“New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions
Expertise:
Community Engagement
Knowledge Management
Content Management Systems
Collection Development
Electronic Resource Management
Process Improvement
User Experience & Design
Project Management
Design Thinking
Competitive Awareness
STM Research
Evidence Based Decision Making
Social Media strategy
Contract Negotiation/Budgeting
Born on the gulf coast of Texas and raised in rural Arkansas, Melida has lived and worked happily in Ohio, Michigan, Connecticut and Wisconsin.
Her undergraduate studies in Art History and Religion focused on African Diasporic traditions. She began an MA in Theology, serving as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Dayton, but realized that while she’s a passionate researcher, academic theology is not her path. She went on to complete a Master's degree in Library and Information Science at UW-Milwaukee, focusing on how communities create and implement new knowledge collaboratively.
Melida is grateful that her professional and personal interests have aligned to focus on guiding diverse groups of people, regardless of size or composition, in becoming “collaboratives for improvement”, whether to address designing technological products/processes, the care of children with chronic disease, the application of participatory research methodologies, leading research libraries, or competitive intelligence.