Amanda joins Denison from Ohio State, where she served as Professor and Head of Teaching and Learning at University Libraries. While Amanda has had the opportunity to work in a variety of institutional settings throughout her career, she has had a distinct focus on supporting undergraduate students and the faculty who teach them throughout their academic journeys. This is reflected in her scholarship, which explores the sociocultural nature of information literacy, epistemological development, and fostering equitable learning environments. A strategist at heart, Amanda envisions libraries as spaces that foster and facilitate curiosity, inquiry, creativity, intellectual engagement, knowledge creation, and community building. As such, she is looking forward to developing relationships and building meaningful and enduring partnerships with her new colleagues at Denison.
Research
In addition to serving as the editor in chief for The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Amanda has been published in College & Research Libraries, portal: Libraries and the Academy, College & Undergraduate Libraries, the Journal of Library Administration, and International Information & Library Review. Amanda was the recipient of the 2020 ACRL Instruction Section’s Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award.
Works
- Folk, A.L. (2025). From novice to expert: Exploring the relationship between information literacy threshold concepts and epistemological development. Communications in Information Literacy, 19(1).
- Folk, A.L., Hammons, J., Blocksidge, K., & Primeau, H. (2024). Building a bridge between skills and thresholds: Using Bloom’s to develop an information literacy taxonomy. Journal of Information Literacy, 18(1), 159-181.
- Folk, A.L. (2023). Exploring the experiences of academic library employees with long COVID in the United States and Canada. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(6).
- Overbey, T., & Folk, A.L. (2022). Narratives of (dis)enfranchisement: Reckoning with the history of libraries and the Black and African American experience. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions.
- Folk, A.L., & Overbey, T. (2022). Narratives of (dis)engagement: Exploring Black and African American students’ experiences with libraries. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions.
- Jaggars, S.S., Prieto, K., Rivera, M., & Folk, A.L. (2022). Adopting affordable course materials: Instructors’ motivations, approaches, and outcomes. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 22(2), 305-334.
- Folk, A.L. (2021). Exploring the development of undergraduate students’ information literacy through their experiences with research assignments. College & Research Libraries, 82(7), 1035-1055.
- Rivera, M., Prieto, K., Jaggars, S.S., Alexander, e., & Folk, A.L. (2020). “Open”-ing up courses for diversity and deeper learning. International Journal of Open Educational Resources, 3(2), n.p..
- Folk, A.L. (2019). Reframing information literacy as academic cultural capital: A critical and equity-based foundation for practice, assessment, and scholarship. College & Research Libraries, 80(5), 658-673.
- Folk, A.L. (2018). Drawing on students’ funds of knowledge: Using identity and lived experience to join the conversation in research assignments. Journal of Information Literacy, 12(2), 44-59.
Other
- 2025 The Ohio State University Libraries Distinguished Scholar Award
- 2023 American Library Association Library Instruction Round Table Innovation in Instruction Award (for Meaningful Inquiry Workshop)
- 2023 The Ohio State University Libraries Annual Research Excellence Award (for Narratives of (Dis)Enfranchisement)
- 2022 portal: Libraries and the Academy Best Article Award (for “Using Affordable Course Materials”)
- 2020 Association of College & Research Libraries Instruction Section’s Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award (for “Reframing Information Literacy as Academic Cultural Capital”)
- 2019 Top 20 Articles from the American Library Association’s Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) (for “Reframing Information Literacy as Academic Cultural Capital”)