Rate My Professor Jason Vance

Jason Vance serves as Professor and Information Literacy Librarian at Middle Tennessee State University's James E. Walker Library. He brings more than 26 years of professional experience as a librarian, with extensive expertise in library instruction and one-on-one research consultations across diverse subjects. As the library liaison to the Department of English, Professor Vance supports research needs in English Language and Literature, Film Studies, Public Writing and Rhetoric, African American Literature, Children's Literature, and related fields. He maintains comprehensive research guides for numerous courses, including ENGL 2020: Black Writers Matter, ENGL 2020: Themes in Literature & Culture, ENGL 2020: Themes in Literature & Culture: Swinging Sixties - British Literature and Film, ENGL 3000: Introduction to Literary Studies, ENGL 3330: Southern Literature, and PRST 4995: Senior Capstone. Additionally, he contributes to course reserves for English 3030. Currently pursuing a PhD in English at MTSU, his academic background includes a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from Simmons University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Western Kentucky University. Professor Vance uses he/him/his pronouns and holds ORCID iD 0000-0002-4739-6802.

Professor Vance's scholarly interests focus on information literacy, library instruction, pack horse librarians, American modernist literature, and the Federal Writers' Project. Key publications include 'The Information Culture of the Kentucky Pack Horse Library, 1935-1943' (Library & Archival Security, 2012), 'Staplercide!: The lives and deaths of academic library staplers' (College & Research Libraries News, 2013), and 'Mining reference chat transcripts to analyze noise complaints' (Reference Services Review, 2018). Prior to MTSU, he worked eight years as an academic librarian at Morehead State University. At Walker Library, he has served as interim User Services Chair and co-facilitated Faculty Learning Communities, such as one on writing with Ryan Korstange. He participates in MT Engage, a high-impact practices program made permanent at MTSU, and has led workshops like 'As a Matter of Fact: Teaching Truth in the Era of Fake News.' Professor Vance has presented research findings on Kentucky Pack Horse Library scrapbooks at events including Livingston Reads.