As a scholar, educator, and consultant, I address situations for learning outside schools, especially in public cultural institutions such as libraries and museums. I strive to expand our understanding of how information is transmitted and meanings are constructed in these settings, and I teach to inspire practices that assist reflection. As a consultant and evaluator in museums and libraries, I offer critical perspectives and observations on the design of situations for learning.

I am specifically interested in self-directed inquiry and critical thinking in cultural institutions, including general curiosity, informal learning, and serious independent scholarship. My writing describes institutional contexts and encounters with new information, emphasizing the subjective responses and critical insights of individual learners. I am interested in the unfinished issues of adult life and the processes that help human beings in museums and libraries to become deeply informed over time.

My experiences include teaching in public schools, academic librarianship (reference, collection development, bibliographic instruction), graduate education of educators and librarians, and consulting for foundations, museums, and libraries. I have earned degrees in English (B.A., Drew, 1967), Education of the Gifted (M.A., Columbia, 1968), and Library and Information Studies (M.L.S., 1973, Ph.D., 1979, Rutgers). In 1973 I began work in the library system of Rutgers University. From 1980 to 1986 I served as an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, teaching in adult education and research methods; I later served as its Acting Associate Dean. In 1983-1984, I was a visiting researcher at the American Museum of Natural History's Education Department.

In January 1987 I began my current work as an Associate Professor of Library and Information Studies in the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers, where I teach about reference tools and processes. During a leave in 1989, I served as a consultant to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for the evaluation of its $3.1 million in museum education grants. In February 1994, I received the Association for Library and Information Science Education Award for Teaching Excellence. I have twice received similar awards from my colleagues at Rutgers.

A series of inquiries begun in 1983 under the general title "Thinking and Learning in American Cultural Institutions" has led to several publications and presentations, and to advising at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the Jewish Museum, the Strong Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum, among other institutions.

Selected Publications & Presentations

"Self-Directed Learning in Cultural Institutions." [Invited Essay] In Stephen Brookfield, ed., Self-Directed Learning: From Theory to Practice (pp. 51-62), New Directions for Continuing Education, no. 25. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985.

"Mediation as a Helping Presence in Cultural Institutions." [Invited Essay] In Sandra Rosenblum, ed. Involving Adults in the Educational Process (pp. 87- 96), New Directions in Continuing Education, no. 26. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass, June 1985.

"Meanings of the Adult Independent Library Learning Project." [Invited Essay] Library Trends, 35 (2):327-345, Fall 1986.

"The Situation of the Adult Learner in the Library." [Invited Presentation] In Reaching and Teaching Diverse Library User Groups (pp. 35-43), Proceedings of the Sixteenth National LOEX Library Instruction Conference, May 5, 1988, Bowling Green State University, Ann Arbor: Pierian Press, 1989.

"The Educative Museum." [Co-planner] W. K. Kellogg Foundation National Invitational Conference, Dearborn, Michigan, March 5-8, 1989.

"Live Up to Learners." [Invited Essay], Museum News, 68 (3):54-55, May/June 1989.

"The Adult Learner in the Museum." [Invited Essay] In Janet Solinger, ed., Museums and Universities (pp. 7-37). New York: Macmillan/NUCEA, 1990.

"Thinking in Museums: Reflections Among Masks." [Refereed Essay] In Brent Ruben and Leah Lievrouw, eds., Mediation, Information, and Communication (Information and Behavior, Volume 3) (pp. 365-377). New Brunswick, N. J.: Transaction, 1990.

"Museum Research as Connoisseurship." [Refereed Presentation] Congress of Ideas: American Association of Museums Conference, Chicago, Illinois, May 13, 1990.

"An Overview of Museum Learning Theory." [Invited Presentation] Workshop on Learning in Museums, Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 8-9, 1990.

"Living on One's Own Horizon: Cultural Institutions, School Libraries, and Lifelong Learning." [Refereed Essay] School Library Media Quarterly, 19 (4): 217-222, Summer 1991. (Selected for recognition by Library Instruction Round Table, American Library Association, 1991)

"Minds in Museums and Libraries: The Cognitive Management of Cultural Institutions." [Refereed Essay] Teachers College Record, 93 (1):6-27, Fall 1991.

"Cultural Institutions as Structures for Cognitive Change." [Invited Essay] In Lorraine Cavaliere and Angela Sgroi, eds. Learning for Personal Development. (pp. 21-35). New Directions in Continuing Education . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.

"Thinking for the Future Museum." [Invited Address] Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana, April 14, 1993. (Reprinted in Hand to Hand, Fall 1993)

"Physical and Cognitive Spaces in Museums." [Refereed Presentation] Museums and a Sense of Place Conference, New York City Museum Educators Roundtable, New York City, April 23, 1993.

"Youth Museums and Crafted Truths." [Invited Presentation] Association of Youth Museums, Houston, Texas, May 21, 1993.

"A Museum is an Open Work." [Refereed Presentation] Cybernetics in the Art of Learning Conference, American Society for Cybernetics, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1993.

"The Personal Past in Public Space." [Invited Essay] Journal of Museum Education, 20(2):3-5, Spring/Summer 1995.

"Rex's Lending Center and the Information Life of the Child at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis." [Invited Essay] In Kay E. Vandergrift, ed., Literature and the Intellectual Life of Young People (pp. 89-118). Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1996.