Please join us in welcoming our Outreach and Community Engagement Librarian, Jack Owen, to the Loyola Notre Dame Library! 

To learn a bit more about Jack, we asked him some questions about his time before LNDL:

Q: Could you share some background about yourself? (Where you are from, where you went to school, how you got into this field of work… etc.)

JO: Hello! My name is Jack (pronouns: he/him/his), and I’m the new Outreach and Community Engagement Librarian at the Loyola Notre Dame Library (LNDL). I got my BA in English with a minor in Hispanic Studies from Vassar College and my Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. I’m originally from Bethesda, MD, but I lived in Brooklyn, NY for about six years after undergrad. In New York, I worked as a Grants Manager at the 92nd Street Y (92NY), and part of my role included fundraising for 92NY’s archives and their programs with the Brooklyn and New York Public Libraries. Learning about the amazing work these libraries were doing helped spark my interest in pursuing a career in librarianship.  

Q: What got you interested in this position at the library?

JO: While at the University of Maryland, I worked as a Graduate Assistant for Teaching and Outreach at the University Libraries. In that role, I really enjoyed teaching critical information literacy skills and creating partnerships with groups across campus, so I knew I wanted to find a job that combined those responsibilities. I also knew I wanted to work in an academic library with a strong commitment to social justice, so I was excited to learn about some of LNDL’s programs, such as last year’s Spotlight Series on mass incarceration. The Outreach and Community Engagement position at LNDL looked like a great mix of my interests.  

Q: What are you looking forward to most with this job?

JO: Along with building strong partnerships with faculty, students, and staff across both campuses, I’m really looking forward to collaborating with and learning from local organizations. There are so many amazing organizations and groups in Baltimore doing key community-focused work, so finding ways for the Library to highlight and support that work is exciting. Whether that be providing a physical space for community members to meet or helping to support community-engaged learning opportunities for students, I think there is a lot of potential to continue expanding our partnerships beyond campus.

Q: What is something interesting about yourself that you would like to share with the readers?

JO: This is a total cop-out because I always use this as my “interesting fact,” but I’m an identical twin! And no, sadly we are not telepathic, but we do finish each other’s sentences.