This e-Portfolio documents Joe’s activity as a doctoral student pre-comprehensive exams (April 2023). Since then, Joe continues to publish, present and be engaged in activism within information science and beyond. An up-to-date CV can be found on Joe’s regular website kohlburn.net. This includes a residency plan, courses taken, and discussion of professional goals as well as a contextualization of research activities in the broader scope of Joe’s work. Joe’s CV can be found here, as well as on the main menu.
Joe is a doctoral student, academic librarian, and activist. Joe has worked in various types of libraries since 2005, and has been a librarian since 2014. This has profoundly informed his research interests as well as the trajectory of his academic journey. From within the institution of public higher education, the flaws and cracks in the foundation of public life predicated upon access to education, public services, and systems of collective improvement are readily apparent. As such, Joe has made it his goal to document, research, and improve the state of public institutions in his capacity as a librarian, academic, and citizen. Joe serves on the Missouri Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, and has made it his project to combat laws that undermine intellectual freedom in the state, particularly as it relates to the first amendment rights of young people. Joe has appeared numerous times in media discussing problematic legislation like Missouri’s SB 775, as well as the Secretary of State’s latest proposed rule. This experience has both strengthened Joe’s commitment to public service and intellectual freedom, as well as made him curious about the structures of news journalism and governance when it comes to intellectual freedom and other rights. Joe also serves on Critical Mass for the Visual Art’s board, and interviews artists in and around the St. Louis Area.
Professional Goals
Joe’s professional goals are to continue to promote intellectual freedom and positive social change within institutions. He intends to pursue a tenure-track position in higher education as either a faculty librarian or researcher. His efforts working on committees, panels, and boards to hold public institutions accountable will be combined with careful qualitative research to support professional librarians, educators, and aligned individuals in protecting the rights of those who would access said institutions. Additionally, research into media ecologies around news media and popular media (e.g. video games, books, etc) will continue to be a source of insight into how individuals process the inherent trauma of institutional struggle in their social and private lives.
Research Interests
Intellectual Freedom and Intra-institutional and Organizational Change
Journalism and Activist Media Ecologies
Video Games and New Media
Joe Kohlburn 