REAL Lab @ UofSC's iSchool

The REAL Lab was established by Dr. Nicole Cooke & Dr. Rachel Williams in 2024. We established the lab to create a space reflecting a commitment to embodying empathy in action, specifically by cultivating radical empathy and competent humility as essential skills for meaningful and effective engagement in library spaces.

Lab Co-founders & Directors

Dr. Nicole A. Cooke

Dr. Rachel D. Williams

Dr. Nicole A. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Professor at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. She brings a critical and humanistic lens to library and information science, with research interests that include human information behavior, critical cultural information studies, critical pedagogy, and equity and social justice in the field. Her scholarship is widely recognized for advancing understanding of misinformation, disinformation, and racialized malinformation, as well as the ways in which libraries can resist these forces through critical cultural literacy.

Through her publications, mentorship, and public scholarship, Dr. Cooke challenges LIS professionals and educators to cultivate critical awareness, disrupt inequities, and build more inclusive institutions. Her work continues to shape the profession, advancing both scholarship and practice toward a more just and liberatory future.

Dr. Rachel D. Williams is an assistant professor in the School of Information Science at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests are centered on examining how public library workers navigate professional boundaries and respond to people in crisis. Dr. Williams has published widely in library and information science journals, edited volumes, and encyclopedias on crisis response in public libraries, training for library staff, wellbeing and trauma-informed librarianship, and the intersections of social work and librarianship. Through both her research and teaching, Dr. Williams emphasizes empathetic approaches by highlighting empathy as a critical skill for information professionals across contexts.

Lab Affiliates

Dr. Cearra Harris,
Old Dominion University

Kaetrena Davis Kendrick, MSLS
Kendrick Consulting

Dr. Aisha M. Johnson,
Georgia Tech

Dr. Lydia Ogden, MSW, PHD, Salem State University

Dr. Cearra Harris is a Lecturer in the Library & Information Studies program at Old Dominion University. She is a recent PhD Graduate from the University of South Carolina's Library and Information Science program. Previously, Dr. Harris worked diligently as a librarian to create programs and initiatives that focused on the immediate needs of marginalized groups. Her research interests include trauma-informed librarianship, human information behaviors of BIPOC communities, and social justice in librarianship.

Kaetrena Davis Kendrick, MSLS, is the collective care leader for library workers, workplaces, and organizations. A graduate of the historic Clark Atlanta University School of Information Studies, her award-winning research on library morale is validating for library workers at all levels. Committed to centering well-being, creativity, possibility, and empathy in the workplace - and promoting career clarity and rejuvenation to workers - she has transformed library programs, services, and culture via creativity, leadership, and advocacy.

Dr. Aisha M. Johnson (she/her) serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Outreach at the Georgia Institute of Technology Library, where she provides strategic leadership across academic engagement, archives, public programming, and assessment. A librarian, archivist, educator, and scholar, Dr. Johnson is nationally recognized for her work advancing equity, access, and the preservation of Black history in libraries and archives.

Her professional identity is grounded in a philosophy that centers people as both catalysts and beneficiaries of sustainable organizational change. With over 15 years of experience as a practitioner, leader, and administrator, Dr. Johnson has dedicated her career to building inclusive academic and cultural infrastructures that elevate marginalized voices, preserve collective memory, and support lifelong learning. Her scholarship is an extension of this mission—rigorous, intentional, and deeply committed to transforming the field. Through research, teaching, and service, she works to prepare the next generation of LIS professionals to be scholar-practitioners and change agents in their own right.

Dr. Lydia Ogden is an Associate Professor in Salem State University’s School of Social Work and a licensed clinical social worker (LICSW) in Massachusetts and New York. She earned her MSW and PhD from Columbia University School of Social Work. Her clinical experience spans housing, inpatient psychiatry, day treatment programs, and tele-behavioral health, all of which inform her teaching, scholarship, and community engagement. Dr. Ogden’s research focuses on the stories and potential of people living with serious mental illness, particularly older adults. Her expertise includes self-care, well-being, and boundary setting, and her work has been published in Journal of Social Work Education, Advances in Social Work Practice, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, and Journal of Library Administration. As an educator, she is committed to inclusive, holistic pedagogy that promotes the self-care and well-being of social work students, extending her vision of professional thriving to the broader human services and helping professions.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse