe and Moffitt Libraries for 10 years. She also worked at the California School of Professional Psychology (Alameda, CA) for 3 years.

She is active in the Africana Librarians Council of the African Studies Association where she is current Executive Board member and recent past Chair of the Book Donations Committee. She is also a member of the Women’s Studies section of the American Library Association and attends a variety of relevant subject specific conferences.

Her research investigates learning and curriculum models which address structural and perceived barriers to learning and success in the higher education process. Her research looks critically at collection development practices with the goal of developing positive models and strategies which promote scholarship of diverse experience, particularly the study and expression of historically marginalized persons and groups. She is interested in developing tools to encourage and assess the transformative power of diversity courses.

She recently returned from a research leave in Kenya and South Africa where she interviewed academic librarians and is researching partnerships and practices which support African knowledge creation and production. During her stay, she investigated how to wage information campaigns to address the gender aspects of HIV/AIDS and AIDS prevention in Africa. She is a volunteer for the campus based Save Africa From AIDS Campaign.

Earned Degrees

9/87 - 12/90 M.L.I.S. (Master of Library and Information Studies)
Concentrations: Reference Service, Africana and Near Eastern Studies
University of California, Berkeley

9/80 - 8/85 Bachelor of Arts, History
Minors: Women’s Studies, Foreign Languages
Department of History scholarship. 9/81 - 8/82
Boise State University. Boise, Idaho

Publications

LaFond, Deborah M. and Gretchen Walsh. Editors. Research, Reference Services, and Resources for the Study of Africa. New York: Haworth Press, 2004.

LaFond, Deborah M. “Library Capacity Building in Africa or the Exportation of Technolust?: Discerning Partnership Models and Revitalization Efforts in the Age of Globalization.” The Reference Librarian, 87/88 (2004): 209-272.

LaFond, Deborah M. Reading and Connecting Visual Texts Through Art and Artifact: Course Integrated Information Literacy Lesson Plan. IN Empowering Students Hands-on and Minds-on Library Instruction Activities. Edited by Carol Anne Germaine and Deborah F. Bernnard. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), 2004.

Refereed Articles

LaFond, Deborah M., Mary K. Van Ullen, and Richard Irving. “Diversity in Collection Development: Comparing Access Strategies to Alternative Press Periodicals,” College and Research Libraries, 61.2 (2000): 136-144.

Van Ullen, Mary K. and Deborah M. LaFond. “Promoting European Union Depository Collections in the United States Through Bibliographic Instruction,” Journal of Government Information, 27.3 (2000): 1-19.

Recent Conference Presentations

LaFond, Deborah M. and Mary K. Van Ullen. “Making Connections to Course Content With Information Literacy, Two Approaches.” Conference on Instructional Technologies. State University of New York, Potsdam. May 30, 2003.

LaFond, Deborah M. and Karen L. Starr. “Finding and Interpreting Historical Threads and Patterns through Archival Research.” Invited Lecture, Underground Railroad: Movement and Context. annual conference. College of St. Rose, Albany, New York. February 22, 2003.

LaFond, Deborah M. “Library Capacity Building in Africa.”African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Africa in the Information and Technology Age. Washington, D.C., December 6, 2002

LaFond, Deborah M., Mary K. Van Ullen, and Richard Irving. “The Electronic Library: Implications for Accessing Alternative-Press Periodicals.” Invited speakers, Eastern New York Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries Fall conference, University at Albany, Albany, New York, October 22, 2001.

LaFond, Deborah M., Mary K. Van Ullen, and Richard Irving. “Diversity in Collection Development: Comparing Access Strategies to Alternative-Press Periodicals.” Invited speakers, Capital District Librarian’s Council fall conference, Albany, New York, November 6, 2000.

LaFond, Deborah M. and Marcia Hernandez. “Educating Global Citizens: Faculty Partnerships in Critical Thinking--Teaching Race, Gender and Class,” Race, Gender, Class in Undergraduate and Graduate Education section, American Sociological Association annual conference. Washington, D.C., August 15, 2000.

LaFond, Deborah M. “The Angel Craze and Dime-Store Theologies: Rendering Meaning to the Masses through Media,” National Women’s Studies Association annual conference, Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts, June 16, 2000.

LaFond, Deborah M. “Using Feminist Pedagogy to Teach about Classism, Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism,” Using Interactive Learning, Intensive Writing, and Computer Technology to Teach about Inequality panel, National Women’s Studies Association annual conference, Oswego, New York, June 11, 1998.

Awards

Recipient of the Dr. Nuala McGann Drescher Diversity Affirmative Action Leave Award, State of New York/United University Professions. for a research leave (Spring 2001). Toured select African libraries; interviewed librarians at the Library of Congress (Nairobi Office) and at academic libraries in Kenya and South Africa.

Artistic Exhibitions and Public Symposia

LaFond, Deborah M., Gerald Burke, and Brenda Hazard. “Threads of Scholarship: History and Storytelling in African-American Quilts.” University at Albany Libraries’ 2-Millionth-Volume Celebration. Permanent Exhibit, University Library Periodicals Room. Symposium, May 3, 2001. University Library, University at Albany.

LaFond, Deborah M., Anthony Howell, and Karen L. Starr.(co-curators) “Know Thy Family, Know Thyself: Piecing Together the Past Through Oral Histories, Archival Research and African Slave Naming Practices.” Exhibit, Science Library Lobby, University at Albany, March 28 – May 10, 2002.

LaFond, Deborah M., Donald R. Juedes, Rosemary Hennessy, and Vivien Ng. “Seeing Women Transnationally” (Campus video and discussion series). University at Albany, 1997-1998.

Instruction Web Pages

Women's Studies Resources

Africana Studies Resources

Psychology Resources

Finding and Interpreting Historical Threads and Patterns through Archival Research, Primary Source Documentation: A Primer Focusing on the Underground Railroad

Global Citizenship Through a Race, Gender, Class Lens

Threads of Scholarship:History and Storytelling in African American Quilts and bibliography