Library Faculty

Rhonda works with students and faculty, assisting them with their research needs. As a member of the Library Instruction team, she helps provide classroom bibliographic instruction in the humanities and social sciences. She meets with students one-on-one to offer hand tailored research consultations.

Rhonda oversees Access Services, which includes the Circulation and Reserves departments. She can help you with questions regarding your library account, placing materials on reserve, and creating coursepacks. She has a BA in Anthropology from Binghamton University, a MALS from Stony Brook University, and received her MLS from Albany University.

Gwen Cunningham is the Science Librarian at St. Lawrence University. Gwen has an M.L.I.S. from the University of Rhode Island and a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.  She comes to SLU with past experience at Brown University’s Center for Digital Initiatives as well as the Providence Athenæum.

Gwen provides research assistance and support to both faculty and students.  She is available to provide classroom instruction to the science departments on campus.  She can be found at the Launders Science Library in Madill Hall which houses the University’s science collections and GIS services.

Paul Doty began his duties as Special Collections Librarian for St. Lawrence University with the start of 2018.  Paul has been a librarian at St. Lawrence for twenty years, and at various points in time was involved with library web development, public service, and Interlibrary Loan.  Among his interests and plans for Special Collections is continuing the important work of acquiring and making available materials about the North Country and the Adirondacks.  Along the way he has worked any number of campus committees, taught a variety of courses in St. Lawrence’s First Year Program, and published poems or essays in the Mississippi Review, the Great Lakes Review, Poetry Pacific, the Reference Librarian, and the Cortland Review.   Paul has a B.A. in English from Keene State College, an M.A. in English from the University of Maine, and an M.L.S. from SUNY Albany.

Michelle is responsible for collection development and acquisitions for the SLU Libraries, overseeing activities related to the evaluation, acquisition, licensing, and management of scholarly resources in a variety of formats. She has a BA in English/Writing from Edinboro University and received her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh. Her professional interests include cooperative collection development, copyright and intellectual property issues. She serves on the University Assessment Committee and participates in cooperative collection development work for ConnectNY and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). Michelle acts as the SLU Libraries’ CRL Coordinator and can help with questions about CRL collections and services.

As the Academic Library Fellow, Avery is working with departments and mentors throughout ODY and the Launders Science Library gaining exposure to the key functions of academic libraries. Prior to this position she worked at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library creating original library programs for Teen Services. Avery is passionate about scholarship and research, as well as working directly with students and faculty, and is enthusiastically using this 1.5-year fellowship to aid in transitioning her career from Public Librarianship to Academic Librarianship. She received a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and earned a B.S. degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from Guilford College, also in Greensboro, North Carolina

John Payne has served as Director of Libraries at St. Lawrence since 2019. He previously worked as Director of Library and Information Services at Saint Michael’s College, Associate Director of Libraries at Furman University, and Dean of Learning Resources at Mars Hill College. He has served terms as president of the Vermont Library Association, the Vermont Consortium of Academic Libraries, and the Mountain College Library Network. John has a bachelor’s in European History from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a master’s in library science from the University of South Carolina, with additional coursework in medieval history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has taught courses in history, humanities, and computer science, including “Faith and Reason in the European World” and “Medieval Science and Magic.”

As libraries and technology simultaneously evolve and integrate, Kate works with librarians, staff, faculty, and students to facilitate search, discovery, and delivery of library services and resources. As the Systems Librarian, she manages, supports, and evaluates library systems such as the discovery platform, Encore, and the Integrated Library System, Sierra.

Kate has a BA in zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University, and received her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.