Lynn Connaway

Lynn Silipigni Connaway's responsibilities include research projects that directly involve OCLC libraries and users, such as developing the digital "visitors" and "residents" framework and the IMLS-funded grant project, Research Student’s Information Choices, to study the behavior patterns of college and university information seekers. Her previous work includes WorldCat data mining projects, JISC-funded investigations of digital information seekers, and IMLS-funded grant projects to study virtual reference services. She also was the project lead on the American Library Association (ALA) Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) "Action-Oriented Research Agenda on Library Contributions to Student Learning and Success." Lynn and her collaborators have won numerous awards for their research projects and methodologies. 

Dr. Connaway is the 2023-24 Follett Chair at Dominican University’s School of Information Studies. Lynn received the 2020 Distinguished Alumna Award of the Information School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the 2019 ASIS&T Watson Davis Award for Service, and the 2016 ALISE Service Award. She also was awarded the Chair of Excellence position at the Departmento de Biblioteconomía y Documentación at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and collaborated with the faculty on user-centered research. Lynn was a visiting scholar in 2014 at the Department of Information Studies at the University of Copenhagen (now the Department of Communication at the University of Copenhagen) where she taught qualitative research methods and collaborated with faculty on user behavior studies. Lynn also was a visiting researcher at the University of Sheffield, Information School for the fall 2009 term, where she collaborated with faculty on WorldCat log analysis and user behavior studies. 

Prior to joining OCLC Research, Lynn was the vice president of Research and Library Systems at NetLibrary. She also was director of the Library and Information Services Department at the University of Denver, where she taught several courses in library and information science. During her tenure there, Lynn conducted research on the subjects of organization and access of electronic documents, as well as the education of information professionals. She also has served on the faculty of the University of Missouri, Columbia and as a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 

Connaway has been actively involved in numerous committees within the American Library Association (ALA), including Vice-chair (2011-12) / Chair (2012-13) of its Library Research Round Table, and Vice-chair (2009-11) / Patty Wong’s Presidential Advisory Committee (2020-2022) / Chair (2011-12) of the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Research Planning and Review Committee and Vice-Chair (2013-2014) / Chair (2014-2015) of the Value of Academic Libraries Committee / Co-Chair (2020-2022) ACRL 2022 President’s Program Planning Committee (2020-2022). She has served on the ALA Committee on Accreditation and is a member of the Association of Library and Information Science Educators (ALISE). She also is a member of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) and served as a Director-at-Large on the Board (2012-2015) and as President-Elect, President, and Past President (2016-2018). 

Lynn has presented at numerous international and national professional and scholarly conferences and has many publications. She is the co-author of the 4th and 5th editions of Basic Research Methods for Librarians and the 6th and 7th editions, Research Methods in Library and Information Science.