Rate My Professor Katherine Wisser

Katherine Wisser is an Associate Professor and Master's Program Director in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University. She serves as Director of the Archives Concentration and Director of the Archives Certificate Program. Wisser joined Simmons SLIS faculty in fall 2009 as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. Before arriving at Simmons, she held several roles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science, including Director of Instructional Services from 2008 to 2009, NC ECHO Metadata Coordinator from 2003 to 2008, and Teaching Fellow from 2001 to 2009. Earlier positions include NCSU Libraries Fellow in cataloging and special collections from 2001 to 2003. Her academic background includes a PhD from UNC Chapel Hill in 2009 with a dissertation titled “Organization of knowledge and bibliographic classification in early nineteenth-century America,” an MSLS from the same institution in 2000, an MA in Early American History from the University of New Hampshire in 1998, and a BA in Early American History from Bates College in 1989.

Wisser's research focuses on archival description, metadata coordination, Encoded Archival Context for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF), and relationships within archival collections. She has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, including “Exploring Relationship Description: A Report from the Describing Relationships Workshop, Simmons College, February 2018” in Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (2019), “Surveillance, documentation and privacy: an international comparative analysis of state intelligence records” in Archival Science (2015), “EAD tag usage: community analysis of the use of Encoded Archival Description elements” in American Archivist (2013), and “Describing entities and identities: the development and structure of Encoded Archival Context – Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families” in Journal of Library Metadata (2011). She co-authored The Organization of Information (Libraries Unlimited, 2018) and edited Libraries: Traditions & Innovations (DeGruyter Press, 2017). Wisser co-chaired the Technical Subcommittee for EAC-CPF, edited special issues of Journal of Archival Organization (2015-2017) and Journal of Library Metadata (2011), and served as Visiting Scholar at the American Antiquarian Society in 2012. Her honors include Distinguished Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (2021), Simmons University Faculty Achievement Award for Service, Edward G. Holley For the Good of the Order Award (2009), and several scholarships from UNC Chapel Hill.