Dr. Nicole A. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and a Professor at the School of Library and Information Science, at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Cooke’s research and teaching interests include human information behavior, fake news consumption and resistance, critical cultural information studies, and diversity and social justice in librarianship.

Dr. Cooke was named a Mover & Shaker by Library Journal in 2007, she was awarded the 2016 ALA Equality Award, and she was presented with the 2017 ALA Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award, presented by the Office for Diversity and Literacy Outreach Services. She has also been honored as the Illinois Library Association’s 2019 Intellectual Freedom Award winner in recognition of her work in combating online hate and bullying in LIS, and she was selected as the Association for Library and Information Science Education's 2019 Excellence in Teaching award winner. In 2021 she was presented with the Martin Luther King, Jr., Social Justice Award by the University of South Carolina.

Now the founding editor of ALA Neal-Schuman's Critical Cultural Information Studies book series, Cooke has published numerous articles and book chapters. Her books include “Information Services to Diverse Populations” (Libraries Unlimited, 2016), “Fake News and Alternative Facts: Information Literacy in a Post-truth Era" (ALA Editions, 2018), and “Foundations of Social Justice (ALA Editions, expected in 2023). 

Cooke's previous Carnegie Whitney Grant project (2017) can be found here: The Interracial Books for Children Bulletin Bibliography

Learn more about Dr. Cooke's work: https://bit.ly/m/NicoleTheLibrarian 

Cearra Harris is a full-time doctoral student in the University of South Carolina's Library and Information Science program. She is currently a Presidential Fellow at the University of South Carolina and American Library Association Spectrum Doctoral Fellow. Her research interests include EDI in librarianship, human information behaviors of BIPOC communities, and social justice in librarianship. Before beginning her studies, Cearra worked diligently as a librarian to create programs and initiatives that focused on the immediate needs of marginalized groups. 

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