Karen Coombs

Senior Product Analyst, OCLC Developer Network

Karen is a librarian and geek coder with an interest in mashups, web services, and library websites and interfaces. She is the Senior Product Analyst for the OCLC Developer Network, a community of developers collaborating in a "sandbox" environment in order to propose, discuss, and test OCLC Web Services.

Prior to joining OCLC, Karen worked part time as a Web Application Specialist for LISHost and as a library web technology consultant. She has an MLS and an MS in Information Management from Syracuse University. Karen has presented at many national and international conferences including ALA Annual, Internet Librarian, Access, and ELAG. She has written articles for Computers in Libraries, Library Journal, Library Hi Tech, and the Journal of Academic Librarianship. She co-authored the book Open Source Web Applications for Libraries with Amanda Hollister. With Jason Griffey, she is the co-author of the book Library Blogging. In 2009, Karen was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker. She is past-chair of the LITA Special Interest Group for Blogs, Wikis and interactive media, a former member of the LITA Top Technology Trends panel, and the author of the Library Web Chic weblog.

From 2005–2010, Karen served as the Head of Web Services at the University of Houston Libraries, where her duties included development and maintenance of the libraries’ website and virtual presence for 35,000+ students, faculty, and staff. From 2001–2005, she served as the Electronic Services Librarian at SUNY Cortland.

For more professional information about Karen, see her CV.