About

Carl Hess is the Undergraduate Success Librarian in the University Libraries at the University of Memphis. Carl works to improve library outreach and services for undergraduate students. He teaches how to find, evaluate, cite, and keep track of research sources.

Education

• M.A., Library & Information Science, University of Missouri, 2013
• B.A., History & Political Science, Loyola University Chicago, 2010

Work Experience

• Undergraduate Success Librarian (Clinical Assistant Professor), University of Memphis (TN), April 2023 – present
• First-Year Experience Librarian (Clinical Assistant Professor), University of Memphis (TN), July 2020 – April 2023
• Information Literacy Librarian (Assistant Professor), Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau, MO), February 2017 – June 2020
• Reference & Instruction Librarian, Heidelberg University (Tiffin, OH), January 2014 – January 2017
• Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Missouri (Columbia, MO), August 2012 – December 2013

Research Interests

• Academic library collaboration
• Outreach programs
• Information literacy instruction

Publications

• McClure, J., Hess, C., & Marsicano, D. (2023). Redesigning research guides: Lessons learned from usability testing at the University of Memphis. Information Technology and Libraries, 42(3). https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ital.  
• Hess, C. & Roach-Freiman, A. (2023). Together in the same (Zoom) room: Building campus community around first year writing and information literacy through a collaborative online forum. The Journal of Creative Library Practice. https://creativelibrarypractice.org/2023/01/12/together-in-the-same-zoom-room/.
• Hess, C. (2022, September 2) Planning inclusive events. TLA Newsletter, 28(3). https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.tnla.org/resource/collection/67D9B2E1-B81F-47CE-8475-FD9071EEBE16/Summer_2022.pdf.  
• Hess, C. (2021) On Barbecue [book review]. Tennessee Libraries, 71 (4). https://www.tnla.org/page/71_4_Hess.

