Jennifer Lund (she/her/hers)
Jennifer joined the library as the Liaison Librarian to the Labovitz School of Business & Economics. A native of Wrenshall, MN, she attended the College of St. Scholastica and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2006. She then went on to earn her Masters of Library Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2016. She is currently pursuing her Master of Business Administration through the College of St. Scholastica.
Prior to joining the Kathryn A. Martin Library, she served as the Access Services Librarian at CSS from 2018-2021 where she was responsible for circulation, interlibrary loan, course reserves, document delivery, and student employee supervision. She also provided reference services at the reference desk and via chat. Prior to her Access Services role, she was the Interlibrary Loan Specialist at CSS from 2013-2018.
Syerrah Davunt (she/her/hers)
Syerrah joined the library as a Library Assistant 1 - Circulation Supervisor. She is a native of Grand Rapids, MN and graduated from Itasca Community College in 2014 with her Associate of Arts Degree. She has spent the last 7 years working as a bank teller and bank teller manager for a local community bank, before making the decision earlier this spring to move to Duluth and finish her Bachelor's at UMD. She will be working primarily as a Circulation Supervisor, though she does look forward to the opportunity to continue to learn and grow within the team! She is very excited to be part of such a wonderful team, and to provide such wonderful resources for the students, faculty and community members that we offer through the library.
Katie Story
Katie joined the library as the Principal Office and Administrative Specialist. Katie holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Fun fact, one of Katie's favorite classes during college was Sculpture - where Katie was able to learn how to arc weld.
For the past 10 years Katie worked primarily in interior design - most recently as a Showroom Coordinator/Designer for Arrowhead Supply, where she had several of her house projects featured in the local magazine The Woman Today. Prior to this Katie held a variety of job positions including being an AmeriCorps member with the YWCA Girl Power program, Assistant Department Manager at Menards, and even working at a farm in Brule, Wisconsin.
Katie brings a variety of experience and knowledge to her new administrative role. Katie is grateful to be a part of a community that strives to be lifelong learners, and is looking forward to supporting the staff and students at the Kathryn A. Martin Library.
Bekky Vrabel (she/they)
Bekky joined the library as the Research Support & Liaison Librarian. She will lead the library's research support services. This involves coordinating chat services and facilitating training and discussion among librarians who provide research support, collecting and assessing usage statistics, and leading ongoing explorations of how to update research support initiatives. She will also serve as a liaison librarian to Communication, Journalism, History, Political Science, and International Studies. She's most looking forward to collaborating with colleagues in the library and across campus.
Bekky previously served as Electronic Resources Librarian and Assistant Professor at Winona State University and Instruction and Reference Librarian at the University of Wisconsin -- Green Bay. She completed her Master of Library and Information Science at UW-Milwaukee in 2013.
Eugenia Ortega
Eugenia de los Ángeles Ortega-Martínez came to the library in October 2020 as a post-doctoral researcher. She holds a PhD in Librarianship and Information Studies from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Currently, she collaborates with the Head of Specialized Information Services of the Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP) and the International Relations Round Table (IRRT) of the ALA, also is affiliated with the Policy and Information Services Research Group at Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP). Her research focuses on the design and development of specialized information services for Higher Education Libraries in Mexico (apps, e-Learning, Information Literacy, Media Information Literacy, Bibliometrics, Altmetrics and Digital Repositories). Late this summer Eugenia’s stay by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) was extended for a year and in September 2022 she became a fully-appointed staff member. In addition to her research, she will serve as the liaison for World Languages & Cultures, and will continue to deliver College Writing instruction as well as research support.