Patricia M. McPherson

Biography

Trish is MacPhaidin Library's Information Literacy and Outreach Librarian. In that role she focuses on promoting best practices for incorporating information literacy instruction into the curriculum and building collaborative relationships with faculty. She also serves as the library liaison to the Philosophy, Religious Studies, Languages, Literatures & Cultures, and History Departments. 

Librarianship is Trish's second career. After graduating from Northeastern University with a degree in journalism, she spent a decade working as a reporter at daily newspapers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Realizing that she enjoyed research more than newswriting, she enrolled in library school. Trish continued to work as a freelance writer for The Boston Globe, Cape Cod Magazine, and American Online while attending Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Trish worked in public and preparatory school libraries before joining Stonehill's staff in 2006. During her tenure at Stonehill, Trish has helped to establish the Faculty Librarian Partnership program and secured a grant to investigate the impact of library instruction and support on foreign language learners' learning. That grant is part of the program “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success” which is undertaken by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The program, a cornerstone of ACRL's Value of Academic Libraries initiative, is made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 

Trish’s particular areas of interest include collaborating with faculty on discipline-specific information literacy instruction and assisting first year students’ transition from the demands of high school to college-level research and scholarship.

She lives on Cape Cod with her husband, David (Stonehill ‘87), and their three children.

Education

• B.S. - Northeastern University
• MLS - Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science
• M. Ed. Instructional Technology - Bridgewater State University

Accomplishments

• Leadership Through New Communities of Knowledge Program Professional Development Grant (2012)
• Council of Independent Colleges/Council on Library and Information Resources
• Assessment in Action Grant (2013-2014)