Margot E. Callahan

Profile

Credentialed librarian with 11 years of experience spanning academic and public library systems, specializing in research instruction, collection development, and digital resource management. Redesigned information literacy curriculum adopted across a 4-campus consortium, lifting student research assessment scores by 34%. Proven record of grant acquisition, community outreach program growth, and cross-departmental collaboration with faculty and IT teams.

Work Experience

Senior Reference & Instruction LibrarianAug 2018 - Present

Cascadia University Library, Portland, OR

Developed and delivered 60+ library instruction sessions per year for undergraduate and graduate courses, raising post-session research competency quiz scores by 34% over three years.
Led collection development for the Social Sciences division, managing a $210,000 annual budget and negotiating e-resource licensing agreements that reduced per-use costs by 18%.
Secured a $47,000 IMLS Sparks! Grant to digitize 1,200 archival items from the Pacific Northwest Labor History collection, increasing online access requests by 290% within 12 months of launch.

Reference LibrarianJun 2014 - Jul 2018

Multnomah County Library — Central Branch, Portland, OR

Staffed a high-volume reference desk averaging 85 patron interactions per day, resolving 97% of research inquiries at point of contact without escalation.
Designed and facilitated 'Digital Literacy for Adults' workshop series, enrolling 340 community members annually and earning a 4.8/5.0 average satisfaction rating across 22 sessions.
Cataloged and processed 3,400 new monograph acquisitions using MARC standards in Innovative Interfaces Sierra, reducing cataloging backlog by 41% over 18 months.

Library Assistant (Graduate Practicum)Sep 2012 - May 2013

Reed College Library, Portland, OR

Supported interlibrary loan operations, processing 500+ ILL requests per semester with a 99.2% accuracy rate and an average fulfillment time of 2.1 days.
Assisted with migration of 8,000 periodical records from legacy catalog to OCLC WorldCat, improving discoverability and eliminating 620 duplicate entries.
Created research guides in LibGuides for 12 subject areas, which received 4,200 unique page views in the first semester of publication.

Education

Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)2011 - 2013

University of Washington iSchool, Seattle, WA

Concentration in Digital Curation & Archival Studies; Graduate Teaching Fellowship

Bachelor of Arts in English Literature2007 - 2011

Willamette University, Salem, OR

Minor in History; Dean's List 6 semesters

Skills

Collection Development & Budget ManagementResearch Instruction & Information LiteracyMARC Cataloging / OCLC WorldCatInnovative Interfaces Sierra (ILS)LibGuides Content ManagementGrant Writing (IMLS, LSTA)Digital Archiving & Metadata Standards (Dublin Core, EAD)Database Licensing NegotiationALA-Accredited MLIS

Links

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/margotcallahan-librarian · Portfolio: margotcallahan.cargo.site · Research Guides: LibGuides research guides for 12 subject areas (links on request)