Following Emilie Songolo’s departure, Kimberly Chris Rooney has been appointed as the Interim Liaison Librarian for African Cultural Studies until a national search for Emilie’s replacement can be conducted. At the time of the national search, faculty will be invited to participate in the search process. Kimberly will support the department’s library needs in the interim.
For the past five years, Kimberly has worked closely with Emilie Songolo (former African Studies and Francophone Studies Librarian and Head of International and Area Studies for UW-Madison Libraries) and the rest of the IAS librarians assisting with and managing projects for the unit and our library’s African and Francophone Studies collections. She is also a PhD candidate in the Department of French and Italian, and her research focuses on representations of the School in sub-Saharan African novels written in French and the de/coloniality of this specific educational institution. The questions that guide her research also speak to her work in the library, where notions of epistemology, learning, and de/coloniality should likewise be critically examined. Kimberly is looking forward to using her experience in instruction, public humanities, and project coordination to serve as interim liaison librarian and prepare a smooth transition for the future full-time librarian.