About  

April Hobbs is the Graduate Student Outreach Librarian at the University of Memphis. April is the liaison with the Graduate School and provides research support, graduate instruction, and relevant programming including the Dissertation Writer’s Retreat and its variations. She also assists students, faculty, and staff at the Reference Assistance Desk and Chat. April has continued working on research relating to disaster information and emergency planning for libraries.  

Education 

• M.L.I.S. Library and Information Science – University of South Carolina, 2019
• B.A. Communication Studies – Young Harris College, 2015

Work Experience

• Research and Instruction Librarian, University of Memphis – Memphis, Tennessee, 2022 - present
• Adult Services Librarian and Creative Studio Coordinator, Charleston County Public Libraries – Charleston, S.C., 2020 – 2022

Research Interests

• Disaster information
• Consumer health information
• Emergency planning for libraries
• Information literacy

Publications

• Tu-Keefner, F., Hobbs, A., & Bricker, A. (2022, March). Is your COVID-19 health information understood by adults in the general public? A content analysis of online resources published by the CDC and the WHO. In Proceedings of the International Congress of Medical Librarianship (ICML) and the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) Joint Conference.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Liu, J., Lyons, D., Hobbs, A., Smith, J. C. & Corbo, M. (2020). Health Information Access and Public Libraries’ Situation-Specific Information Services: What Public Librarians and Library Users Said. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 24(3), 201-227. DOI: 10.1080/15398285.2020.1791666
• Tu-Keefner, F., Liu, J., Lyons, D. R., & Hobbs, A., Hull, C. (2019, August). Preparing future librarians and current information professionals to lead libraries in times of crisis. In Proceedings of the 85th World Library and Information Congress of IFLA. Athens, Greece. Retrieved from http://library.ifla.org/2532/1/234-tu-keefner-en.pdf 

Conferences 

• Tu-Keefner, F., Hobbs, A., & Bricker, A. (2022, May 2-7). Do your general public users understand the COVID-19 health information you have provided? A content analytical study. Presented at Medical Library Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition, New Orleans, LA.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Hobbs, A., & Bricker, A. (2022, March 15-19). Is the COVID-19 health information that you provided understood by your general public users? A content analytical study. Presented at the International Congress of Medical Librarianship (ICML) and the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) Joint Conference, Pretoria, South Africa.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2022, March 23-25). Librarians lead in times of crisis: Stop, drop & roll. Presented at the Public Library Association Conference, Portland OR.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2021, October 26-28). Librarians lead in times of crisis: Stop, drop & roll. Presented at the Internet Librarian 2021, Monterey CA.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2021, September 17). Supporting library staff in Emergencies and natural disasters. In K. William & C. Chu (Chairs), Minitalks: Libraries, literature, literacies [Minitalk Series]. University of Illinois. https://publish.illinois.edu/minitalks/events/ 
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2021, September 9-10). Supporting library staff in Emergencies and natural disasters. Emergency Preparedness & Disaster Planning Summit, Columbia, SC, United States.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2021, August 17-19). Supporting library staff in Emergencies and natural disasters [Poster presentation]. 2021 IFLA World Library and Information Congress. https://www.ifla-wlic2021.com/.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2021, June 23 – 29). Librarians' roles during emergencies and natural disasters. Paper presented at the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition virtual event, June 23 – 29, 2021.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2021, June). Supporting staff in emergencies and natural disasters: Making the case for serving our communities equitably through partnerships. Paper presented at the New Jersey Library Association virtual conference.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2020, September). Supporting staff in emergencies and natural disasters. Paper presented at Computers in Libraries & Internet Connect virtual event.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2020, January). Supporting librarians' roles in emergencies and natural disasters. Paper presented at the ALA Midwinter 2020, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Lyons, D. R., Liu, J., Hobbs, A., & Smith, J. C. (2019, October). Librarians as first responders: Preparing future librarians and current information professionals to lead libraries in times of crisis. Paper presented at the Library Research Seminar VIII, 2019. Columbia, SC.
• Tu-Keefner, F., Liu, J., Freeburg, D., Hartnett, E. J., Lyons, D. R., Corbo, M., & Hobbs, A. (2018, August). Lessons learned after a disaster: investigations of public librarians’ health information services to the community and community members’ information needs following a catastrophic flood. In Proceedings of the Evidence for Global and Disaster Health Special Interest Group Meeting, An IFLA 2018 Annual Congress Satellite Meeting. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Hobbs, A., & Scarpinato, A. (2015, May). May the Odds Be (N)ever In Their Favor: Intersectionality and Appalachian Stereotypes In The Hunger Games. Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Cultural Studies Association (CSA), Riverside, CA.
• Richardson, C., Hobbs, A., Simmonds, A., & Underwood, C. (2015, March). Scroogled: Examining Stereotypes in the World’s Most Popular Search Engine. Shining a Light on Communities: Exploring Issues of Diversity and Education Conference. Young Harris, GA.
• Richardson, C., Hobbs, A., Scarpinato, A., & Simmonds, A. (2015, February). Hicks, Hillbillies, Rednecks, and Yokels: Reconstructing Popular Memories of the South through Google’s Automated Searches. Southern American Studies Association (SASA) Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Teaching Experience 

• FOUN 1000: First Year Foundations – Young Harris College (Teaching Assistant/Peer Mentor)