Hi! I’m Kimberly. I’m a mom. I have a PhD in Library and Information Science, a librarian’s heart, and an academic’s mind. I manage multiple chronic illnesses and I love books and games.

“…a hybrid of fey imagery, Glam Rock glitter, and the lighter side of 80s Goth.” - a description of the woodland goth aesthetic that also happens to describe me

📧 hello@kimberlyhirsh.com

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“This is my home online. It’s where you can find me. If you want to know me, knock on the door, and I’ll let you in.” - Austin Kleon 

I’m a learner who writes. I live life and learn things, and then I write here about what I learn. I also write about what I’m creating and consuming and life as a parent and multipotentialite with chronic illness.     

“I write to help ME understand the world, and then share that understanding with others.” - Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega 

The best way to get to know me is to read my blog archives, but if you’re more interested in my professional qualifications, you can peruse my CV.

Home 

I am mother to a first grader and co-owner with my spouse of a home built in the 1980s. We have a fluffy kitten named Midnight.

Work 

I have experience as an educator, librarian, and researcher.

I am a freelance writer, writing on topics such as school librarianship and qualitative research for a variety of publications.

I create content about qualitative research for Quirkos.

I am one of a group of people building a network of scholars at the nexus of fan studies and library and information science (FanLIS).

Play 

What time I have to myself is split between reading, playing video games, crafting, watching Star Trek, and messing around on the web, especially at Micro.blog

In the past, I’ve been a theater and improv performer. I’ve also been an avid player of tabletop roleplaying, board, and card games. I hope to pick these activities up again in the future.

Need a more formal bio? Here’s one that starts out that way, and then dissolves into silliness.

Kimberly Hirsh is a librarian, researcher, and consultant. She is a qualitative researcher whose primary research interests are connected learning and fan studies in library and information science. Her other research interests include qualitative methods, research ethics, information literacy, school librarianship, and youth services in libraries.

Kimberly most recently worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine on the Transforming Teen Services for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (TS4EDI) project, serving as Research Lead.

Her most recent independent research uses information horizon maps and semistructured interviews to investigate the information literacy practices of cosplayers.

She previously served as a researcher on the Equity in the Making project, a National Science Foundation-funded project exploring how the spatial arrangements of academic makerspaces impact marginalized students' decisions about whether and how to use them. Kimberly’s responsibilities on the EITM project include collaboratively creating qualitative research instruments such as surveys and interview guides, analyzing qualitative data, and developing a theory of the defining features of academic makerspaces.

She is also one of the creators of Project READY, a series of free, online professional development modules for school and public youth services librarians, library administrators, and others interested in improving their knowledge about race and racism, racial equity, and culturally sustaining pedagogy.

Before beginning her doctoral program, Kimberly worked as public communications specialist and managing editor for LEARN NC, a university outreach program that shared innovative teaching techniques with K-20 educators. Her work at LEARN NC was shaped by her own experiences as a high school Latin teacher and middle school librarian.

Kimberly is also a public speaker, theater and comedy producer and performer, avid reader, inveterate crafter, and eager gamer. She spends most of her time with a remarkable and small human that she grew in her uterus. She has been coding in HTML and CSS since 1996, but gets bored every time she tries to learn JavaScript. She seems to be trying to collect chronic illnesses like some sort of autoimmune Pokémon trainer. She has spent a lot of money on voice and dance lessons, possesses a vast stash of cheap acrylic yarn that fuels her crochet habit, and likes to imagine that she is both a manatee and a unicorn, but not a narwhal. She likes all kinds of media but is increasingly out-of-step with popular culture both because it is growing more fragmented and she is growing more old. She would like to talk with you about Star Trek: The Next Generation.

You made it through all that? Here, have some more details about me.

About the site

kimberlyhirsh.com has been around since 2008. I kept my internet things at many and varied other places before that.

kimberlyhirsh.com is currently hosted on micro.blog with a Premium plan. Micro.blog runs on Hugo.

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