Conference Presentations

• Hess, C., McClure, J., Boulden, M., & Lange, T. (2024, May 10). Pooling our expertise: Creating information literacy and writing tutorials with a cross-campus team. Library Instruction Together (LIT) Retreat 2024, Nashville, TN, United States.
• Dahman, S., Hess, C., & Peeples, M. (2024, April 2-4). One click to connect: Expanding access to the collection with a previously underused product. Tennessee Library Association (TNLA) Annual Conference 2024, Franklin, TN, United States.
• Roach-Freiman, A., & Hess, C. (2023, October 13-15). “Wait, We’re Drawing?”: Engaging Visual Strategies for First-Year Library Orientation [Conference session]. Arkansas Library Association / Southeastern Library Association 2023 Joint Conference, Hot Springs, AR, United States.
• Roach-Freiman, A., Hess, C., & McClure, J. (2023, September 7). “Wait, we’re drawing?”: Engaging visual strategies for first-year library orientation [Webinar]. Association of Southeastern Research Libraries. https://www.aserl.org/event/wait-were-drawing-engaging-visual-strategies-for-first-year-library-orientation/ 
• Hobbs, A., & Hess, C. (2023, May 15). Keeping the lights on: Maintaining a dissertation retreat through COVID and staffing changes [Conference session]. WeTALC Spring 2023 Conference, Memphis, TN, United States.
• Roach-Freiman, A., & Hess, C. (2023, May 11-13). “Wait, we’re drawing?”: Treating first-year students to making art in the library orientation [Interactive workshop]. LOEX 2023, Harrisburg, PA, United States.
• McClure, J., & Hess, C. (2023, Apr. 11-13). Redesigning workflows and research guides [Conference session]. Tennessee Library Association Annual Conference 2023, Memphis, TN, United States.
• Roach-Freiman, A., Hess, C., & McClure, J. (2023, Apr. 11-13). “Wait, we’re drawing?”: Engaging visual strategies for first-year library orientation [Conference session]. Tennessee Library Association Annual Conference 2023, Memphis, TN, United States.
• McClure, J., & Hess, C. (2022, October 19 & 21) Utilizing usability testing for designing instructional research guides. [Conference session]. Nashville Area Library Alliance Support Staff as Leaders Conference.
• McClure, J., & Hess, C. (2022, September 23). Redesigning research guides: Lessons learned from usability testing at the UofM [Colloquium presentation]. University Libraries Colloquium. Memphis, TN, United States.
• Hess, C., & Boulden, M. H. (2022, September 21-23) If you build it, they might not come: Developing OER training resources for faculty through an OER grant [Show & fail presentation]. Open Texas 2022.
• Roach-Freiman, A., Harris, M. W., Hess, C., & Singarella, I. (2021, November 12). Changing roles and the role of change: Research and instructional services and the health sciences librarians change roles during COVID-19 [Conference session]. West Tennessee Association of Libraries Consortium 2021 Fall Conference, Martin, TN, United States. 
• Hess, C., Roach-Freiman, A., Hayes, P., & Kenny, H. (2021, October 11-13). Together in the same Zoom room: First-year writing success collaboration [Conference session]. 28th National Conference on Students in Transition.
• Hess, C. (2020, May 5-8). Bridge the divide: Building academic and high school librarian dialogue through a free professional development workshop [Conference session]. LOEX 2020.
• Hess, C., & Griffin, K. (2017, October 4-6) Help! My tutorial software is almost as old as the freshmen, what should I do? [Table talk]. Missouri Library Association Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, United States.
• Hess, C., & Griffin, K. (2017, August 3) You can't fight fake news with more CRAAP: Complicating information evaluation using scaffolded support [Conference session]. Indiana University Libraries Information Literacy Colloquium, New Albany, IN, United States.
• Hess, C. (2015, August 6-7). Flipping the one shot [Conference session]. OPAL Annual Conference, Findlay, OH, United States.
• McIntosh, J., & Hess, C. (2015, August 6-7). What are they doing in there? Using Google Analytics to better understand our students [Conference session]. OPAL Annual Conference, Findlay, OH, United States.
• Hess, C. (2015, June 10). Migrating to LibGuides v2 [Workshop]. OHIONET, Columbus, OH, United States.
• Hess, C. (2013, October 2-4). Teaching social information literacy to undergraduates [Conference session]. Missouri Library Association Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, United States.
• Schuster, K., Hess, C., Graves, A., Knotts, P., & Adams, K. (2013, August 9). Reflective learning in undergraduate information literacy classes [Conference session]. Indiana University Libraries Information Literacy Colloquium, New Albany, IN, United States.
• Adams, K., & Hess, C. (2013, June 27-July 2). Fact or Facebook: Digital media literacy and digital natives [Poster]. American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.

Outreach, Service & Membership

• Accessibility Interest Group, Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL): member, 2023 – present
• Tennessee Library Association (TNLA): member, 2020 – present
• Memphis Area Library Council (MALC): member, 2020 – present; president, 2023 – present
• Faculty Senate: senator for the University Libraries, 2024 – present
• First-Year Experience Comon Read Committee: member, 2024 – present
• Book Club, University of Memphis: faculty advisor, 2023 – present
• University Accessibility Committee Digital & Learning Environment Subcommittee, University of Memphis: member, 2022 – present; co-chair, 2022 – present
• Accessibility Committee, University Libraries: member, 2020 – present
• Dissertation Writers Retreat Planning Committee, University Libraries: member, 2022 – present
• Programing, Promotion, and Events Committee, University Libraries: member, 2020 – present
• Research Guides Redesign Workgroup, University Libraries: member, 2020 – present

Teaching Experience

• UI 100: First Year Seminar (Southeast Missouri State University)
• HEI 101: First Year Seminar (Heidelberg University)
• CSP 100: Intro to Computers (Heidelberg University)
• ISLT 1111: Information Use and Student Success (University of Missouri)