Jeffrey Garrett

Position Title: 
Associate University Librarian for Special Libraries
Job Information
Division: 
Special Libraries
Department: 
Special Libraries
Profile Photo: 
Contact Information
Phone: 
+1 (847) 467 5675
Phone: 
+1 (847) 903 6684
Email: 
jgarrett@northwestern.edu
City: 
Evanston
State: 
Illinois
Zipcode: 
60208
Bio
About: 

Currently Associate University Librarian for Special Libraries at Northwestern and additionally director of the Department of Special Collections and Archives. Jeff holds an M.A. in Linguistics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a Regents Scholar. He is a past chair of the Western European Studies Section (WESS) of the Association of College & Research Libraries (1998­–99) and the German–North American Resource Partnership (GNARP), part of the Global Resources Network at the Center for Research Libraries (2003–06). Research interests include knowledge organization and cognition, 18th and early 19th century German library history, and international children’s literature. He has served twice (2004 and 2006) as president of the Hans Christian Andersen awards jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). Among his more recent publications are “Access Strategies and the ‘Art of Forgetting’” (in German, V. Klostermann, 2010); “Screams and Smiles: On Some Possible Human Universals in Children's Book Illustration” (Bookbird 2008), “KWIC and Dirty? Human Cognition and the Claims of Full-Text Searching” (Journal of Electronic Publishing 2006); "The Legacy of the Baroque in Virtual Representations of Library Space" (Library Quarterly 2004); and “Memory Loss in Iraq” (American Libraries 2003, on the destruction of Iraqi libraries).

October 2007­–October 2008
Assistant University Librarian for Special Libraries, Northwestern University Library
November 2002–October 2007
Assistant University Librarian for Collection Management, Northwestern University Library
June 1995–November 2002
Bibliographer for Western Languages & Literatures, Northwestern University Library
April 1990–June 1995
Bibliographer for Foreign Languages and Literatures, Purdue University Libraries, West Lafayette, IN
December 1989–March 1990
Assistant Librarian, Main Library, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, San Francisco, CA
December 1988–June 1989
Rare Books Intern, Bancroft Library, University of California– Berkeley, Berkeley CA
August 1983–June 1988
Head, English Language Section, International Youth Library, Munich, Germany

Presentations & Publications
Presentations: 
“The Expropriation of Monastic Libraries in Central Europe, 1773–1814,” Conference “How the Secularization of Religious Houses Transformed the Libraries of Europe, 16th–19th Centuries,” Bodleian Libraries, Centre for the Study of the Book, University of Oxford, March 22–24, 2012.
“Anglo-American Myths of the Islamic East,” Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies, Northwestern University, March 2, 2012. 
Invited speaker (with Sarah Pritchard): “Acquisition Programs at Research Libraries: What Really Goes On,” Caxton Club of Chicago, November 11, 2011. 
Introduction and Moderator, “Fabrics of Life: How Fashion Makes Us Who We Are,” Northwestern University Office of Alumni Relations and Development, National Arts Club, New York, NY, September 16, 2011.
Invited speaker, “Knutfest: A Farewell to Knut Dorn,” American Library Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, June 24, 2011.
“Cult and Culture of Assessment: Some Thoughts on Collection Assessment in an Age of Ubiquity,” American Theological Library Association (ATLA) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, June 10, 2011.
Moderator, “Meeting with Jutta Bauer, 2010 Winner of the H.C. Andersen Award,” with Nikolaus Heidelbach, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Bologna, Italy, March 29, 2011. In German.
Moderator, “Meeting with Philip Giordano, Winner of the 2010 International Prize for Illustration, Bologna Children’s Book Fair/Fundación SM,” Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Bologna, Italy, March 28, 2011.
Moderator, “Panel Four: Cultural Interaction in the Space of Dialogue,” Rhodes Forum, “World Public Forum—Dialogue of Civilizations,” Rhodes, Greece, October 7­–11, 2010.
“Anglo-American Myths of Central Asia,” Rhodes Forum, “World Public Forum—Dialogue of Civilizations,” Rhodes, Greece, October 9, 2010.
“Libraries as Keepers of Memory,” Conference “65th Anniversary–End of World War II: Lessons to be Learned from History,”Bratislava, Slovakia, April 23–24, 2010.
“Die Erschlieβung als Komplement zur ‘Kunst des Vergessens’: Die Pflicht der Bibliotheken” (Bibliographic Access as a Complement to ‘The Art of Forgetting’: The Duty of Libraries). In German. Conference “National Responsibility for Cultural Heritage,” Frankfurt Book Fair, October 16–17, 2009.
Co-convenor and Moderator, “21st Century Libraries: Changing Forms, Changing Challenges, Changing Objectives,” 8th Frankfurt Scientific Symposium, Haus am Dom/Goethe Universität, Frankfurt, Germany, November 3–4, 2008.